It’s 9am in Dubai and Ilham Mestour is already in full form. As crew members adjust studio lights and stylists finalise outfits for Vogue Arabia’s latest beauty shoot, the hair maestro works quietly on her model’s hair with her back to the room. With the precision of a surgeon, she switches between brushes, texturising powders and strong-hold sprays as her assistants look on while holding extra tools. I want to say hello, but I hold myself back. How does one interrupt an artist when they’re absolutely immersed in their sculpture?
Petite in stature but instantly recognisable by the voluminous mop of golden curls that surrounds her like a halo, Casablanca-born Mestour is among the world’s most celebrated hairstylists. Yet her warmth envelops the set as soon as we greet each other. As she teases each strand into voluptuous heights, she tells me about her own experience with embracing her signature look. “My mother loved me endlessly, but she didn’t really know how to handle my hair texture. Back then, the knowledge and products simply weren’t there yet,” she confesses. “There were moments when it was cut very short because it was considered ‘too difficult’ and that was emotional for me. Even as a child, I felt my hair was a part of who I was. Later when I lived in Europe again, finding stylists who understood my curly hair remained a challenge. Those experiences made me realise how deeply one’s hair is connected to confidence and identity.”
Oscillating between Morocco and the Netherlands, Mestour’s journey as a hairstylist began long before her foray into the worldof fashion weeks and glossy editorials. Growing up, she remembers watching ladies in the salon and looking up to Egyptian icon Sherihan when she’d earned some time to watch television. “As a child, I would sit quietly observing women arriving covered and then leaving transformed and more confident. That taught me that beauty isn’t just aesthetic; it’s ritual, community and identity.” Perhaps the most special memory in her book is one that takes her back to her grandmother. “I’d sit on the floor in front of her in the evenings and she would brush my hair patiently. She used natural oils, rose water, rhassoul clay and sometimes henna. It was always first about care, never just styling,” Mestour shares. “Then she would make two tight braids and wrap them around my head… almost like a little crown and tie a headscarf. I slept with that scarf every night. At the time it felt completely normal, but now I realise it was protection, ritual and love. Hair for me never started as fashion. It started as heritage and intimacy, and that feeling still guides everything I do today.”
Despite her parents hoping she’d choose a more traditional profession, the path had already been set for the icon. “In my culture, the expected career route was to study, go to university and have status and stability – something people recognised as success. Hairdressing didn’t fit that picture and my parents struggled with it, especially my mother,” she reveals. Years of practise finally paid off with a series of milestones, leading Mestour from her first gig at an Amsterdam salon in 1997 to fashion weeks, Vogue covers, a TV show of her own calledThe Next Hair Guru and appointments with international celebrities and royal clients, including Naomi Campbell, Imaan Hammam, Demi Moore, Farida Khelfa and Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. Now, almost three decades later, she paid homage to her Moroccan roots with the recently concluded Amazigh Hair Couture exhibit at Doha’s M7 museum, which highlighted the history of cultural significance of North Africa’s indigenous inhabitants. Spotlighting a range of themes, the showcase invited guests to experience hair “not as folklore, but as living culture”, she explains. “The exhibition was inspired by my roots, but it was more than a project. It felt like coming home. It brought me back to my grandmother, her rituals and everything she passed on to me.”
When love is poured into passion, the results can often be overwhelming. For Mestour, curating the exhibit was an emotional journey, resulting in a series of intricately styled hairpieces, archival photographs and videos, scent-based experiences tied to ritualistic hair practices and a stunning orange wool and henna-dyed hair textile created in collaboration with women from The Anou Cooperative in Fez. The displays evoked intense reactions as visitors connected varying elements to their own ancestors, a confirmation of Mestour’s core belief – hair carries memory universally.
Be it a red carpet moment, a historic exhibition or a Vogue shoot celebrating her artistry, Mestour’s work seems to be woven in the empowering language she wishes her younger self had grown up with. “I want fashion and beauty to feel collaborative instead of isolating,” she reflects. “Success becomes more meaningful when it’s shared.” As for every other curly girl growing up between cultures in a world that often demands women to fall in line instead of embracing their bodies, her advice echoes loudly: “Be proud. Proud of your roots, your texture, your uniqueness. Learn how to care for your hair, embrace it, carry it with confidence. Your identity isn’t something to hide, it’s your strength.”
Styling: Jennifer Kolomoni
Make-up: Sara Yunis
Hair assistants: Kenza Bia and Nara Ishkhanyan
Styling assistant: Helia Mirghaffari
Model: Anastasia Nochna
Shot on location: Enso Studios
This article originally appeared in the March 2026 issue of Vogue Arabia
