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HIGH SHINE

HIGH SHINE The meek shall inherit the earth, but the sleek and shiny shall inherit a spot in the hair hall of fame -- if they have the right shampoo, brush, and flatiron. Get the right cut. One-length hair tends to be shinier because of its continuity, but if you have layers, keep the ends blunt. For maximum sheen, it's also important that your stylist use scissors. Razors create an uneven, feathery texture that looks anything but polished. Start with a clean (but not squeaky clean) slate. On a four-day shoot for Dove shampoo, stylist Richard Marin had the models suds up each night, air-dry their hair, and come to the set without washing in the morning. "You need [those] oils," he says (the exception: fine, blonde, straight hair requires up to three shampoos a day on a shoot). Marin's instincts are scientifically sound. As cosmetics chemist Mort Westman explains: "If you rigorously clean hair, you strip most of the sebum, and that can make hair dull." Lather, rinse, but do not repeat. It takes a superior shampoo to add intense shine in one washing, says stylist Shay Ashual, who has worked on Pantene, Clairol, and Matrix print ads. Westman recommends conditioning shampoos, which remove hair's oil but replace it with other nongreasy hair-softening materials such as ceramides. A quick glance at the formula is revealing (if the bottle is opaque, open it, and squeeze until you see the goo). Look for a shampoo with a metallic or pearly finish (which indicates light-reflecting particles), and a white or oatmeal color (a sign of added hydrators). Improve your conditioning skills. A conditioner can leave behind residue, which in turn attracts dust and makes hair limp. To get the detangling benefits without the heavy dull-down, choose a lightweight formula (such as a mousse or a runny liquid). Then rinse until your hair feels soft but not sticky (approximately 20 to 40 seconds). On the day of the shoot for Dove foaming conditioner, Marin filled a spray bottle with one part conditioner and seven parts water, periodically spritzing it over the models' hair as he blew it dry. This added shine and eliminated frizz, without weighing the hair down. It's true: Less is more. Too much cream, wax, or pomade can make hair filmy or greasy. On the set, many experts skip styling products; others dab a lightweight serum from midshaft to ends. "This holds in moisture but still leaves hair looking luxurious," says stylist Ken Paves, who has worked on a number of hair commercials. Bring on the heat. Coarser hair needs more than shampoo and serum to gleam. Most stylists seal the cuticle with dryers and flatirons, which makes each strand "reflect light similarly and look shinier," Westman says. But keep in mind: "It's temporary; you're really bartering on the present to pay for long-term damage." Don't blow off the blowout. There's a reason it's not called a blow-around. For supreme straightness, use a nozzle, aim the dryer down (not up or into) the hair, dry all hair in the same direction, and pull the hair with your brush as you dry it. Brush with greatness. Pros say that flat is where it's at, at least in terms of brushes. "I hate round brushes for smoothing hair. When you roll the hair around it, somewhere in there is hair that's going the wrong way," says Max Pinnell, a stylist for Clairol and Pantene commercials, who smooths out bumps as he dries hair with three different size Mason Pearson paddle brushes. Though some scientists aren't sold on the benefits of flat ionic brushes -- which supposedly infuse positively charged hair with negative ions -- many stylists are believers. "Ions are great for straight ...