Khloé Kardashian’s Voluminous Curls Mark a Major Beauty Departure

Khloé Kardashian entered early August with a hair moment that caught her followers entirely off guard—a complete embrace of voluminous curls that marked a striking contrast to her recent styling patterns. The Good American founder and Kardashians star posted a series of new photographs to Instagram showcasing hair that commanded immediate attention: long, loose curls with pronounced volume and body throughout, the kind of look that recalled the oversized waves that defined Mariah Carey’s aesthetic during the early and mid-1990s.

The Curls That Stopped the Internet

Volume and Movement

The defining characteristic of Kardashian’s new look was undeniable volume. The curls weren’t subtle or understated—they were big, bold statements that created substantial width and movement throughout the entire length of her hair. Each curl maintained definition and separation, a result of careful styling technique rather than accident. The hair fell long, cascading past her shoulders, with the volume distributed evenly from the roots through the ends. The tousling that added to the effect wasn’t random; it was deliberate, creating texture and dimension that made each individual curl visible and prominent. This level of fluff and body throughout the entire look required specific knowledge of both styling technique and product application.

The Color Story

The bronde base that Kardashian wore created the perfect canvas for the warm honey highlights that became central to the look’s overall impact. These honey-toned pieces practically shimmered in the light, catching illumination in a way that made the curl texture far more visible than it would have been with a flat or uniform color. The interplay between the honey highlights and the honey-bronde base created dimensional depth that enhanced the three-dimensionality of the curls themselves. The warm undertones gave the entire look a luminous quality that felt particularly striking in the golden-hour lighting in which the photographs were captured.

How Justine Marjan Built the Look

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Creating Maximum Volume

Kardashian’s frequent hair collaborator, Justine Marjan, engineered this transformation with precise technical skill. The stylist’s approach began with a one-sided part that immediately created asymmetry and visual interest. From there, Marjan applied the curls in a way that suggested the use of heat tools—either a curling iron or wand applied in sections to build the desired dimension. The decision to tousle the curls after creating them proved equally important; rather than leaving the curls uniform and perfectly sculpted, this gentle disruption added movement and a lived-in quality that made the style feel less formal and more accessible.

The specific technique for achieving this level of volume likely involved sectioning the hair into manageable portions and curling each section away from the face, then away from the back, to create layers of movement that build dimension from the crown outward. The tousling afterward—gently moving, separating, and re-arranging the curls—prevents them from looking overly uniform or pageant-like. Instead, the result appears effortless and natural, despite the significant technical work required to achieve this effect. The fact that the volume and movement remain consistent throughout the entire length suggests that each section was treated with equal attention and product to ensure uniform results.

The Mariah Carey Connection

The comparison to Mariah Carey’s early-to-mid-1990s hairstyle wasn’t accidental. That era defined an aesthetic where voluminous curls and hair with maximum body became a signature look for prominent female musicians and celebrities. Marjan’s recreation of this style for Kardashian demonstrates how classic beauty moments can be revisited and refreshed for contemporary audiences. The reference point provides immediate context for understanding what Kardashian was attempting—not trendy curls, but iconic, statement-making curls that harken back to a specific moment in pop culture history.

The Makeup and Lighting Strategy

Makeup artist Melissa Hurkman completed the look with a soft, romantic glam that enhanced rather than competed with the curls. Hurkman applied rosy cheeks that gave Kardashian a warm, approachable appearance, and added full lashes that framed the eyes without overwhelming them. The golden-hour lighting captured in these photographs proved crucial to the overall aesthetic; the warm, diffused quality of light at golden hour amplified the luminosity of the honey highlights and created a glow that made the entire look feel romantic and effortless. This specific timing for photography—choosing golden hour rather than harsh midday sun or artificial studio light—shows strategic thinking about how to best showcase the styling work.

Breaking from Years of Straight and Sleek

What made this moment particularly striking was the sharp departure from Kardashian’s documented styling preferences over recent years. Her followers have become accustomed to seeing her in long blowouts with blunt, polished lines that emphasize smoothness and control. Beachy waves have appeared frequently, offering a more undone aesthetic but still fundamentally distinct from curls. Sleek bobs in various lengths have given her entirely different silhouettes. Against this backdrop of recent styling choices, the return to voluminous curls felt genuinely noteworthy—not a subtle shift, but a complete pivot in aesthetic direction.

The Overwhelming Fan Response

The Instagram comment section became flooded with heart-eye emojis and enthusiastic praise from followers who appeared genuinely excited about this new direction. The engagement extended beyond typical fan reactions when Shakira, a noted curly-haired celebrity in her own right, commented on the photographs with a single affirmation: “Bella!” This endorsement from another prominent figure known for embracing curly texture and wearing her hair voluminously seemed to validate what Kardashian’s followers already felt about the look. The comment section activity suggested that followers had been waiting for Kardashian to explore her natural texture in this way.

Her Documented History with Natural Texture

This recent curl moment, while striking, wasn’t entirely without precedent in Kardashian’s public styling history. Back in 2021, she posted a selfie to social media that revealed her natural curly texture. Accompanying the image, Kardashian wrote that although she rarely wore her hair naturally curly, she was feeling “kinda cute” in them that day. This comment provided direct insight into her relationship with her own curl pattern—that wearing curls is a deliberate choice she makes occasionally rather than her default styling approach.

Since that 2021 selfie, Kardashian has brought out curls a few additional times, creating occasional moments where her natural texture receives prominent display. These appearances feel strategic and intentional rather than spontaneous, suggesting that when they occur, they represent active styling decisions rather than departures from routine.

The family’s frequent sharing of childhood photographs—posted for birthdays and nostalgic occasions—reveals that Kardashian possessed remarkably adorable natural curls when she was younger. These throwback images show a version of her whose curly hair texture was a defining visual feature. However, Kardashian has been transparent about the fact that over the years, she has undergone many straightening treatments designed to alter her natural curl pattern. This history underscores that her current curls represent a conscious choice to temporarily step away from her typical approach, rather than a reversion to an untreated natural state. The styling represents a deliberate conversation with her own hair history—revisiting a texture and aesthetic that she has chosen to minimize for years, but which still remains accessible to her when she decides to showcase it.