My, What Big Hair You Have!

This spring, there's one thing every woman should know: Size does matter, at least when it comes to hair.

Yes, big hair is back with a vengeance this season, and The Early Show's super style expert, David Evangelista, has advice on how to take your hair to new heights.

We're not talking about the "mall girl hair" reminiscent of 1983 teenagers. This season's "big hair" trend is all about glamorous head bulk, like such big-haired icons as Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, or Jane Fonda in "Barbarella."

In short, along with the retro-feel of spring/summer fashions harkening back to the '40s, '50s and '60s, hair has gone retro as well. This is good news to many of the curly-haired ladies who have been pulling, ironing, and torturing their manes into pin-straight locks for the past few years.

Girls with natural curls are to be envied this spring and summer, but that doesn't mean that those with naturally straighter or "smaller" hair have to suffer either. If curls aren't your thing, mega volume is the ticket.

Here are a few examples:

• Big Hair Look No. 1: Lucia has natural curls. For spring 2004, ladies with hair like Lucia's have all the luck. When your hair is naturally curly, it's also naturally "big," so achieving the big-haired look is no problem.

  The challenge for ladies with curly hair is taming it a bit so that curls don't look overly unruly or frizzy. On Lucia, David sprays volumizer at the roots and puts a silicone product (Sebastian's Laminates) all over the shaft of her hair to protect it from heat.

  He diffuses her hair, and then to define curls, he wraps a select few pieces of hair around a Babylyss curling iron (he uses irons of varying sizes to define different sized curls). Suggested products: Terax Volume Lotion, Sebastian Laminates gel, Babylyss Curling irons (1 inch, 1 1/2 inch)

• Big Hair Look No. 2: Faked Wave: For those ladies, like Simone, who would like some wave or curl to their hair but have naturally straight hair, there's one easy solution: hot rollers.

  David suggests getting medium-hot ceramic rollers (like Conair rollers) that will set and curl hair in a jiffy without frying the hair shaft. David sprays volumizer on Simone's roots to make her hair extra-big, then applies a styling cream to the hair shaft to protect it from heat.

  He dries her hair with her head upside down for extra volume, then sets rollers all over her head. (Using medium rollers creates softer, wavier curls than smaller ones do.) He takes the curlers out, teases the top of her roots a bit for extra lift, and puts his fingers through her hair to pump up the volume a bit more.

  Suggested products: Terax Volume Lotion, Nolita Thickening Serum, Conair Ion Shine Ceramic Rollers, Teasing Comb or Man's Comb

• Big Hair Look No. 3: Big and Beautiful: Jen has shoulder-length thin hair. Most women with this type of hair fear that they can't get that gorgeous height and bounce, but David says that's just bunk.

  For the volume-impaired, the tool to use is the Velcro roller. On Jen, David sprays roots with a volumizer specifically designed for fine, limp hair, then runs some mega-hold gel through her hair for extra hold.

  Then he wraps her hair around medium-sized Velcro rollers that are lined inside with metal (available at any beauty supply store), all the way up to the root (making sure hair is lifted at the root to get enhanced lift).

  He dries her hair while it's still wrapped around the curlers, pulls out the rollers when hair is fully dry, and fluffs hair with his fingers for extra poof.

  Suggested products: Velcro Rollers, Phytovolume Actif Volumizer Spray for Fine and Limp Hair, L'Oreal MegaHold gel/Phytofix gel