Simple up-do
Well with this relentless heat if you don’t already have short hair, then there are times your going to wish you did.
That’s when your going to need to work out a plan B to get that short hair, off the shoulders coolness
without doing something that you may possibly regret later, or sooner for that matter.
Some people tie their own hair up with grace and ease, for everyone else here’s a few tips to help you to get that swept up cool look, with relative ease.
Firstly it is very difficult to put up clean, freshly washed hair, ask any stylist and they will tell you that the best hair to work with for up- styling is slightly dirty or at
least second day hair, freshly shampooed and conditioned hair is often too slippery to pull up into place and falls down easily.
Secondly your going to need good tools to get the job done, I struggle to put hair up if I don’t have the right combs, brushes and grips.
A cushion based partly bristle, partly synthetic brush combination I find the most effective for bringing all the hair together tightly and smoothly.
Mason & Pearson make the worlds best version of this type of dressing brush but there are many imitations that cost a fraction of the price and still do the job effectively!
Next you’ll need a tail comb, that’s the combs with teeth at one end and the other end with a long straight tail that is really useful for tucking ends in and smoothing the surface of the hair.
Lastly you’ll need something strong to hold your hair up in it’s gravity defying incarnation.
I have always found that any up- style having as it’s base, an elastic secured ponytail to be by far the easiest to work on and the safest against falling down or
collapsing throughout the day.
So to start with use a little gravity to get your hair into the initial ponytail providing the basis of any creativity that follows.
Whilst brushing your hair toss your head over as if you want to take a closer inspection of your kneecaps and with your band around your wrist brush all your hair
from all sides, gather it tightly in one hand before bringing the band off your wrist and around the ponytail your holding in your other hand tightly in a fist.
Wrap your hair band around as many time as you can creating a tight ponytail,
separate it in two then pull it in opposite directions to tighten further, you should now have a high, tight and hopefully smooth ponytail.
After this basic step, this is now where the fun and creativity starts.
I could write a whole book of suggestions on what you can now do with this ponytail but today I’m going to share one simple trick to give you an idea of what can be achieved when you have a plan to dress up a simple ponytail.
Your going to need four small rubber bands, start by taking a 1/4 of your ponytail, splitting it into three then braiding it finishing the braid with one of the rubber
bands to make sure it doesn’t unravel, repeat that procedure three more time on the remaining hair from the ponytail till you end up with a ponytail consisting of four braids.
Before commencing the next step you’ll need to have at least 8 bobby pins ready for the finish, simply take one of your four braids
and wrap it around the base of the ponytail in a clockwise direction and fasten the ends of that piece using two bobby pins attaching it to the base of the ponytail,
literally cross over the end of that braided piece of hair and push the bobby pins into the ponytail stump where the first and main hairband is.
Repeat this procedure with your second piece of hair except now you wrap it in an anti clockwise direction and pin in the same manner as the first piece.
Same goes now for braid number three back to a clockwise direction and finishing of with the fourth and final braid wrapping around everything in a anti clockwise
direction.
First and third braid wrapped and secured clockwise, second and fourth braid wrapped and secured anti clockwise.
Besides ending up with a beautiful braided top knot, you will have something that is near bullet proof when it comes to staying power and all you needed was an
elastic for your pony, four smaller ones for your individual braids and 8 pins, perhaps a little time consuming but time well spent.
Now with a little imagination, just think about what other creations you could come up with based on a simple ponytail??
