The keys to Paloma Cuevas' pluperfect hair: Japanese shampoo, layered cut and "elegant highlights"

BeautyShe's had the same hairstyle for 20 years and has polished her hair color to the perfect hazelnut shade. She thus takes care of her recognizable hair, which she has not changed even in the face of her new life stage.

By Amaia Odriozola

There are haircuts that change careers (Mia Farrow, Linda Evangelista, Jennifer Aniston) and there are those who have built theirs precisely by not changing a single strand of her hairstyle. In this group we could include Paloma Cuevas (Córdoba, 1972). Elegant official of any social event - discreetly dressed in Valentino - she is recognizable by her pluperfect long hair, combed in waves, with soft brown streaks and a side parting. A hairstyle as correct as it is her own, immovable over the years -decades-, not now, in full vital change after her divorce from Enrique Ponce.

It is well known that a change of life usually leads to a change of hairstyle, a cathartic moment as a declaration of intent to approach the future (Coco Chanel already sentenced it: "The woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life”), something that the horribilis 2020 did nothing but accuse: in the reference salons in Madrid, such as Espacio Q or Moncho Moreno, there was an exponential rise in haircuts, mainly long hair that was looking for a turning point. However, in her few appearances after the sentimental and media storm, Paloma Cuevas continues to maintain her classic and impeccable image: she seems to be very clear that "the hairstyle is the last clue to know how much a woman knows herself" that said Hubert de Givenchy.

The "elegant highlights" and the layered cut

The first thing that strikes you when you look at Cuevas's newspaper library is that she has hardly changed in the last 25 years, since she started posing on the cover of ¡Hola!. Always with the same smile and the same loose hair weathered, as if she had just come out of the hairdresser, which she only picks up on specific occasions, such as her wedding with the bullfighter on October 25, 1995 in the Valencia cathedral, or in that of Felipe and Letizia. Whether to attend a charity gala, to present her daughters as soon as she was born or to attend a parade of her admired Carolina Herrera, she is always just as well combed. Little or nothing has changed in these years in the length of her hair (four fingers below the shoulders) and the parting (on the right side) has never changed, but if there is something that has been polished over time, it has been the color until give it a flattering hazelnut hue.

In reality, the highlights that Cuevas has always worn are what in 2021 is called melting**, a technique that allows shine to be blurred and a subtle tonal transition to be made so that the hair appears naturally lightened. Her hair is several shades lighter than it was in her 20s and there is no hint of gray, which indicates a color job, but the effect is completely natural. Paloma Cuevas' “good highlights” are distinguished because they are extremely fine and are applied from the root, and because they always avoid the typical two-tone bands, striking gradients and color jumps. The result is not a trend, it is something better: discreet and flattering.

Las claves de la pluscuamperfecta melena de Paloma Cuevas: champú japonés, corte a capas y “mechas elegantes”

The other key in Cuevas's hair is the layered cut in the middle and lower areas, as well as in the front, to achieve extra volume and a blow to the mane that characterizes him. A style that became world famous in the early 2000s, with the boom in curling irons to achieve the Victoria's Secret angel effect and when "Gisele capes" were the most requested in hairdressers. Paloma has maintained a refined and more polished version of this cut -maintaining the movement of the hair but toning down the sexy curl- even when the minimalism of straight and minimally parted hair ruled in hairdressing.

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Japanese shampoo to protect color

According to information from La Razón, Cuevas "is very perfectionist, that's why she doesn't skimp on care and products for her hair, she uses those from the Japanese firm Shu Uemura and those from the Italian My Organics." In Telva magazine it is ensured that to take care of her fine and long hair and make it look denser and healthier, Paloma Cuevas also opts for an anti-aging regenerating shampoo, Kérastase Chronologiste, which strengthens weak and brittle hair fiber. What is special about these three cares?

Shu Uemura has a range of color protection shampoos between professional colorations, with ingredients such as rosehip oil (rich in nutrients for hair) and goji berry extract (antioxidants). For its part, My Organics (a cosmetic firm with organic, vegan and cruelty-free ingredients) has among its bestsellers a professional shampoo with moisturizing action thanks to aloe (used for hair loss, as an antioxidant, to strengthen the scalp and to nourish) and calendula (with anti-inflammatory properties, in addition to moisturizing the scalp, it has anti-dandruff action and helps hair growth). The third key product, Kérastase Chronologiste, is a restorative treatment that revitalizes and repairs damaged hair and is used to rejuvenate the scalp and fiber, thickening the hair and working frizz.

Little given to revealing details about her care, she did reveal on one occasion that she uses Helena Rubinstein black mascara, Maria Galland moisturizing cream, Nivea for the body and Shiseido lip gloss in her day to day. About her long hair, she only said: "Leonardo is my lifelong hairdresser." Those last four words perfectly sum up her approach to her beauty: she plays what she knows suits her, not trends.

@ Courtesy of Shu Uemura

Shu Uemura

Buy at www.elcorteingles.es

In fact, it happens to de Paloma, like Miranda Rijnsburger, that she is always predictable without falling into boredom. From her long hair he has made a sign of identity for which she does not spend time. It doesn't matter if you look at a photo from when she was 25 or 45: it's the hair of someone who always carries spare crystal stockings in her bag (she told this herself in an interview), someone who treasures a collection of wedding shawls, who never changes her perfume (by the way, hers is from Bvlgari) and, ultimately, from whom she has inherited the invisible crown of the first elegant by profession in our country. Isabel Preysler, who else?