If an actor has appeared in more than 130 films, it's likely he knows a thing or two about keeping up appearances. That's why Michael Caine, since first entering the scene in 1950, has served up a ton of lessons in how to present yourself. Clearly, it's not a difficult task for him; with a plethora of perfectly tailored suits, black turtlenecks, wool pea coats and, of course, leather boots, his style has long centered around quality and simplicity.
His grooming, on the other hand, has a pretty eccentric history. Having embraced a fair few rogue styles in his time (shout-out to the shoulder-length days circa 2006 – an unexpected vibe), there's one styling move above all that, to this day, remains his most iconic: his take on the finger waves, the flapper-esque technique born out of a desire to bring some serious glamour to grooming in the 1920s.
Fifty years later, around 1970, Caine made a modern case for it, taking his naturally wavy locks and working them into those perfectly positioned spirals. In contrast to his tailored approach to fashion, his grooming was an exuberant finishing touch, a unique form of coolness that made him stand out from the crowd. It's some tough styling to master yourself but, if you do, your mop is bound to stand out.
Interested in having a go? Good news: we called up one of our favourite barbers, Joe Mills (founder of Joe & Co), and asked him about how to approach styling it. He told us we were testing him with this one, but, hey, who isn't up for a grooming challenge? Especially if the result looks as good as Caine's? Over to Mills' top tips…
GQ: Joe, how do we get our hair looking as elegant as Michael Caine's (circa 1970)?
Joe: OK. The finger wave. Ideally, it works best on hair with a wave or natural curl, but we can do some serious styling if your texture is medium to thick.
The easiest way to achieve this look is by creating it when the hair is clean and wet. Decide where you want your hair to part and comb it through with a fine-tooth comb. After this, you're going to need a setting gel. Apply a decent amount – I'd say a two-pence size to start. You may need to add a bit more, but just make sure it's applied evenly all through your hair.
Comb back through your hair again with the parting in place. If you have a strong curl it should almost fall into place, but either way you're going to need to use some hair clips to hold it while it dries. You want to place the clips along the bend of the “S” of the curl – not on the ridge.
If you hair doesn’t fall in to the wave then first, you need to comb your hair straight down towards the ear and then place your index finger parallel to you, parenting a couple of inches down from your part. You need to hold that hair in place, take the comb and place it into the hair parallel again a couple of inches below your finger. Then push the hair away from your face to form the wave.
Take the clips and place it along the wave (not the ridge) and then remove the comb. Once again, place your finger parallel to the clip and repeat the notion, but this time drag the comb towards the face to create the wave in the other direction before clipping again. This is going to take quite a bit of practice, to be honest, but keep doing it along the side of your hair and then repeat on the other side.
Once you have the waves in and clipped, get the hairdryer out and dry your hair (low speed and high heat works best and make sure not to touch it). Once it is fully dry, remove the clips and then carefully brush it through using a Denman brush. This will leave you with the waves in your hair.
To finish, I would suggest a small amount of grooming cream spread through your palms and then lightly smoothed through the hair. This will take away the fluffiness of your hair and give it some natural hold.
