Kirby Richards has 12 years experience in hairdressing & has mastered her craft by working across many levels of the industry. 

Kirby was trained in a boutique salon in Melbourne where she found her love for creative colour, precision cutting & hair extensions. 

Hungry for more, Kirby took her career to the next level by relocating to London for 3 years. During that time she managed an elite salon and in her spare time found her passion for styling through freelancing. She worked as a stylist at BBC Studios for various television programs, at London Fashion Week with designers Sass & Bide and has worked on the sets of music videos styling numerous artists. 

Since returning to Melbourne, Kirby has been thriving as a Freelance Stylist within the walls of Edwards & Co Melbourne Salon. The non-conventional salon space allows her to grow her techniques constantly & be inspired by the creative people around her.

Kirby is a senior stylist at Edwards & Co. Melbourne.
For bookings and more information visit: edwardsandco.com.au.

We are so excited to have Kirby on board as a go-to girl for tutorials! Stay tuned for lots of handy tips, tricks and styling secrets.

Hi guys! I have always been a regular festival goer, so I understand the importance of having practical hair (that can withstand whatever weather gets thrown your way & hours on end of dancing with thousands of strangers), but it's got to look on point! Here are 2 of my ‘go-tos’ for easy, practical, funky festival hair!

I find that festival hair is always best washed the day before. Second day hair always has better texture and is easier to work with. To create a soft bend in the hair for this particular look, I prepped the hair using a Cloud Nine Standard Iron on 150 degrees Celsius. To give the hair additional texture before styling, I used R+Co Death Valley Dry Shampoo. 

Starting with a centre part, take a triangle section of hair along the part line, with the point of the triangle at the back of your part and the wider section on the hairline. Clip the rest of the hair on both sides out of the way to keep the line of your triangle section clean & defined. 


Starting at the point of your triangle section, you're going to braid the hair forward towards your face (if you have trouble braiding yourself, get a friend to give you a hand!). The key to a good braid is maintaining the tension from start to finish. Try not to lift your hands too far away from the head while braiding. After you've crossed each piece of the braid, grip all 3 pieces with 1 hand while you use your other hand to pick up the new hair to add.


Once you have braided to the hairline, direct each part of the braid to the opposite side of the hairline. This will help to keep the braid locked into place. I like to spray hairspray onto a small brush to smooth the hair around the hairline & create a sleek finish. I use R+Co Outer Space Hairspray for this look, because it gives a good amount of hold without making the hair feel stiff and crunchy. 



Once you have smoothed the ends of the braid in place on the hairline, you're almost finished! Clip the hair from behind each ear out of the way, leaving a few centimetres from the hairline out behind the ear to secure a bobby pin into the hair.
Using hairspray on your brush, get the hair around the face & behind the ear as smooth as possible! When you're happy with this section, you can pin into place behind the ear. Place the pin into the hair with the wavy side facing DOWN on the scalp (most of us have been taught to put bobby pins into hair the other way around, but wavy side down will give you firmer hold!). I prefer to weave the pin in & out of the hair so that it isn't as visible in the hair! 


After both sides are pinned into place, drop the hair from the top over the pinned sections. The hair should look as if it has been tucked behind the ears. With the smooth braid and hair behind the ears, give it a good spray with hairspray to keep in place, and then give the rest of the hair a good shake to create a messy, textured finish. 

Products used
R+CO Death Valley Dry Shampoo
R+CO Outer Space Hairspray
Cloud Nine The Original Iron
Evo Tyler Teasing Brush
Lady Jane Sectioning Clips
999 Gold Bobby Pins

Make sure you tag us on Instagram if you give this style a go; we'd love to see your creations! Use the hash tag #tutorialsbylaurenm and #ohhellohair.

Hair: Kirby Richards / @kirbyrichardz

MUA: Mae Taylor maetaylor.com / @maetaylor_makeupartist

Photos: Red Rabbit Photography redrabbitphotograpy.com.au / @redrabbitphotography

Model: Ashton Sutherland / @Ashton.Sutherland