These 10+ Hacks Are Game-Changers For Summer Hair, Featuring Emma Stone's Hairstylist Mara Roszak

0:00The following podcast is a Dear Media Production.

0:07Welcome to Breaking Beauty, the podcast all about the breakthrough people, products, and moments in beauty. We're your hosts, Jill Dunn and Carleen Higgins.

0:20Welcome back to another episode of Breaking Beauty Podcast. I'm one of your co-hosts, Jill Dunn, and I'm here with Carleen Higgins. Hey, Carleen. Hi, Jill. How are you? Yeah, I'm doing pretty good, you know, ready for some good hair days this summer, but they're not going to be as good as yours. Like very jealous. Oh, you need not be jealous, Jill. I'll be thinking of you the whole time I'm in Italy. Please don't just forget about work. Forget about microphones. Forget about SD cards. Forget about it all and let you let your hair down or not. Are you going to have like a silk scarf going on, like overlooking the Mediterranean, eating gelato, sipping a spritz.

0:58Well, it is kind of the moment. And actually, it comes in handy because it's probably going to be about 100 degrees in Italy while I'm there. So I'll be bringing a wardrobe of silk scarves, I think. Ooh, chic. If you don't know us by now, we're Carlene and Jill, two longtime magazine beauty editors turned beauty podcasters delivering the breakthrough people, products and moments in beauty each and every Wednesday, whether we're chatting about products that are worth the spend, interviewing famous faces like Victoria Beckham, or sharing the mic with beloved skin, makeup, and hair pros who know all of the secret little tricks to help us level up our beauty games.

1:37And this week, we're calling on a hair guru with major, I'm talking major Hollywood glam cred, and that's Mara Rozak. Mara is probably best known as Emma Stone's hairstylist. And fun fact, Mara's actually done the hair for five different Oscar winning actresses on the night they won. Like her hairstyles are probably like in the Smithsonian or something like they've been recorded forever, which I think is really cool. She's worked with Emma Stone twice when she won her Oscar, Brie Larson when she won her Oscar, Michelle Yeoh when she won her Oscar and Zoe Saldana, which was just this past season.

2:14Wow. So if these actresses are smart, they'll try and get in with her before the Oscars, you know just just because right she's got the golden touch for real and mara actually launched her own line a clean hair care brand in 2021 called rose it's spelled r-o-z she started out with just one hair oil and it's now become an entire range she has several skews the shampoo is a new favorite of mine and as of earlier this year the range is officially available in sephora stores. And she just launched a little travel kit, everyone, that I actually have been traveling with because it's really hard to get travel size hair products that are done by a stylist, basically.

2:57So I'm really liking this little set. It's perfect. You've got a packet for Italy, Carlene. Yes, I need this. I really appreciate that Mara has this unique perspective because she's a Southern California native girl and she's got that effortless hair look on lock. She personally has a very cool look because she has this long mermaid-esque hair that's a really cool mix of textures. It's wavy, it's curly, it's straighter in some parts. It's very long, blonde, and I think she's mastered her own hair type and texture so she can really work with anyone. So this week, we're asking Mara all about her tips and tricks to get your best summer hair days possible.

3:38I am taking notes. Yes. Everything from how to air dry for the best results so it doesn't turn out frizzy, how she advises her clients to manage bangs, her fresh spin on a ponytail this summer, and how to ace a seriously slick style and make it elevated for summer 2025. And Carlene, we got a sneak peek from Mara about a super cool collaboration she's doing with the American fashion brand called The Great. It's a very chic hair towel, everyone, and it's limited edition. And Carlene, I know you swear by this brand's pajamas, don't you? Yeah. I've talked about them so many times. The Great has these drop crotch pajamas that in the softest cotton.

4:22So they really are the most comfortable thing you can wear to bed. Listen, do I look hot in them? I'm going to say probably not, but they are so comfy. And so Mara is going to share the entire inspiration behind that and how she came up with that idea. And I always find, Carlene, that with hairstylists, when we speak to them specifically, it's a really good one to watch on YouTube because they can't help themselves. They are like demoing with their hands what they would do. Yes. Pointing down a curling iron or how she would hold a brush or do the blowout or what have you or where you would place the ponytail.

