Nothing says healthy hair like a big dose of shine!

Straight strands that shimmer or curls that glisten look fantastic and can easily be achieved with some easy styling tips, help from shine-inducing styling products and inspiration from the celebrities who've nailed the art of glossy locks.

Kristen Bell and Lea Michele: Nourished Hair

While you can fake shine with the help of hair styling products, they'll definitely give you more boost for your buck if you're hair is nourished.

Well looked after hair also creates its own natural shine so it's definitely worth the effort to give your hair some TLC. After all, do you think Kristen Bell's straight locks would look this great if her strands were dry? And these gorgeous curls from Lea Michele wouldn't look half as glossy if her curls were full of frizz and fly-aways strands.

Nourishing Hair Tips:

• Use the best quality shampoo and conditioner that you can afford.
• Give your hair a break from blow-dryers and hair straighteners as often as you can.
• Apply a deep conditioning hair treatment or nourishing hair mask once a week.

Ashley Greene and Taylor Swift: Dark Hair Colors

A dark hair color is the easiest way to instantly give your hair shine because darker shades naturally reflect more light. That doesn't mean, however, that you need to color your hair the first dark shade you can find (although this beautiful brunette shade from Ashley Greene is reason enough to go dark!). As Taylor Swift shows, even a dark shade of blonde can look glossy.

Dark Hair Color Tips

• Make sure that your darker shade, whether it's blonde, black, brunette or red, is a hair color that will suit your skin tone.
• Remember that darker shades do require maintenance to stop the hair color from fading, and regular root touch ups.

Ashlee Simpson and Katy Perry: Styling for Shine

The final tip for pulling off glossy locks lies in the way you style your hair, and the hair styling products that you use.

For shiny straight locks, follow Ashlee Simpson's lead and use a hair straighter to get your strands super straight and flat so that they can reflect light. Smoothing shine will finish off the look, and is also great for injecting shine into curls and waves, à la this retro hairstyle from Katy Perry.

Styling for Shine Hair Tips:

• Use products designed for shine, but also for your hair length and type. If you're hair is short then try shine wax. Fine hair can benefit from the lightless of spray serum. Gloss serum is perfect for curly hair, and straight hair will benefit from shine spray.
• When blow-drying your hair straight, ensure that you get a shiny finish by pointing your blow-dryer nozzle down your hair shaft.

If you've got any great glossy lock tips then let us know by leaving a comment below!

To see how you'd look with any of these celebrity hairstyles, click on the images for a link to try the virtual hairstyle on your own photo or our model.

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Hot

Romantic curls can be a long-haired girl's best friend, and this perfect example from Brooke Shields shows why. We love the look of the big soft curls through the mid-lengths and ends of her hair, and the hair volume and softness they create.

An alternative to wearing your long hair out is wearing it in an updo, and we especially love the simplicity of this ballerina bun from actress Eva Mendes. It's perfect for an every day look - and when you've got a face as beautiful as Eva's - perfect for showing your face off.

One our favorite redheads, Marcia Cross, nails an effortless every day look with this wavy hairstyle. The soft looseness of the waves add a touch of glamour without being too over the top, while the relaxed style through the rest of her long length hair finishes the look perfectly.

Another easy hairstyle that we're lovin' is Salma Hayek's straight mid length hairstyle, and especially her deep chocolate brown hair color. The hair color is a great match for her skin tone and is a nice contrast for her red lipstick.

Not

While on the publicity trail for Twilight, Ashley Greene was sporting a gorgeous dark chocolate brown hair color that quickly became a fixture on our popular hairstyles page. Now she's lightened that color to this blonde-tinged disaster and landed herself on our not hot list.

Bob hairstyles are very versatile and look fantastic when styled super straight, but this look from Sara Paxton just missed the mark. Her locks look more like she started straightening but then stopped, and the fly-away result is not a good finish.

We usually love most styles from Selena Gomez but these frizzy hair strands just can't be overlooked. Some simple smoothing shine would have made all the difference to this long length look, and kept the fly-aways from ruining her waves!

While this short 'do is an improvement on the longer hairstyle Zac Efron used to wear, the styling is a little too just-got-out-of-bed for our liking. If disheveled hair was what Zac was going for he still could have achieved it with a touch more neatness, and in turn, created a much nicer finish.

Did you agree with our list of what's hot and what's not for these celebrity hairstyles? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below!

To see how you'd look with any of these celebrity hairstyles, click on the images for a link to try the virtual hairstyle on your own photo or our model.

Read Full Article