Maya Jama just proved she's the ultimate *firebabe* with her spin on 'Leo season hair'—here's how to copy her new look

When it comes to Maya Jama's hair and fashion serves, every season is Leo season...

Maya Jama with curly hair and wearing a silver, sparkly co ord in pictured in the Love Island 2023 villa/ in a pink, purple and orange template
(Image credit: ITV/ Lifted Entertainment)

Maya Jama just channeled her sizzling fire sign energy into her luscious locks, debuting (and in our opinion, winning) the 'Leo season' hair trend.

If you haven't already guessed from our terrible Stormzy song pun in the headline (Firebabe is a track thought to be inspired by the Love Island host), Maya's star sign is of course, a Leo and as of Sunday, July 23, 2023, we officially entered the season of the lion. Why does this have anything to do with her hair, you ask? Well, Leos famously ooze all thing confidence, charisma and have somewhat of a penchant for being the center of attention—something Maya Jama's outfits effortlessly achieve. These fiery qualities have thus inspired a new hair trend of bouncy, larger-than-life curls and Maya's take has left our jaws on the floor.

Rocking up to the villa for what was to be her penultimate visit of season 10, Maya swapped her usually sleek hair, for voluminous curls and we're officially obsessed. So, here's a close-up of her new look and how to recreate it, no matter your star sign...

Maya Jama's 'Leo season' hair

For anyone not yet versed in the new cosmic beauty trend, 'Leo season hair' is inspired by the fiery lion star sign and is all about big, fluffy main-like hair. Think endless, flowing curls and poofy, gravity-defying '90s style blowouts.

Naturally, as it's a look focused on their very birth chart, all of our favorite Leos have been jumping on the voluminous movement, from JLo to Kylie Jenner and of course, Love Island's host, Maya Jama.

Doing her iconic slow-mo walk into the villa, Maya debuted her dreamy new hairdo—along with three stunning outfits, including a pink crochet dress moment. We also saw her put a twist on the look, repping a half-up-half-down, curly hairdo on Aftersun.

Her look is literally "giving bad bitch," (a Whitney Love Island UK phrase from season 10) which is definitely the energy we want to be serving this summer and beyond.

How to recreate Maya's curls

Maya has quite long hair, so if you've got a similar length you will be able to recreate a similar effect quite easily—but that's not to say those with short, bob hairstyles can't try their hand at this Leo season vibe. You just might need to adapt it slightly to suit your length by using a waver for instance, if you can't wrap your strands fully around a curling wand.

If you already have a curly hair type, now is definitely the time to embrace your natural waves and get those curls looking as shiny and healthy as possible! A defining curl mouse would also be ideal for this look, to hold and smooth them. 

If you have straight her or want to create more uniform curls, this is where a curling wand comes in! Every last lock of Maya's hair is curly, so be sure to section out your hair (these section clips from Amazon work a treat!)—also try holding your curler downwards, and wrapping your strands out and away from your face as you curl. If your hair is on the finer side, you can also try using clip-in extensions to really boost that volume, the bigger the hair, the better with this look!

Alternatively, if you're looking to do more of a blowout look, either the Dyson Airwrap or Revlon One-Step Styling Brush is perfect for creating soft curls and volume. 

Naomi Jamieson
Lifestyle News Writer

Naomi is a Lifestyle News Writer with the Women's Lifestyle team, where she covers everything from entertainment to fashion and beauty, as well as TikTok trends for Woman&Home, after previously writing for My Imperfect Life and GoodTo. Interestingly though, Naomi actually has a background in design, having studied illustration at Plymouth University but lept into the media world in 2020, after always having a passion for writing and earned her Gold Standard diploma in Journalism with the NCTJ.

Before working for Future Publishing’s Lifestyle News team, she worked in the Ad production team. Here she wrote and designed adverts on all sorts of things, which then went into print magazines across all genres. Now, when she isn’t writing articles on celebs, fashion trends, or the newest shows on Netflix, you can find her drinking copious cups of coffee, drawing and probably online shopping.