4:58So go over and check us out on YouTube. It's Breaking Beauty Podcast. And hit the little, once you subscribe, also hit the little bell for turning on the notifications. And then you know when we have dropped an episode and we're getting more and more people finding us on YouTube and watching our episodes. So we are really grateful. And anything that Mara mentions today, we have linked to it on our website, which is breakingbeautypodcast.com. We've got you there. So welcome Mara Rozak.

5:40today's episode is brought to you in part by Nutrafol so we've been talking all about summer hair today the styles you can wear the hacks you can use but I know that it's a struggle for people who have thinning hair because I've been there when I started going through perimenopause I definitely noticed more gappiness at the front especially when I try putting my hair in one of those cute, you know, summer buns at the top. And it's just not fun. So that's when I started taking Nutrafol, the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand that's trusted by over one and a half million people.

6:14It's been recommended so many times on our show. And you can feel great about what you're putting into your body. Since Nutrafol hair growth supplements are backed by peer reviewed studies and NSF content certified. That's the gold standard in third party certification for supplements. And what I appreciate is that a lot of supplements rely solely on ingredient studies. So, you know, maybe they're purchasing these ingredients from manufacturers and they're relying on those studies, but Nutrafol clinically tests the final formulations to make sure that there's efficacy. They're using a variety of hair measurement tools like hair counts and pull tests to assess the growth, the quality, the shedding, the texture.

6:57So I appreciate that they really know the final formula really works. You can see thicker, stronger, faster growing hair with less shedding in three to six months with Nutrafol. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners$10 off your first month subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code BREAKING. Find out why Nutrafol is the best-selling hair growth supplement brand at Nutrafol.com, spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L.com, promo code BREAKING. That's Nutrafol.com, promo code BREAKING. We are Erin and Sarah Foster. We have a podcast. We're here to basically ask you to listen to it.

7:37We're just trying to help you guys not make the same mistakes that we've made in life. We made a lot. Especially me. I really went down on some dark roads, trying to save you guys from that. Our podcast is called The World's First Podcast. We are technically the sisters behind the Nobody Wants This podcast. It's inspired by us. Because you wrote it. Yeah, that's true. But when I write, I am inspired by myself all the time. Right. That would make sense. You inspire you. We're going to wrap this up. Okay. Guys, go check it out. World's First Podcast.

8:09Welcome to Breaking Beauty Podcast, Mara. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled. It's been a long time coming. I've loved your work for many years now. And the topic of the hour is all about getting your best summer hair yet. And I feel like you are the woman for this job. Love it. Because I understand you kind of mastered your own hair at like a very young age. That's right. Like coming of age, you were a budding hairstylist. Correct. Tell us everything. And I'm going to be rude and jump in before you answer because for the listeners who are maybe not watching this on YouTube, we need to describe what you look like, Mara, because you've got beautiful waist length.

8:48I'm going to call it mermaid like hair. OK, it's like blonde and it's dimensional and there's texture. There's some waves, but it's not like a consistent wave everywhere. It's very like beachy, just came out of the ocean kind of mermaid vibe. So with that, Thank you. Take it away. I will take it. I will take it. Oh, my gosh. So post-puberty, maybe some of you remember. Some of you are. It's in the foreseeable future. But hair changes and hormones, right, throughout our lives, hair change. But I had very different hair growing up. And all my friends seemed to have this, like, very effortless. They'd get out of the, like, pool parties when they were 13 and just come out with this perfect hair.

9:31and I remember being introduced to this very different texture, quite frizzy curls that were just, it was a complete 180 from what I had growing up. And nobody in my family was a hairstylist or knew the first thing about it. But my mom always used to do her own hair. And so I think I saw like, oh, I could take this into my own hands. She would color her hair, which I don't necessarily recommend, but she would do it herself. And so I thought, okay, I'm going to master this because, you know, I'm a teenager and I want to look like my friend's look. And it was, I'm dating myself now, but it's like the nineties and it was all about this very sleek straight hair and it just wasn't what I had.

