My Favorite Updo - Casual or Formal!

I absolutely love up-dos that are nice looking but fancier than a plain ponytail or a bun. This one is dressy and is my go to style for when I want to dress up and wear accessories like jewelry. This hairstyle accents your neck so you can wear it with a nice necklace, or you can show off some earrings. This is actually an extremely simple style to pull off, and can be worn as a formal style or as a more dressy casual style. To create this style:

1: French braid your bangs/fringe in a headband braid and keep it going to about your ear, leaving out a small piece of hair on each side of your face around the temple or cheekbone area, depending on if you have face framing pieces on the sides.

2: Once you get to your ear with the french braid, keep going with a regular braid and tie the ends off with a small elastic. (I use the small, clear rubber ones.)

3: Gather your hair and your braid into a low ponytail slightly to the side of the braid. (Leave out those small sections on the side of your face!)

4: While pulling the ponytail through the ponytail holder, on the last time only pull the hair through halfway creating a loose bun.

5: Start pinning random sections of the bun around the bun. Eventually, your bun should be tighter, larger, and have a messy yet full appearance.

6: Lastly, you will need to curl the sections you left out. You can use a curling iron to do this or use a flat iron. I use a flat iron to curl the whole strand. To curl with a straightener, clamp the straightener at the top of the section. Wrap hair underneath around the straightener so the hair is going out and over the top plate. Rotate the straightener 180 degrees toward your head so that the hair is wrapped around the flat iron and the hair is coming out between the plates. Then, slowly pull the straightener down and you will have bouncy curls :)

7: (Optional) Add accessories! I recently (today) did this style and added a headband behind the braid. You can also add flower clips or bows around the bun or put jewelry on! Statement necklaces and drop earrings look really good with this style. Add subtle makeup, and keep the hair the main focus.