I've wondered how to get Kate Moss' waves for decades - I can't believe it's this easy

The heat-free 'Kate Moss Twist' is a masterstroke for fine or fragile hair

Kate Moss at the Stella McCartney Fall RTW 2025 fashion show as part of Paris Fashion Week on March 5, 2025 in Paris, France
(Image credit: River Callaway/WWD via Getty Images)

Like any self-respecting woman in her 40s, I'm completely fascinated, nay fixated on Kate Moss.

This decades-long admiration extends to the way she dresses, of course, but also, her 'never complain, never explain' policy, and, since listening to her dulcet tones on Desert Island Discs, the fact she's a member of her local garden centre (me too, babe)

Article continues below

The Kate Moss twist is the damage-free way to add waves to fine hair

As Moss is such a woman of mystery, it's handy when her expert collaborators spill even the tiniest amount of tea on how she operates. So imagine my delight when Nicola Clarke, A-List colourist and director of Nicola Clarke Salon, revealed the low-fi way Kate styles those signature waves.

"What Kate's been doing is twisting her hair and piling it on her head, a bit like Heidi," explained Clarke. "She'll put a grip in either side, then let her hair dry completely naturally. Then, when she lets it down, it has this really lovely movement." And that's it! Simple, damage-free supermodel hair.

The method has been dubbed the 'Kate Moss twist' and if it's good enough for Mossy... well, you can fill in the blank there. I'd say we have pretty similar hair types - fine, naturally straight and prone to dryness from decades of bleached highlights and heat styling.

I also experienced pretty significant postpartum hair loss a couple of years ago, which I've been plugging away at growing back, but my 'do is still thinner and more fragile than before, so I prefer to avoid heat styling too often.

I've tried countless tools and tricks to recreate those lived-in waves, and tend to flip between JVN Air Dry Cream and a bit of scrunching on no-heat days (I have a lot of those), then my ghd Wave when the urge to style strikes. But nothing had quite hit the right balance of wavy but not-too-uniform until...

Fiona mckim pictured in a red jumper with her hair twisted and pinned up beside another image of the hair taken down with a wavy texture

(Image credit: Future / Fiona McKim)

Kate Moss twist for the win! The twirling and pinning part took me a minute, tops. I kept them in for a couple of hours on a working-from-home day, shook it all loose at lunch and finished with a mist of texture spray. The resulting chilled-out, heat-free wave is exactly the kind of thing that looks and feels good on fine, fragile strands.

Thank you, Kate Moss, or I should say Nicola Clarke, for this act of public service. If you wouldn't mind telling us how we can achieve that perfectly honeyed shade of blonde next, I'd be much obliged, ta.

Fiona McKim
Beauty Editor, womanandhome.com

As woman&home's Beauty Channel Editor, Fiona Mckim loves to share her 15+ years of industry intel on womanandhome.com and Instagram (@fionamckim if you like hair experiments and cute shih-tzus). After interning at ELLE, Fiona joined woman&home as Assistant Beauty Editor in 2013 under industry legend Jo GB, who taught her to understand ingredients and take a cynical approach to marketing claims. She has since covered every corner of the industry, interviewing dermatologists and celebrities from Davina McCall to Dame Joan Collins, reporting backstage at London Fashion Week and judging the w&h Beauty Awards.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.