When I sat down in the hairdresser’s chair at the Upper East Side location of hair salon and hair-care brand IGK to receive the Allie Off Campus haircut, the excellent Marc Ballance described my texture like this: curls underneath, and a bit lazy on top. It’s something I’ve been conscious of since around middle school, when an adult on a youth group retreat made a weird little joke about my hair being straight on top and “crazy” on the bottom. It’s not a real insecurity, necessarily, more just a fact; if I want my waves-slash-curls to disseminate across my head more evenly, I have to put in a little work.
Enter: the shag haircut, a.k.a. the Allie Off Campus haircut, a.k.a. the haircut that has turned out to be kind of perfect for my wavy, fine, frizz-prone hair. At long last, a cut that works with my textural quirks instead of against them.
It can be a toss-up when you take a photo from a TV show or a TikTok into a haircut appointment. There are all kinds of reasons “The Rachel” might not look the same on you as it does on Jennifer Aniston, or why Ella Langley’s bangs look overpowering on your face; particularly, that you are uniquely you, and most likely not a celebrity or influencer who has time, money, and deep incentive to bring their whole aesthetic package together. That’s why a good hairdresser, Ballance tells me, will adjust the cut to fit your face, personalizing it into a little work of art that you and your stylist make together.
But unlike some stylish cuts that might be hard for the average person to pull off, Allie’s haircut in Off Campus is actually kind of a relief for Ballance, who has had a few clients request the look. It’s exactly the kind of artfully messy, low-maintenance chop he often recommends to people because it takes some weight off the bottom and puts all the action in the middle section of the hair; it’s especially helpful for curls, he notes, that can sometimes fall into a triangle shape instead of bringing volume and movement to the roots.
IGK cofounder Aaron Grenia says the shag’s popularity continues over time because it is so perfect for people with wavy and curly hair. “That's always been a fun cut,” he explains. “When we first started the brand [in 2016], we were all about texture and a little bit of, like, ‘dirty’ [hair]. Then, there's been this movement, since COVID, of bouncy, shiny, soft, healthy. So you shift from all your heavy texturizers, and you go to light, airy, soft. But we're feeling like we're moving towards texture again, and I love that.” The Allie cut can feel like the best of both worlds: healthy and soft while also having a bit of that edginess and dimension.
I’ve experimented with variations of a shaggy, layered, curly cut over the past couple years, since I learned that curly hair should actually be cut differently than other textures. (And, to be honest, even before that, when I became an adult and could choose to spend my money on something a cut above—pun intended—the $5 Supercuts option of my childhood.) This has made a world of difference in the daily reality of my hair, which I used to brush out violently every single day, telling myself that the frizz, tangles, and bushiness were actually giving lioness. (Hey, I’m a Leo.) Now I do a version of the curly girl method popularized on TikTok: comb my wet hair with leave-in conditioner, then scrunch with a light gel or mousse, and diffuse to about 80% dry.
This method works perfectly with the Allie cut, at least for my hair. As stylist Marisa Mitchell, who cut actor Mika Abdalla’s hair for the show, told Teen Vogue a couple weeks ago, “It honestly works best on someone who has some natural wave or curl in their hair, like Mika does. It’s not impossible to recreate with straight hair, but you’ll need to be styling it on a regular basis.”
The shag I got from Ballance took about an inch and a half of length off, due to damage, but this means my hair doesn’t look quite as long and wild as Allie’s is in Off Campus. Still, the cut created a sort of illusion of length with all the layers, and also made my hair feel very light and bouncy.
Ballance used IGK products, of course, to prep and scrunch my hair, and the complete routine included: Extra Love Volume & Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner, the Mistress Hydrating Hair Balm, the Beach Club High-Shine Texture Foam, and the Beach Club Touchable Texture Spray. The combination of products didn’t feel too heavy on my fine hair, which gets weighed down easily. Ballance also encouraged me to get my hands in there and scrunch it myself before he diffused it, which made me feel like part of the process and helped me understand how to style it at home.
The finished Allie Off Campus cut makes my hair look and feel healthier—and it is shaped to fit my face. Plus, it still feels low-maintenance, a style I can make look good on my own. Maybe, along the way, I picked up some of Allie’s vivacious spirit by osmosis.
