Celebrity Hair Stylist, Wendy Iles - What’s Inside Her Hair Bag?

Our founder Wendy Iles has been in NYC and will be there most of this summer.  She's currently busy launching Iles Formula into Bergdorf Goodman and working on  the set of Project Runway with the beautiful Heidi Klum. We were lucky to catch up with her on set to get a glimpse of What's In Wendy Iles' Hair Bag?

We wanted to see what she's using to create some of these stunning hairstyles and what her "go to" products and tools are.  If your interested in taking a peek, then read along with us.

The Case

Of course Wendy's bags are white with black detailing, she wouldn't have it any other way.  Wendy uses the brand SWISS for carrying her hair essentials around with her. They have a combination lock versus keys that get lost, great  360 degree wheels and are super light but strong. As you notice she has two bags with her at all times.  Wondering what are in each bag?  When your toting around bags that are identical twins, it makes it difficult to distinguish between what is stored in each bag.  If you notice on the top of the bags where "ILES" is written, you will see on one case there are two dots, and on the other there are three dots. Are you wondering what this means?  So were we,  so we asked Wendy.  This is how she is able to know what is in each bag without having to open them up.  The bag with two dots contains Wigs and Hair Extensions, and the bag with three dots includes all her hair tools and hair products. She is such a virgo!  Ready to see What's In Wendy Iles' Hair bag?

Let's Go Inside....

Here is a peek at the first side of Wendy's bag.  Here you will see she keeps, products, clips, pins, and an extension cord.  Plus you will also notice the bag of adapters.  When you travel to multiple destinations, as much as Wendy does, it makes sense that you would need all of the necessary adapters for every country you visit.

Next...

In this section of her kit, you will see a bag of Wendy's preferred bobby pins that she gets from Japan.  Wendy pointed out she prefers these pins to all others as they are very strong holding, you will also notice a second bobby pin size that she named invisible pins. They are super fine  and are perfect if you want to invisibly thread them into hairstyles. Only downside is that they are black.

Of course her pin kit is perfectly organized with all of the essentials.

ELASTICS:  In multiple colors and varieties for any hair type and color.  Wendy also likes to use the hooked elastics for securing ponytails.

RIBBON:  You never know when you will want to add a bit of detail.

HAIR EXTENSION CLIPS:  The little clips on the left are sewn to hair wefts to create instant clip in extensions for any client.

HAIR PINS: These are Wendy's preferred brand of hair pins. They are Daria hair pins from Japan. These are the strongest pins she has found.

And....

You will notice that the only products you are seeing in Wendy's kit is Iles Formula 3-Step System.  This is because Wendy uses very little styling products on set, except her Iles Formula Finishing Serum that she uses on every single head of hair she touches.  Most of Wendy's clients are Iles Formula users at home, so by the time they are in her chair, the shampoo and conditioner steps with Iles Formula are already complete.

Wendy prefers using only the serum throughout the day on set because it never weights the hair down and continues to keep the hair "behaving" all day long.  When you are on set  for long hours with the same head of hair, the tendency is to use hairspray all day long to manage the hair.  When this happens however, the hair becomes unmanageable and over saturated with product.  With the Finishing Serum, this does not happen.  This is what most on set hairstylists love most about our serum. Touchable, workable hair all day long.

This is the other section of Wendy's bag where she keeps her irons, blowdryer, brushes, velcro rollers, etc.  Let's take a closer look at what she is using:

DRYER: Wendy carries two different hair dryers on set.  Her Dyson Professional Supersonic Hair Dryer and her other dryer by Harry Josh.

TONGS:  She carries tongs in multiple sizes from Hot Tools and Babyliss Pro.

FLAT IRON: GHD Straightening Irons are her flat irons of choice.

VELCRO ROLLERS:  Velcro rollers are perfect for setting the hair while the client is getting her makeup done.

The Set Up...

For the set up, it's always best to keep it simple.  You don't want to pull out your entire kit and take up the entire table.  Quite often you are sharing table space with the makeup artist and the client will need space to put their necessities as well.  So you will notice the minimal set up.  Let's get the breakdown of Wendy's Set up:

COMBS:  Wendy prefers metal tail combs not plastic.   Her brand of choice is from Paris Hercules Sagemann.  For the rake comb, she loves Delorme Paris and for  the cutting comb, Triumph Master from Germany.

BRUSHES:  Olivia Garden ceramic + ion round brushes are the favorite hair brushes of Wendy's.  She also loves the Wet Brush.


It's always fun to be able to sneak a peek inside the kit of the pro's and see exactly what they are using to create the looks we see on the runway, red carpet, tv and editorial.  Thank you to Wendy for letting us take a peek.  We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Are you currently using any of the tools or products Wendy is using?  Let us know which ones in the comments.  As always, thank you for sharing your love of Iles Formula with us on social media.  Continue tagging us in @ilesformula_hair and #IlesFormula we love to see it.