Exactly How To Get The Sterling Point Curly Shag, According to Bo Bragason’s Hairstylists

If you spent the weekend binge-watching Sterling Point, chances are you’ve come away obsessed with three things: finding a picturesque rental on a tiny Canadian island, Googling old pictures of Mark Ruffalo (his lookalike son, Keen Ruffalo, stars in the show), and booking in for a curly shag haircut à la actor Bo Bragason.

Set against the idyllic backdrop of the (fictional) island in the Muskoka Lakes, the coming-of-age drama follows Annie Jacobson (Ella Rubin) as a family inheritance leads her into a web of long-held secrets. And while Annie herself has an enviable mane of thick, glossy waves, it’s Bragason (who plays Oona), whose hair is the real star of the show. A mass of tousled curls, choppy layers and face-framing pieces, it has all the hallmarks of a ’70s shag while still feeling undeniably modern.

The haircut suit the character. Free-spirited, self-assured and rebellious, Oona has an unapologetic streak that’s reflected in her hair. Rather than every curl being coaxed into perfect uniformity, her natural texture is allowed to take up space—frizz, movement, and all.

Inspired, Vogue spoke to Chrystal Lotz, the show’s lead hairstylist, and hairdresser DJ Quintero, who styled Bragason’s hair for much of the Sterling Point press tour, about what to ask for in the salon and how to style the cut at home.

“We cut [Bragason/Oona’s hair] after allowing her curls to air dry, so we could see exactly where the layers would fall around her face,” says Lotz. “All of the references for the characters we meet in Muskoka were ‘summer camp’ and ‘cottage country’ vibes. Easy and effortless, we really embraced the frizz caused by humidity in Ontario summers, letting the hair do what it wanted and then adjusting based on what the character was going through in that scene,” she continues.

“For example, when Oona is working at Little Gem, it was important that her hair was up because she was dealing with food, but she’s not the type to be really fussed about a fancy up-do. So a ponytail that was lived in with pieces falling out felt really appropriate.”

“What makes Bo’s cut so good is that it feels effortless,” adds Quintero. “It’s really about the layering: the shorter pieces through the crown and around the face, while maintaining length and weight through the back. With her natural texture, those layers create this incredible shape and movement. There’s an imperfection to it that I love. It doesn’t feel overly coiffed or precious, which is exactly what makes it feel modern.”

“Your natural texture is really the blueprint,” Quintero explains. “The idea of the haircut can work beautifully across waves, loose curls and tighter curls, but the execution has to change depending on the person. As a hairdresser, I’m always looking at how the hair naturally wants to move, where the curl springs up, the density and where I want to create or remove weight. With looser waves, you might push the layering a little further to encourage movement; with tighter curls, you have to be much more conscious of shrinkage. I don’t think a great haircut should force the hair into a shape – it should give the natural texture the right framework to create that shape itself.”

“Honestly, bring in a picture. Haircut terminology can mean completely different things to different hairdressers, so I’m a huge believer in visual references,” says Quintero.

“I would ask for a long, curly shag with shorter layers through the crown, lots of face-framing and movement, while maintaining the overall length. I’d also emphasise that you don’t want everything perfectly blended. Part of what makes this haircut so cool is the separation between the layers. You want the curls to have space to move and almost find their own place.”

The key here is not trying too hard. “What I love about this look—and what I think feels really relevant right now, particularly for Gen Z—is that there’s a move away from this idea of ‘perfect’ curly hair,” says Quintero. “For a while, everything was about achieving this incredibly defined, uniform curl pattern. I find something much more interesting about seeing the individuality of the texture: some pieces curl more, some are looser, there’s a little frizz, there’s movement.”

“To style Bo’s hair in the show, we wet it with a combination of Virtue Leave-In Conditioner and water,” explains Lotz. “Then, when it’s sufficiently saturated, we would use Pattern Moisture Milk and individually fingercoil each curl. After doing that through the whole head, we would gently diffuse without breaking up any of the curls until it was 80% dry, and then let it air dry the rest of the way. Once it was completely dry, I would go through and break up any curls that were a little too springy with Roz Santa Lucia Oil. Bo’s hair is quite fine in texture, so we didn’t want to use anything too heavy, but for someone with thicker hair, I would suggest using the Pattern Styling Cream and the same technique for similar results.”

“I actually love this kind of haircut on day two or three,” says Quintero. “Sometimes it’s better once it’s been slept on and has lost that freshly styled feeling. I wouldn’t completely wet the hair again—lightly mist the areas that need reviving with water or a curl-refresh spray, scrunch those pieces and hit them with the diffuser for a few minutes. Then use your fingers at the roots to bring the volume back, particularly around the crown. And embrace a little frizz. For this look, frizz isn’t necessarily something that needs to be ‘fixed’—it can actually be part of what gives the hair that great, shaggy texture.”

“I’d keep everything lightweight. You want enough moisture to keep the curl looking healthy and enough hold to give it some longevity, but you never want to coat the hair so much that you lose the movement.” Quintero suggests starting with a styling cream or mousse on wet hair.

He adds: “I love moving the hair around as I diffuse—flipping it from side to side and letting it dry in different directions—because you don’t want to set it into one perfect shape. Once it’s completely dry, get your hands back into it. Shake it out, separate some of the curls and let a little frizz happen. The goal isn’t perfect curl definition; it’s movement and personality.”

“For me, the rule with a haircut like this is always less is more. You can always add more product, but once you’ve weighed down that natural texture, you’ve lost the thing that makes the haircut so beautiful in the first place.”

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