On my way to a dinner party in Laurel Canyon last night, I stopped at Whole Foods to pick up some wine.  Walking through the cheeses aisle, I spotted Lauren Conrad with an army of blonde hipsterbots, all clad in blue, purple and pink flannel shirts, and all with long blonde locks tied back in braids.  (I am also convinced I saw Stephanie Pratt there, although she was on the other side of the store.  Mysterious.)  It pains me that I even know who these girls are…but let’s not pretend.  I do know.  I know what they look like, and I know who they date, and I know what their kitchen looks like, and I know that I need to stop watching MTV immediately before my IQ drops even further.

But!  Back to Lauren!  Her hair was some serious business: long and shiny and Boticelli-wavy, with said aforementioned braids woven throughout the back.  I know Lauren goes to Warren-Tricomi in West Hollywood, visiting Kaz Amor for color and Christine Symonds for cut (both of whom I’ve seen before, and who do fabulous work)…but looking red-carpet perfect is easy.  After all, you have a team of stylists catering to your every beauty whim, shellacking the bejeezus out of you until you resemble a Madame Tussauds wax mummy.  The true test of celebrity cuteness (and hairstyling adeptness) is spying one of ‘em in real life, in flannels, at Whole Foods on a Sunday evening…and realizing that they are still undeniably gorgeous.  You know, perhaps I’m smarter, a better writer, more kickass at Trivial Pursuit, maybe even quicker on the draw with an eyeliner pencil.  But when it comes to the looks game, that damn LC has me beat.  Sigh.

Rockin’ the waves n’ braids like nobody’s business…

Seriously.  This girl’s hair is perfect.

Let’s be real here. You might not want to be…you might despise yourself for it…you might proclaim that it’s everything wrong with the world…but you’re secretly, at least in part, kind of fascinated by The Hills…or, at the very least, the weird fact that its stars have suddenly become the biggest things in Hollywood. I spoke with Christine Symonds, celebrity hairstylist at Warren-Tricomi Los Angeles, who has been doing Lauren Conrad’s hair for three years, and who created her “soft, romantic” look last night. Lauren always looks cute as a button, with to-die-for hair…and she has Christine to thank.

Q: How do you decide upon styles for Lauren? Does she come to you with ideas, do you suggest styles, or is it usually collaborative?

Christine: Lauren is really great about having a vision about what she wants. She will tell me what her ideas are and more often then not I completely agree with her. We usually are always on the same page about what the final look should be.

Q: Can you give us the quick cheat-sheet version of how to re-create Lauren’s hair from last night?

Christine: We first curled her entire head of hair and then pulled the back section of her hair in a messy bun and left the 2 front sections out. With the section we left out we started twisting back pieces and securing them into the bun with bobby pins. We left out a few front pieces to leave the look feeling a little messy and undone. The key to mastering this look is making sure it doesn’t look too “perfect”.

Q: Looks pretty damn perfect to me!  What products do you use on her?

Christine: We used Warren Tricomi finishing cream and Redken hairspray to secure the look.