Transformation

Debra Messing may look like she just stepped out of a shampoo ad, but it takes more than a few twists of the curling iron to get her there. "She does have natural curly hair," confides her stylist, Luke O'Connor of the Lukaro Salon in Beverly Hills. "But it's not even close to this texture normally." What does a curl need to look good enough for the former Will & Grace star? O'Connor lets Messing's hair air-dry, then uses two curling irons—one large, one small—to create wave formations all over. "The goal is to make it look like it dried that way," he says. Check out more of the famous redhead's classic looks!

1986: Big hair and big dreams: Messing majored in theater arts at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.