Women's Health August 24, 2026 0 Comments

Unlock the Secret Behind Annie’s Stunning Curls—Sterling Point’s Lead Hairstylist Reveals the Game-Changing Routine!

Have you ever found yourself binge-watching a show and suddenly getting distracted—not by plot twists or cliffhangers, but by the star’s hair? Well, Sterling Point fans are living that exact experience with Annie Jacobson’s luscious curls stealing the spotlight just as much as the gripping teen drama itself. Played by Ella Rubin, Annie’s journey from a polished New York teen to a wild-haired island inhabitant isn’t just a character arc—it’s a full-on curl narrative that tells its own story. It’s fascinating how hair, often the overlooked detail, becomes a vivid reflection of identity and growth, right? And let me tell you, the hairstyling magic behind those bouncy coils is nothing short of genius, blending authenticity with a touch of early 2000s nostalgia that’s got everyone chatting. Ready to dive into the curl secrets behind this Prime Video sensation? LEARN MORE

3 min read

Sterling Point fans can’t get enough of the twists and turns in Prime Video’s newest hit teen drama, but they may be even more obsessed with the curls and coils in main character Annie Jacobson’s hair.

Played by Ella Rubin, Annie is a high-achieving 17-year-old New Yorker who inherits Sterling Point, a Canadian island in the Muskoka Lakes region, from her recently deceased grandfather, whom she never knew. To learn more about her grandfather and her late mother, she decides to spend the summer in Sterling Point—and uncovers a whole bunch of family secrets in the process.

While Annie is finding out the truth, she’s also finding herself. The evolution of Annie’s character is told, in part, through her hair. “Ella has incredible natural curls that we were able to smooth or enhance based on if she was New York Annie (more polished) or Muskoka Annie (more wild and curly),” lead hairstylist Chrystal Lotz tells Women’s Health via email. “Ella had a deep understanding of the character, and we collaborated a lot when it came to hair changes.”

A Tale of Two Tresses

annie jacobson ella rubin in sterling point

New York Annie

Courtesy of Prime

ramona amélie hoeferle, annie jacobson ella rubin in sterling point

Muskoka Annie

Sabrina Lantos

Lotz and her team wanted all the characters, but particularly Annie, to have a “super natural” hairstyle that looked “as if cast had done their hair themselves,” she says. In fact, Ella did do a lot of her own styling. Each morning before coming to set, the actress scrunched Oribe Curl Gelée and Shu Uemura Kaze Wave Mousse into her damp hair.

After Ella’s hair fully air-dried, Lotz used K18 HeatBounce™ Leave-In Conditioner Heat Protectant to protect her curls before touching up any pieces that didn’t curl quite how the styling team wanted with a half-inch curling wand. “On each section we curled, we’d curl the top in one direction and the bottom in the other, giving each curl a randomness that looks more like a natural curl pattern than curls with a wand,” Lotz says.

Then, she added a finishing touch of Roz Milk Hair Serum and Santa Lucia Styling Oil for moisture and shine. All in all, it only took Lotz about 20 minutes to touch up Ella’s curls and do any other styling (braids, ponytails, etc.) for the scene.

The Products Behind Annie’s Perfectly Imperfect Curls

While Lotz chose products that would last throughout a long day of shooting, and the styling team was always available to handle additional touch-ups, they often let the Muskoka Lakes work their magic on Ella’s hair. “This included not fighting any frizziness that happened as a result of humidity or being on boats in the wind,” she says. “It’s unrealistic to have perfect hair while racing across lakes on a boat, and we really wanted it to feel realistic for the situations our characters found themselves in.”

annie jacobson ella rubin, maple mabel strachan, oona bo bragason, ramona amélie hoeferle sterling point

Sabrina Lantos

From L to R: Ella Rubin as Annie, Mabel Strachan as Maple, Bo Bragason as Oona, and Amélie Hoeferle as Ramona in Sterling Point.

That commitment to imperfection paid off pretty much immediately. Soon after Sterling Point premiered on Prime Video, fans flooded Lotz’s Instagram with messages thanking her for showing the beauty of Ella’s natural curls and making them an essential part of Annie’s character.

Lotz credits fans’ obsession with Annie’s hairstyle to the current resurgence of early-aughts fashion, but with a more natural true-to-yourself twist. “A lot of the comments I’ve been seeing online are from people who have curly hair and grew up struggling to style it in times when it was popular to have straight flat hair,” she says. “Characters like Annie and Oona [Annie’s best friend] have shown that letting your hair do what it does naturally—frizz and all—is beautiful and versatile. I think a lot of people are really feeling seen by these characters, and I love that my team and I are able to be a part of that.”

But they’re just getting started as Sterling Point was recently renewed for season 2. “I can’t wait to see which new characters we will get to meet,” Lotz says, “and I hope we get to create some more style-influencing looks!”

Lindsay Geller is the lifestyle director at Women’s Health, where she oversees the Sex & Love, Relationships, and Life sections and manages Women’s Health+ content. She has 10 years of experience covering sex, relationships, health, fitness, and general lifestyle topics for print and digital publications. She currently lives in New Jersey with her husband and loves going on runs around her local park with her rescue dog.