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You don’t have to know much about the Dallas Cowboys – let alone football – to know who the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are. Arguably the most famous cheerleading team in the U.S., if not the world, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (DCC for short) are the epitome of effortless glamour. But what does it actually take to look the part of America’s Sweetheart?
“There’s not one specific look to a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader,” Kelli Finglass, current director and former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, says on Netflix’s documentary series, “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.” Finglass, along with many current and past DCC members in the hit documentary, emphasizes a certain “it” factor that each girl has to have to even make the squad. When it comes to their glam, it’s an individualized look that considers everything such as eye color, skin tone, hair texture, and attitude that’s later finessed to highlight their best features.
“I would describe the quintessential look of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders as very classy, with a touch of quiet luxury,” Kevin Ozowski, stylist at Tangerine Salon, the Dallas-based official salon of DCC, tells PS. “Their hair needs to move with them while they dance; it needs to be bouncy and visible for the fans.”
It’s “natural glam-esque,” adds Victoria Kalina, former DCC cheerleader and one of the main focuses of the Netflix documentary. “Not bold and overly dramatic, but we do need to have that glam aspect just because we are far away. We’re on billboards [and] on HD screens in AT&T Stadium; we do need to have that kind of high-def look to our makeup.”
For the record, there are no real strict rules on what colors women can or cannot wear for their makeup or how to do their hair. It’s more of loose guidelines to help them strike that perfect balance between glam and natural. Former DCC cheerleader Katherine Puryear, for example, says she could experiment with teals or purples in her waterline to match her brown eyes. But stops at putting on anything that is too heavy or excessive, such as heavy eyeliner or crazy bold colors. “A soft beat,” says Puryear. “You want to look like you have makeup on, but to a point where it looks natural and enhances your features.”
“You still look like the girl next door while pulling off-stage makeup essentially,” adds Madeline Massingill, another former member of DCC. “You [also] don’t want to take away from the uniform because it’s the iconic uniform.”
Makeover Days
The first step to looking the part is makeover day, and Tangerine Salon is where these transformations first happen. During training camp, Ozowski will attend a practice to watch the women and observe how their hair moves while dancing. Then, alongside Finglass, they decide on what styles and hair colors might look best on each girl.
Day of, they’ll do a consultation with each girl about the looks they’re suggesting before handing them to their assigned stylist. The process can last anywhere from a few hours to most of the day, depending on how big of a change they’re making. “A look is important to the overall appeal,” Finglass says in the documentary. “Having renewed confidence or kind of an extra dose of glam certainly helps.”
But regardless of how drastic that change might be, Finglass, Ozowski and the styling team are there to help them ease into their new look. “You know somebody’s beautiful, but they just have the wrong hair color. We take them to the salon and address that,” Finglass goes on to say in the show. “Nine times out of ten, they love it and they’re more photogenic because of it.”
“Sometimes you can tell the girls are a bit nervous,” Ozowski says. “They are always excited, but I do try to reassure them that we are experts in our field and we wouldn’t give them anything that wouldn’t suit them.”
Massingill agrees and says makeover day actually helped her rediscover her natural curls. The former DCC cheerleader recalls coming to her first training camp with straight, jet-black hair. It ended up getting chopped and lightened, but it wasn’t until she got cut from the team that she leaned into the huge transformation-at least hair-wise.
“When I got cut, I was like, OK, what does Maddie need to do to be Maddie?'” she says. She came back the next year with light brown hair and her natural curls, and the rest was history. “If I show up and I’m being myself and they love me, great. If I show up and I’m being myself and they don’t, OK, I’m not meant to be there. When I came back, they were just as surprised as I was that I found my naturally curly hair. I’m really glad that they embraced it because I now can’t imagine having any other curls.”
Tangerine Salon is also an Aveda salon, so the products Ozowski and the stylists use (and recommend moving forward) are a lot of the Aveda classics, such as the Control Force Strong Hold Hairspray ($40), Botanical Repair Treatment ($56), and Heat Relief Heat Protectant ($40). They also give the women hairstyling tips to take with them for game days, such as prep with hot rollers for volume, never forget to use a heat protector and hairspray, and how to curl hair for that quintessential DCC hair. Once done, these are the looks they keep throughout the season.
Game Days
How the women look on game day stays the same for any outside appearances, focusing on that natural glam. But the prep for game days specifically starts hours before kickoff, where the cheerleaders will do their full makeup and hair before boarding the bus to the stadium. The touch-ups, famously known as the “Fluff and Puff,” occur before rehearsal, before they perform their iconic opening entrance dance, “Thunder,” and during halftime. But there’s not much time to re-apply a full face of makeup (though some might do it), so many opt for quick re-applications of their easiest products.
“The ‘fluff and puff’ was definitely necessary,” says Massingill. “We always felt way better headed back out feeling really good.” As for the exact products they use for their glam, Massingill, Kalina, and Puryear share with PS all the products that got them through game day. See what they used below.
Victoria Kalina’s Beauty Routine
Image Source: Andrew Dieb/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Kalina’s glam started with skin prep using peel masks and moisturizer from Lancôme (“Lancôme girly over here,” she says). Then, she skipped the primer and went straight into makeup. For the base, her go-to was Clinique’s Even Better Foundation ($39). “It hides all of my blemishes,” she says. “You only need a little bit and it will do full coverage; it is amazing [and] a full bottle would last me all season.” She loves pinks and would gravitate toward Bobbi Brown Blush in Desert Pink ($36) to add color to her cheeks and the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer ($36).
