You know when your hair reaches that maddening length — that hellacious hair point of no return — when trying to wrangle it into place becomes about as easy as trying to ride a bucking bronco?
I’m at that point.
I probably should’ve gotten a haircut about a month ago, but eh. You know how it goes…
The side braid has been totally saving my butt lately. It’s cute and easy (and I feel like Katniss Everdeen when I rock it), but I still like to switch things up.
Enter the messy braided bun! 🙂 It’s just as easy and only takes five minutes.
I got the idea from L’Oreal Consulting Celebrity Hairstylist Mara Roszak, who works her hair magic on glam red carpet gals like Emma Stone, Olivia Wilde and Mila Kunis, in an online webinar. I asked Mara for an easy, trendy hairstyle I could do in five minutes, and she suggested a textured bun.
Importantly, it’s easy. Just start by putting your hair into a ponytail. Then, braid the pony (haha, I just wanted to write, “braid the pony”), and secure the ends with an elastic.
Next, take your braid, and wrap it around the base of your ponytail until you have a bun. Add bobby pins to secure everything in place.
Tada! Instant bun with lots of great texture. 🙂
I tried it this afternoon with a couple of tweaks/adjustments. Here, I did it is a low pony with a side braid to off-center the bun; I also purposefully kept the braid and bun a little messy because I wanted my hair to look kind of unstructured and undone.
Once finished, I sprayed everything with L’Oreal’s new Weather Control Hairspray ($5), one of Mara’s must-have products for red carpet looks, to keep things in place (the spray doesn’t leave strands feeling heavy or crunchy and even handles humidity).
The whole messy, textured thing took less than five minutes. It keeps my hair out of my face and doesn’t look wildly out of control, yay! Totally keeping this one on my list of quick styles.
If you give it a whirl, send me a pic! Show me your (textured) buns. 😀
Techie Tabs needs this…
Gotta give props to my srunchie-lovin’ friend Paula over at Older Girl Beauty for bringing what will surely become a staple in Tabs’ technological arsenal to my attention.
The iCPooch!
Granted, the iCPooch is designed for dogs, but I don’t see why kitties couldn’t also take advantage of it. I know many cats who could benefit from an Internet-enabled video chat device that lets them order pet treats and have them delivered to their cat door/sock drawer.
It’s currently in the prototype stage, and the company is looking for backers on Kickstarter. If it ever goes to market, you better believe that Tabs will want one in every room, le sigh.
On that note, I hope you had a most excellent Monday. Mine was relatively quiet, even with the construction guys working outside.
Not bad at all for a Monday — and now it’s time for TV and noms.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Love the hairdo! My hair doesn’t particularly love styles like this because it’s fine and slippery, but I admire them!
Hmm, maybe if you put in a texturizing spray? That might “rough” it up a little and give it more stick.
Happy Monday, by the way! 🙂
You too!
That textured bun looks so pretty. I see you got that sweater in black too? I’m still obsessing over it.
Yeah, I had to, LOL. I saw it in the store and it was on sale, so I thought, why not? It’s surprisingly really warm for an open back sweater. Anyway, seriously…call Nordie’s. They might be able to find you one in-store.
To quote Molly Shannon, “I love it! I love it! I love it!” So elegant, I cannot believe this only took 5 minutes!
I love how simple it is!
How elegant and pretty bun! I’m trying for sure! xx
I love the braided bun! It is so pretty on you. It was my go-to style at my last job, though it had to be much tighter and with no face framing layers. When I am running out the door I always forget about styles that are cute and easy like this and do old faves, like a quick French braid or half up half down with a clip.
Karen — this looks so good with your hair!!
The braided bun is something I’ve done numerous times in the past, but it’s just not as interesting on monochromatic hair. Short of getting actual highlights… how do you think this would play with something like hair chalk? Would it give it enough /oomph/, or would it just be too much?
I love it! Braids are my go-to for keeping my hair out of my face!
I love your hair in this! Especially the curve of your bangs!
Ahhh LOVE the hairdo, Karen! I’ve got to give this a go. My hair is long, and I often twist it into a bun when I’m in the house to keep it out of my face/neck. This looks like a fun style I can wear around town 😉
I do a similar thinng quite often, actually, especially for ballet – however, it has to be a ‘non-textured’ bun for that specific application 😉
Looks so effortless and pretty on you, Karen!
I’m trying this soon, thanks Karen!
I REALLY love this hair style and the sweater that you are wearing 🙂
Beautiful look Karen! I love that top too! Looks sexy
That’s such a cute hairstyle! I don’t think my hair is quite long enough to pull it off yet, but it’s getting there.
The iCPooch is such a great idea! Only, I have two dogs, so they’d probably fight over the treats.
That’s a great alternative to my regular, boring ponytail! And I was totally like “UNICORN NECKLACE!”. It looks most calming and it’s nicely proportioned. Do you feel more zen? 🙂
Simple but elegant! I like.
I just tried this look today and I love it! Here is how mine turned out http://instagram.com/p/kQEBIcMaYb/# (The picture isn’t the best because I had to manage to somehow snap it with my phone by myself and behind the back lol).
http://www.myfairdaily.com