10:15So, and the only thing on the market at the time was frizzies, right? And so I loaded myself up with some frizzies and worked with my mom's probably 1978 blow dryer and got to work. Yeah. And it took some time, but I mastered it and then became obsessed. Yeah. And then you did all your friends' hair. Yeah. I heard, like, for their bar mitzvahs and stuff. Every bar mitzvah, every prom. Yes. So what was the secret at the time? It was, like, mastering how to work with your texture or were you, like, fighting it? Were you, like... I was fighting it at the time. I was really focused on trend and looking a certain way.

10:53Yeah. And I think that's probably a huge part of why I'm in the seat today and really talking about working with your texture. Yeah. Because now I work with my texture and have fur. But at the time, in some ways, I'm glad I had this challenge because I think it taught me so much about hair. But now I don't want women to struggle in the way that I did. I really believe in more of the acceptance. And I think we're just living in a different time where we are more educated and also are embracing these natural textures and the differences more than ever. Yeah, so true. Well, we're going to get into all of your best tips for doing that.

11:42But just before we do, I want to ask you if you have a prediction for summer 2025. Is there a hairstyle or a cut that you think we're going to see everywhere. I do think beach waves really are back. Not that they ever left California, but I saw like ghost waves. And I think it's a little bit more even of the like natural aesthetic, a little more wild. And so I do think that we're going to see maybe some more layers and lightness to hair in general, like the light effortlessness of hair. Okay. Yeah. So some shorter layers. Okay. What's some characteristics of a current beach wave? What is a ghost wave?

12:23A ghost wave. So it's really that airiness. It's really about the imperfection. It's about more of the natural texture using products that are light and that are going to enhance that effortlessness and natural texture versus something that I think we have been seeing, which is a little bit more manufactured. It's a little bit more perfected. This is more of like the messiness. And it was different from the big barrel that we also had been seeing. So I can see where we were headed. Yeah. But I'm going to go with it's going to be natural. Well, your hair is very unique, I will say, just looking at here, because it is different textures.

13:06And I think that's the thing that a lot of people don't realize. I have this myself. I think everybody does, right? Yeah. Like I have waves at the back, especially right at the back, but my sides are pretty straight. Yes. Then it's like, well, I don't really know how to go with my texture because what is it? Like, how do I make it all match? But yours is like, you're rocking your texture wherever it is. And it's very cool. It's like a different way of dimensional. Right. I agree. And I like that. And it took me a long time to really accept that, right? Because it is different. But I do think that there are some things you can do to have it look a little bit more uniform or texturize the front to have it match the back a little bit more.

13:50Yeah. But without having to work through the whole thing. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Okay, this is so cool. I can't wait to get into this. What I love about your products and many of your styling products in Rose are like kind of geared toward air drying. And I think that that's very unique and very different from the Frizzies days where it was all about like put it all down, lay it all down, add the heat, and you're locking it in. I noticed this is like a trending category. We're seeing more products for air drying. So how do you personally use them? And why do you think this is like having a moment, air dry product textures?

14:29Yeah, I think we all live such busy lives. Yeah. And I think more and more, right, even as we age, it's like you're going to tell me that I need to spend an hour on my hair. I'm sorry. I don't have that time. But I've also seen how really good products really transform people's hair. And it makes it so much easier. And I don't think that's obvious, right? I think hair has been a confusing category. I think we've been marketed to in very specific ways that really hasn't changed in like since, you know, our grandparents, great-grandparents era. Like there's been, you know, little innovation in terms of how we're spoken to.

15:09And I've really wanted to flip that on its head. One, because I think hairdressers in general have a very different, very unique perspective. And it's that products, and they're really good, should work across multiple textures. People don't really know what type of hair they necessarily have. Sort of similar to skin. You're like, it's a combination. Sometimes they break out, but sometimes it's oily. And if I'm traveling, I'm dry. So I think it's similar to hair, but we all know where we want to go. We all know the results we're looking for. And so I'm more formulating products that work across the board, across multiple textures to get the results.

