The Early Show

Holiday Hair

By Ellen Crean

December 22, 2003 / 9:59 AM EST / CBS

It's the holiday season and parties are in full swing. Perhaps you've found the perfect outfit to wear to those festive fetes, but now there's one big question left: what to do with your hair? The Early Show's stylist to the stars, David Evangelista, has some ideas for short hair, medium-length hair, and long hair.

MODEL 1: KRISTEN (SHORT HAIR)
Many women think that there's little to nothing that can be done with super-short hair, but Evangelista says that's not entirely true.

"You can do a ton with short hair," he says. "Spike it up with a little gel for a fun, funky look. Slick it back completely for a sleek and sexy 'do. Or just add one hair ornament - like a sparkling bobby pin or a headband - and you'll have a fresh, polished look."

Evangelista "flipped" Kristen's hair using little roller clips ("a dollar at the drugstore"),

MODEL 2: ABBY (MEDIUM HAIR)
"Medium-length hair is so wonderful, because it's totally versatile," says Evangelista. "It can be worn up, down, or a combination with the two, with some pieces pulled back and others draping down a woman's shoulders."

Abby has wavy hair, so Evangelista said he wanted to keep the natural wave, softening it with a curling iron and clipping the sides back and up, using rubberized bobby pins. ("There's nothing worse," he says, "than seeing an up-'do' with tons of pins in there.")

MODEL 3: ELENA (LONG HAIR)
"Again, long hair is really versatile," says Evangelista, "and what's really great about it is that you can pull it back off the face into a fabulous chignon or bun for a dramatic, clean, and really sophisticated look."

He gave Elena "my modernized version of the chignon. This is kind of young and fun. It's simple. All I did was tease her hair big and brushed it out…to get texture in the hair. This is a half-ponytail. I pulled the hair through halfway and kept the other half out… Took a piece of hair hanging over here and wrapped it up to cover up the band."

And to make sure it all stays in place, use a lot of hair spray.

A bit of holly gave the 'do' a festive, creative punch. And Evangelista advises, "Sometimes, you've got to think of yourself as a Christmas tree. You've got to decorate. You got a ball around the house, put a ball in. You got a star, put a star in."