For her eye makeup, she stuck to colors that complement her eyes best. “I have green eyes, so I really stick to those pinker and purple shades,” she says. Her go-to shadows came from an old Too Faced Valentine’s Day palette they no longer make, the Ardell Wispies False Lashes ($13), and Too Faced’s Better Than Sex Mascara ($29). And for her lips, it was all about the gloss.
“A lot of girls will say that gloss is a no-go just because there’s so many hair flips, but I love a gloss,” she says. “So I will be glossing up my lips before game day [officially starts], after halftime, right before we go back out.” She used the Clinique Chubby Stick in Woopin’ Watermelon ($25), followed by the Tarte Maracuja Juicy Lip Liner in Mauve ($22). Then, for extra shine, she’ll layer on a light pink Lancôme Juicy Tube ($25). To lock it all into place, she’d spray the Too Face 3-in-1 Hangover Rx ($36).
As for her hair, she went with the classic, big Texas curls. “Big hair, don’t care. The higher the hair, the closer to God,” she says. She would use Conair’s 1-and-¼ inch Clamp Curling Iron ($20) and pin curl her hair. “I would pin curl it before going on the bus. Then we would do rehearsal and I would come back whenever we had fluff and puff time to re-pin the curls.” To set hair, she’d use SexyHair Big Sexy Hairspray ($10) while her hair is in the pin curls and the Sebastian Professional Shaper Plus Hairspray ($30) after.
Katherine Puryear’s Beauty Routine
Image Source: Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
Puryear’s skin-care regimen included a double cleanse with an oil-based cleanser (especially useful for post-game when she needs to take off her makeup) and foaming cleanser, followed by gentle exfoliation pads that she can use everyday to lift excess dirt and debris. Because she has dry skin, she’d turn to a hydrating toner. Then, followed up with a dark spot corrector (niacinamide, snail mucin, and vitamin C are key ingredients), an eye cream, moisturizer, and sunscreen.
For her makeup, she’d start with placing primer around her smile line and nose. Followed by the Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Foundation ($52), a contour in a cool tone, concealer, the Patrick Ta Major Headlines Double-Take Creme & Powder Blush Duo ($38), and bronzer. She opted for the Fenty Beauty Flyliner Longwear Liquid Eyeliner ($24) and Make Up For Ever Artist Color Pencil Longwear Lip Liner ($24) and then she’d spritz the One/Size by Patrick Starr On ‘Til Dawn Mattifying Waterproof Setting Spray ($32) to set it all in.
To get those voluminous curls, she turned to a tried-and-true hair trick: the sock curl. “I would sock curl it the night before,” she says. “They look absolutely crazy when you wake up, but by game time, they have fallen so beautifully that all you need is a quick touch-up during halftime.”
She’d lock in her makeup and strategically place deodorant to act as a barrier to ensure she didn’t sweat off her makeup. “A little deodorant on the hairline helps a little bit,” she says, warning to do this carefully. “[Do] not use sweat blockers on your face. It burns so bad, dries your face out, and makes your makeup crack. It truly was the worst learning experience ever.”
Madeline Massingill’s Beauty Routine
Image Source: Andrew Dieb/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
As beauty lovers know, prepping for makeup starts with prepping the skin. Massingill looked for products that helped protect and support her skin barrier. “I really like the Dr. Jart+ Ceramidin ($49),” she says. “It has a bit of tackiness to it, so my makeup sticks really well to it, and it’s just good for my skin barrier while makeup [is] put on it multiple times during game day.”
Her favorite foundation was Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Liquid Foundation ($11), which she says did not move on game day. “It’s just thick enough that it stays on really well and it’s just matte enough to not add shine to the sweat.”
During her time with DCC, she says they were sponsored by Kiss and wore Kiss strip lashes for added volume. Her trick to making them look as natural as possible was sticking the strip underneath her lash instead of on top. “I have pretty small eyes, so I would cut my [strip] lash in half and just the long half on the outer edge,” she says. “I would put my lashes underneath because I found it looked a lot more natural and would hold up on a game day a lot better.” Toward the end of her time cheering with the Dallas Cowboys, she would experiment with a cat-eye. But she mostly opted for a neutral smoky eye, which she said looked best on her, and leaned towards more mauve-like shades for her lips. Her favorite was Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Rapture ($19).
And to make sure her makeup wouldn’t move, she reached for the Fitish Don’t Sweat It $24). “It’s a small company in Dallas,” she says. “And your makeup will not move. So whenever people ask, ‘How do you keep your makeup on all game day?’ That was my holy grail.”
She teased her curls for game days using the DevaCurl Devafuser ($55) to add volume and a paste mixture of the Bed Head Masterpiece Shiny Hairspray ($26) and SexyHiar Big Sexy Hair Powder Play Volumizing & Texturizing Powder ($22) for a strong hold. She credits her teammates for any hair tricks and tips she learned over the years. “That was one of my favorite things my rookie year,” she says. “One of my leaders, Jenna, would sit in her locker, and I would sit on the floor right in front of her locker. She would tease my hair for me because I didn’t know how to do the Texas tease.”
The getting ready process was a “sisterly bond” for everyone, and the beauty lessons learned were later passed down to new teammates. “Beauty is a community on our team,” she says. “We sat in our lockers together. We would share all of our products. You never had to be worried about if you forgot something; someone had it, and someone would share. . . It felt like I had 35 older sisters.”
Audrey Noble is a beauty writer who covers breaking news, writes celebrity profiles, and does deep-dive features about the ways race, gender, sexuality, and other forms of identity impact society via the beauty industry. Previously, she was the beauty reporter at Allure and has held editorial positions at Vanity Fair and Refinery29. Audrey’s work can also be seen in PS, Vogue, Harper’s BAZAAR, Bustle, InStyle, WWD, and more.