15:49And we talk a lot about results with Rose. Right. And so going back to air dry, I think when you have good products that really work, you should be able to wear your texture and air dry your hair. But that looks different for different people. Yeah. And so smoothing products are the products I go to because I need to define. I need to defrizz. But someone else might want to enhance. Still have definition, but they need to enhance to get the air dry that they want. And so those are two different types of products. Both we have at Rose. Yeah. What's the one that you love to use on your hair? And is yours like 2A curl?

16:29Like how would you describe? Do you know? Yeah. You know, it's funny. It's like, I think that came into the conversation later. I've been doing hair for 22 years and I think it's a real helpful educational tool. But yeah, we're all textures, texture, and we're all on this spectrum, right? From, you know, very fine straight to very, very coarse, thicker textures on this spectrum. I would say I fall somewhere probably in the middle. I'm obviously not the curliest, but by no means am straight. The straightest, yeah. Correct. For me, I have a lot of hair, but it can get very frizzy, very dry. I also bleach it, right?

17:07There's all these things that are just adding to the coarseness, right? And so for me, the Milk Hair Serum, which probably is our most, it's our bestseller and it's the most versatile product that really every single hair type can use. Every single hair type. You rarely hear that. And I mean that. It is so lightweight. It has hyaluronic acid in it. I actually make it in Italy at a skincare lab. They predominantly make skincare because we all need hydration for the most part with our hair too. And it's not something that's as educated, right? I think we think moisture will wear our hair down, but it doesn't have to.

17:51But we all really need it, right? I mean, our hair is dead and we do all this stuff to it between heat and color. And so you need a lightweight hydration daily. And you don't have to wash your hair, but you can just put this on like you would a daily moisturizer before your hair. And that product won't weigh fine hair down, but it actually does add some nice defrizzing and smoothing and definition for the curliest of coarse hair as well. So that's the product I'm using predominantly. On damp hair, on dry hair? Both. Okay. Both. So I use it out of the shower. I use it out of the shower as a detangler.

18:28That's what I did. Before I do anything. And then I use it during the drying process and definitely more when my hair is dry. Okay. Yeah. And then as a stylist, I actually put it in before I go to cut someone's hair because it really helps with that combability. For my pros listening, it's a beautiful like cutting lotion. And then it's already in your hair before you go to style it. And it also offers heat protection up to 450 degrees peak. So if you're a flat ironing gal, it's great for a great prep and then a great finisher. sure. Now, are there any other secrets to air drying your hair the right way?

19:06Yes, I would say so. I think key is how it starts in the shower. You really want to make sure that you're removing buildup thoroughly and using a hydrating cleanser. Sorry, cleanser and conditioner. So I think that's really important. And then when you get out of the shower, prepping with some kind of a detangler. and then brush your hair when it's very wet and that's it. I don't want you to really brush it or comb it again. You want to try and keep the integrity of the natural texture, whatever that is, as much as possible. And when you comb it, once it starts to dry, you can see you're starting to freeze it up actually.

19:44It's starting to like, it's going to change the integrity of that natural texture. And then it's all about, which we can get to, but it's really about the towel you're using too. Yeah, I was going to ask you that. You don't want too much weight on your hair. You just don't want anything pulling it down. It's really about enhancing what is naturally there. So the towel, we have a fun collab coming out. It's kind of a funny story, but I am a big fan of this beautiful casual wear brand. They're very popular here in California. It's called The Great. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Love the great. Love the great.

20:23Love Emily and Merritt, the founders. I've known them because they were fashion stylists. And we used to be on set together. Oh, yeah. And then they developed current Elliott jeans, which were the best. And then they now have the great and they make the best, the greatest sweatshirts. Yeah. So I'm in the shower and I had my great sweatshirt on, but I got out of the shower and completely forgot I had no towel in the bathroom. This is what happens when you have a newborn baby. Correct. You're like, oops, no towel. No towel. No towel, but I have a sweatshirt. Yeah. And it's that very thin material.

