Fake Volume in Your Updo

Adding volume to your hair can take a lot of effort.  It may take some combination of washing with a volumizing shampoo/conditioner, applying mousse, blow-drying from various crazy angles, teasing, massaging in dry shampoo, adding hold with hairspray, etc….  On days when you only have time to throw your hair up in a ponytail or a bun but you don’t want the look to be flat, there’s no way you’ll have time to go through all of those steps for volume!  Here’s a way to fake your way to tons of volume in little to no time!

Take a small section of hair along your hairline and separate it from the rest of your hair.  (Secure it with an elastic to make sure you don’t lose it.)  Quickly tease the rest of your hair at the roots all over your head.  This can be really rough, no need to make it perfect!  Gently smooth out the surface hair with a comb and (loosely!) pull all of this hair straight back into a ponytail.  (You don’t want the hair pulled back too tightly as that will detract from the voluminous look you’re going for.)

If you’re doing a bun rather than a ponytail, gently backcomb the ponytail and gather into a messy bun, secure with an elastic, and pin down any stray pieces.  (By just gathering the hair and securing it with an elastic you’ll be sure that the bun will hold up all day, and by shaping the bun itself by pinning down the edges you’ll be able to get any size and shape you like.)

Now take the hair you separated at your hairline and gently pull it back toward your ponytail/bun.  Loosely pin these pieces right at the ponytail/bun in a few separate chunks, following the way the hair would be pulled back normally.  (You don’t want to pull all of this separated hair back straight down the center of the head and secure it in one piece; you want it to look as if it were never separated from the rest of your hair in the first place.)  Pin down any loose ends around the ponytail/bun.  Gently tug on these pieces at the top of your head to loosen them a bit more.  They’ll stick up from the top of your head just a bit and give the illusion of tons of volume!  

~Alyssa