By Helena Madonna

Arthouse films don’t just tell captivating stories – they ooze aesthetic, pulse with energy and by the time the credits roll, they’ve likely inspired you to completely reinvent yourself.

These films leave you with sequences that linger: fever-drenched dance floors, emotionally charged six-minute monologues or technicolor breakdowns in the mirror. What better way to embody that cinematic obsession than through your next hairstyle?

If you've watched (or rather, experienced) Climax, Love Lies Bleeding, Anora, The Substance or Pearl and thought, ‘this is my entire personality now’, take this as your hair oracle to guide your next salon appointment. From sweat-slicked chaos to glossy, villainous lengths, there’s a look for every film fan.

Your life is a Cinderella story written by Sean Baker – equal parts hilarious, beautiful and full of tough lessons. You now know better than to date a mama’s boy (or the son of a Moscow billionaire). But you’ll never give up your search for someone who can handle the baddie that you are.

It's not like you’re short on options when it comes to potential love interests; your chaotic energy is undeniably magnetic. It's a pull so powerful, you make strangers fall in love. Maybe it's your refusal to comply or be boring, but wherever you go, something happens.

Those close to you know that beneath the hustle, you're soft, loving and fiercely protective. You talk tough but if one of your girls calls you crying at 2am, you won't hesitate to show up with a pint of ice cream and a shoulder to cry on. You'd do so in last night’s eyeliner, wearing a bodycon dress, smelling of cigarettes and expensive perfume and stepping out of a car blasting Doja Cat, M.I.A or Britney Spears.

Hustler Highlights
Life moves fast, so you need a hairstyle that'll keep up. A solo shade is just too vanilla for you – tinsel extensions are your twinkling solution.

Hustler Highlights are pure hot girl mayhem with just the right amount of shine. They're the perfect match to your glittery lifestyle and those lips slicked with a bodega bought gloss that tastes of artificial cherry.

You are, without a doubt, the hottest, sweatiest person on any dance floor. You may not have slept in 24 hours, yet somehow, you still look incredible. You wouldn’t have it any other way – you live for out-of-body experiences and will do anything to reach them (though you're now a little wary of sangria).

The highlight reel of your life is lit by pulsating reds, nauseating greens, and flashing neon lights. Your friends know you as unapologetically theatrical. You can’t laugh without throwing your head back, and you can’t collapse onto the couch without making a scene. Everything about you pulses with intensity.

Despite being fully present, you’re also deeply sensory-oriented. You can taste the music, feel the lights. Your signature outfit? Low-slung track pants, a tiny crop top, and sneakers that have seen too much.

As for glam, there’s always glitter stuck in places it shouldn’t be, and your eyeliner stays smudged in a way that’s sexy, not sweaty. A trusty lip stain completes the look – regular lipstick is no match for a night spent dancing to FKA Twigs or The Prodigy.

The Dopamine Drip
You need a hairstyle that can keep up with all the moments of ecstasy, movement and chaos that life constantly throws at you. There's only one style that can keep your hair as rave soaked as you are: the Dopamine Drip.

An effortless take on the classic wet look, it leaves your hair looking like it’s been caught in a sun shower – or like you just stepped out of a mosh pit. Prep your strands with a moisture mousse, then drench them in high-shine oil. You’ll be rave-ready in no time.

Beneath those muscles and motel-light mayhem lies a secretly tender, big softie. You might throw a punch over a minor slight, but on the same day, you’ll rescue a stray dog and cry about it in the shower.

You run on adrenaline-fueled passion, the ride-or-die kind of love – especially if it involves a gas station romance and a U-Haul truck. Amidst your desert highway rebellion, you may go days without sleeping, yet your lover swears you’ve never looked better.

When you’re not pumping iron to Ethel Cain or Nine Inch Nails, you’re in scuffed cowboy boots, swaying on the sticky dance floor of a dive bar. Your glam? Applied through a cracked rearview mirror. You don’t need much anyway – your cheeks stay permanently flushed from the open road sun or a make-out session in the front seat of your beat-up Mustang.

Truck Stop Mullet

To truly embody your aesthetic, there’s only one hairstyle fit for the job: the shaggy, sun-bleached Truck Stop Mullet.

More than just business in the front, party in the back, it’s a Kentucky waterfall of choppy layers, rugged texture, and a generous scoop of your most trusted styling paste. It can be executed professionally, or you can take your chances with a pocketknife in a rest stop bathroom…

You took ‘new year, new me’ a little too seriously. Never again will you trust an injectable black-market Mountain Dew drug, no matter what it promises.

You stomach graphic, twisted body horrors like no other, falling asleep to Lynch and Cronenberg like they’re Disney comfort films. However, even the sight of a greasy plate of shrimp can send you into full-body revulsion.

Even when internally screaming, you will never let anyone see you sweat. Permanently poised, you exude an aura so polished, it’s a little unsettling. Your admirers can’t decide whether they’re drawn to your magnetic beauty or your eerie perfection – either way, they remain besotted. Obsessed with optimisation, you're forever striving to be better, though you're not certain on what better exactly means.

For someone who never sleeps (or never needs to), your glam maintains its overly polished reputation with ease. So much so, it looks to have been designed by Pat McGrath for a Margiela runway. Smearing on a lethal shade of red lipstick, verging on a mental breakdown while listening to Sophie or eerie classical piano pieces, is all just a typical Friday night.

Silk Tox Locks

A surgically precise blend of a silk press and botox for your locks – nothing less would suffice. Though Silk Tox Locks appear artificially perfect, it’s really just the result of bond-shaping treatments and glass-like masques.

No layers, just an immaculate silhouette with an uncanny, high-shine finish that turns heads. Even when you deny it, people will suspect that something about your gloss isn’t entirely FDA-approved.

To the film girlies, you're Patrick Bateman in a ruffled pinafore dress and a red lip that gives a whole new meaning to a killer smile. You don't just think you're destined for stardom, you know you’re a star.

Beneath your powdery, rosy glow lies a hopeless romantic who falls hard, mostly for the fantasy of love rather than the reality. You find comfort in daydreams and romanticise everything, soundtracked by Lana Del Rey or Judy Garland melodies.

You simply do not believe in being underdressed. You could be discovered at any moment, so you must always be ready. Your wardrobe is somewhere between county fair beauty queen and 1940s housewife with a farm girl twist. If your gingham aprons doused in flour could talk, they'd speak of something sweet or sinister – depending on your mood that day.

The Spotlight Set

You already know you're a star but in order to convince everybody else, you've gotta look the part. Look no further than The Spotlight Set: swirling waves and eerily pristine curls lying gracefully beneath crisp satin bows.

You practice everything until you reach perfection, no matter the blood, sweat or tears. For you, this style will be a piece of cherry pie. To make things easier, allow a trusty volume mousse, strong hold hairspray and high-shine spray to do the heavy lifting.