20:58If you know the great, you know this. It's very thin, very high quality. And so I just grab my towel and I dry off my body like the tiniest bit and throw my hair up because I don't want my hair now sopping. Right. As you mentioned, it's very long. Getting the whole floor wet and whatever. So I throw my hair up in this sweatshirt. Sweatshirt, yes. Yes. And then when I go to take my hair out of the sweatshirt, my hair is perfect. Like it's got the texture in the front has now seemingly developed more of what it is in the back, right? Right. Like this soft kind of, you know, bend. Right. And all I needed to do was scrunch my product into the hair and go.

21:39And I didn't touch it again. I had the best hair day. And so I immediately reached out to the gals. Yeah. And I was like, have you guys, would you do this with me? Yeah. Could we do a rose, the great hair towel? And so we worked to develop the perfect size, just every single detail. And it actually looks like a sweatshirt. It has the ribbing. It has, oh. Oh, that's so cute. You know, the band in the back that you, you know, wrap the twist part into. Oh, we need this. And it's just the perfect and then more. It's giving like sock buns energy. You know what I mean? Yes. And most importantly, it's the perfect weight for your hair.

22:19So is it terry material or what kind of material? Exactly like their sweatshirts. Okay. It's that smooth cotton, 100 % cotton, smooth cotton on the front. And then the terry. Like a French terry. Like a French terry on the inside. Ooh, that sounds great. It's so great. As it were. Great. I love a good collab. As you were talking about that, all I was thinking about was when Forrest Gump, like uses the t-shirt and then he accidentally creates the happy face. Yeah. Oh my God. I need to go back and watch that immediately. Mother of all invention, right? Necessity. You never know when these genius moments hit.

22:58Amazing. Yeah. Okay. I want to go back before we move on and just finish this conversation about this newer take on a beach wave where you might have uneven texture, but you had mentioned how, Well, you don't just leave it though. You're going to add some cohesiveness. You might have straighter sides and a wavy back. But you're not using like a curling iron all over. So what do you do? Let's just get that. Yes. So it's pretty simple. I'm a big fan of braids. Okay. I think it's just key in terms of when you go to braid your hair. So you don't want it to be sopping, sopping wet. And then when you take out the braids, you don't want your hair to be thoroughly dried either.

23:36Okay. Because you want it to still be dry enough to where it has some hold, right? So you put your products in before you go to braid. And this is after you've towel dried. You're not sopping wet. Yeah. The perfect time. You add those braids. You could do one on each side or two. And maybe it's that you need to do the front pieces, right? In our case, where we have a little bit more of the straighter in the front. You're kind of braiding the front pieces and incorporating some of that top back into that braid, right? So maybe you're thinking about it like from the tips of your eyebrows. If you're kind of going in a horizontal direction.

24:11This sounds complicated, but follow me here. Braid that section. So you're almost creating like a half braid on the top. And then do the same with underneath, right? And then remove the braids when they're probably about 80 % to 90 % dry. Just a little bit damp. Go do all your household chores. That's right. Yeah. That's exactly right. And then you can take your milk hair serum. I even have some clients that will put, you know, I love those Mr. Spray bottles. You can get these on anywhere. Beauty Supplies, Amazon. And putting water and even like a little bit of the milk hair serum or our foundation mask and shaking it up and using that to also kind of like redampen something.

24:53So outside of braids, I have another rack, which is a little bit hard to, if you're not watching me, to sort of describe. But it's essentially taking that front section, everything in front of the ear, and wrapping it around the rest of the hair, pigtails. Right. So you're basically using your hair as if it was a heatless roller. That's right. The rest of your hair. That's exactly right. Because really you want that bend right in front of the face, especially if you have some texture throughout. Yeah. And really that will help. And then let it dry like that. You're going to pin the ends and you literally have this swirl of that front section over the rest of that, you know, half hair pigtail.