Last night's Academy Awards featured a lot of beauty trends. There were soft braids (we’re looking at you, Chrissy Teigen and Olivia Wilde!), some Old Hollywood hyper-styled sculptural waves (Lady Gaga!), and even a kind of mini-bun mohawk (Rooney Mara!). Not to mention, beautiful updos and tons of matching makeup to boot. But our favorite 'do was also the most unexpected: ponytails.In fact, the glam ponytails worn by the likes of Kerry Washington and Sofia Vergara were so relaxed that not only could you wear them on a Saturday night — you will, ASAP. Naturally, we tracked down the details and rounded them up here.
Ahead, you'll find four shining examples of this Oscars trend. From high and bouncy (Isla Fisher) to low and sleek (Priyanka Chopra), there's something for everyone. Click through for all the details.
Kerry Washington
No Scandal here, but plenty of edge. Washington’s high-volume pony looked tough and no-nonsense sexy with her leather-topped Oscars gown, and flirty and swingy with her second Versace look of the night — a dress with a stringy, barely-there back that she wore to an after-party.
Hairstylist Takisha Sturdivant-Drew started Washington’s look with a shampoo and a deep-conditioning job using Neutrogena Anti-Residue Shampoo and Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask (appropriate — Kerry is a spokesmodel for the brand). She blowdried Washington's locks, then used the GHD Platinum Styler flat iron to make every strand sleek before adding perfectly random waves — curling some pieces counterclockwise and others clockwise with the GHD Curve Soft Curl Iron“so the hair didn’t all fall in one place.”
She clipped some TSD Hair Extensions to the center of Washington’s head and with a fine-tooth comb, “teased the root just a bit to give some added drama.” For a fancy finish, she tied off the high ponytail with a Versace leather band.
Isla Fisher
Deep side-part aside, actress Isla Fisher’s pony is easy-breezy, with plenty of loose tendrils falling where they may. The secured parts of her hair are tied into a ponytail placed dead-center at the crown of her head, and her stylist used a strand of Fisher’s thick, auburn hair to wrap and hide the elastic, the loose ends bobby-pinned on the underside of the pony.
The face-framing tendrils were likely given a whirl with a clip-free curling iron to avoid dent lines. We like the Remington Ultimate Stylist Teardrop Shape for that job, especially if you’re not going to curl your hair very often and don’t want to drop major cash on an iron. (We also like the The Brothers Grimsby star’s bright Rouge Dior lipstick in Royale, but we digress.)
Priyanka Chopra
The Bollywood-star-turned-Quantico-star got plenty of red carpet time on her home network of ABC, and that gave us a chance to inspect her simple, center-parted ponytail. No bumps, no frizzy flyaways, and it wasn’t lacquered to her skull — living the dream!
A night-out pony starts with a little extra prep, compared to the one you toss your hair into at the gym, so while her hair was damp, Chopra’s hairstylist Castillo sprayed a heaping helping of S Factor by Tigi Body Booster Plumping Spray on her roots and worked a dollop of smoothing serum through the rest of her thick hair. He then blowdried, paying special attention to her roots and keeping the air flow in downward motion to prevent rogue flyaways, and followed that with an extra-smoothing method: flat-ironing her hair in one-inch sections.
Castillo then parted Chopra’s hair at the center and pulled a low ponytail into an elastic before stealing away a strand from it, slicking that down with S Factor by Tigi Creamy Molding Wax, and then wrapping it around the pony to conceal the elastic. (The ends of this disguise were secured with a bobby pin on the underside of the ponytail.)
Sofia Vergara
Vergara always nails the red carpet, but almost exclusively wears her hair down — she even wore it down for her wedding to Joe Manganiello. So when she wears her hair back, there’s usually a sparklingly good reason, like these impressive Lorraine Schwartz earrings.
On her Instagram, the Modern Family star thanked hairstylist Kelly Kline for her look, which had Bumpit-level volume in back that must have required some upside-down blowdrying and a blast of dry shampoo at her roots. Her hair was clearly curled with rollers or an iron and separated into two sections — upper and lower. The lower, bulkier half was pulled into a ponytail at the nape of her neck, and the upper portion went into making that bump, its loose ends then twisted over and weaved into the ponytail, hiding how it was secured.
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