I don’t know about you, but I’m often wary of cute “easy” hairstyles. See, I have very fine hair that likes to slip around — no amount of hairspray can ever keep it in place.
But I’ve discovered the solution that works for me:
Instead of fixing my hair first and then trying to get it to stay with hairspray, I create staying power before I fix my hair.
How?
A teasing comb and texture spray.
When combined, they create texture so my hair holds onto itself — no hairspray needed. It works so well for me that every single style in this post starts with those two things.
(Although, I’ve got to say, go light with the teasing brush — otherwise things can go 80’s real fast. :) )
Today I’ll be sharing five casual, everyday hair styles for summer. You can read the step-by-step instructions or you can simply watch the one-minute videos and be on your way. Each ‘do is quick, easy, and doable for non-pros like myself.
And! They’re all heat-free — no heat tools needed. Which is a good thing because I’ve been using my curling wand a liiiittle too much lately, and I’m teetering into heat damaged hair territory. So to help it out, I’m trying to use less heat on my hair right now. :)
Let’s jump in!
1 | THE CIRCLE CLIP
Great for: days you don’t want to fix your hair, dinner out, running errands.
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How To:
- Grab two small sections of hair — one from each side of your face. Lightly tease + texture spray these pieces.
- Pull the front pieces back and secure them together with a clear elastic, making a mini ponytail.
- Topsy tail your mini ponytail. (Do this by poking two fingers up through the hair to create a pocket of space, then flip the ponytail up and through that space.)
- Pull a few strands down around your face. Tighten and loosen the topsy tail a couple of times. This will give it a more undone look.
- Finish with a circle clip. (To hide the underside of the clip, point the clip down instead of to the side.)
Items needed:
2 | SIDE BRAID WITH A CAP (OR NOT)
Great for: dirty-hair days, sunny days, pool days, playing in the park, and baseball games.
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How To:
- Lightly tease + texture spray your hair.
- Pull hair to the side and braid. Secure with a clear elastic.
- Add volume to your braid by working your way down the braid, pulling on each section of the braid. This is the key to getting a thicker, fluffier braid — even if you don’t have thick hair.
- Hide the clear elastic by wrapping a strand of hair around it and tucking it into the backside of the elastic. (I couldn’t get this to work in the video, so I skipped it, hah!)
- Finish with a ball cap on top!
Items needed:
3 | TOPSY LOW BUN
Great for: weddings, dressy summer events, and date nights.
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How To:
- Lightly tease + texture spray your hair, focusing on the hair at the crown of your head.
- Pull hair back into a ponytail at the nape of your neck. Smooth it out with a wide tooth comb. Secure with a ponytail holder.
- Topsy tail your ponytail. (Do this by poking two fingers up through the hair to create a pocket of space, then flip the ponytail up and through that space.)
- Gather all the ends of your hair and poke them back up into the underside of the ponytail holder.
- Add volume by pulling on a few pieces around the crown of your head. Finish the look by pulling a few strands out around your face.
Items needed:
4 | LOW BUN WITH A BANDANA
Great for: dirty-hair days, running errands, hanging out with friends and family, and the Fourth of July!
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How To:
- Lightly tease + texture spray your hair.
- Pull all of your hair back into a ponytail at the nape of your neck. Secure with a ponytail holder, but don’t pull your hair all the way through at the end. Leave a small bun and leave a generous amount of your ends out.
- Grab those ends, pull them around to the opposite side of your bun, and tuck them into your ponytail holder.
- Use bobby pins to shape your bun and pin it a little closer to your head.
- Tighten + loosen the ponytail holder a few times to give it an undone look. Pull on a few pieces around the crown of your head to add volume. Finish by pulling out a few strands around your face.
Items needed:
5 | UNDONE TOP KNOT
Great for: everydamnday :)
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How To:
- Lightly tease + texture spray your hair, focusing on the hair at the front/top of your head.
- Flip your head over and gather hair into a ponytail, using your fingers or a wide tooth comb.
- Secure with a ponytail holder, but don’t pull your hair all the way through at the end. Leave a small bun and leave a generous amount of your ends out.
- Grab those ends, pull them around to the opposite side of your bun, and tuck them into your ponytail holder.
- Use bobby pins to shape your bun and pin it a little closer to your head. Tighten + loosen the ponytail holder a few times to give it an undone look. Pull on a few pieces around the crown of your head to add volume. Finish by pulling out a few strands around your face.
Items needed:
• • •
And there you have it!
So tell me, how are you wearing your hair this summer? Got an easy ‘do to share? And, for those of you with fine hair, do you have any go-to tricks? Share away!
I hope you’re having a fantastic June! See you next Thursday!
xo,
P.S. Videos not loading for you? Simply head on over to my YouTube channel to watch ’em there.
Adorable as ever! Love the do with the scarf…even us “mature” gals with s short hair can work this one. Might even give us a flashback to some wild memories! -Laurel
Love all of these hair styles. However, just cut my hair to a mid-length bob. I’ll be able to do a couple of these. Thanks Caroline!
Nice, as I have long hair and like casual styles this is perfect.
Love all of these! The Topsy Low Bun is exactly how I’m wearing my hair for our upcoming casual wedding and I’ve been practicing it, thanks for the tip about the texture spray! Your blog is always such great inspiration, keep up the good work!
Thanks fir this great post! In one of your older blogs, you mentioned that you use grapeseed oil instead of conditioner. Can you describe how you use it? Before you wash you hair? In the shower in place of conditioner? To toweled dry hair like a styling product?
Hey Becky, I’m currently not using it. But it was in the place of conditioner. :)
Great ideas, Caroline. I have curly hair, so would probably skip the teasing/texture spray, but would put my hair up on the day after it was washed. I had actually tried something similar to the circle clip one (I need to get one of those!) with the front bits pinned up. I often do the side plait/braid but twist the side bits in, as I have layers. I think putting long hair up is supposed to be quite protective in the heat, especially with a sunhat!
Ugh, my hair is so fine and slippery – I couldn’t achieve the volume you did in this series! I’m intrigued by the topsy low bun, it looks like it takes way more effort than you had to put into it!
I’m also trying to step away from the hot tools more this summer. I’ve been washing my hair every-other-day (circled around how intense my classes are at the gym!) and brushing my hair straight as it dries since I have a really weird, uneven wavy texture if I don’t do this! Several times throughout the drying process, I’ll flip it over and fluff my roots to keep it from falling flat. When the hot tools are necessary, I’ll stick to just one: either blow-dryer OR curling/straightening iron, never both. This has definitely been saving my hair, though my ends are begging for a trim!
Love these ideas! Question: does teasing your hair not make for the most annoying tangles when you brush it all out later? Am I just doing it wrong?
https://everydayjoys.blog
Don’t know about anyone else, but my hair is so slippery that even when I tease it, it just falls out later (the tease falls out, not the hair). Unless I spray the hell out of it it will fall out in less than an hour.
Hey Anna, I’ve run into a few tangles, but when you’re brushing it out, start from the bottom. That should help. And the texture spray allows some grip without making knots, so it doesn’t have to be TOO teased! :)
Needed these! I can’t be bothered with heat tools in the summer. Love!
you look beautiful in every look! :)
I love to take two pieces from the front (one on each side) twist them and pull them back and secure with a clear elastic. Then loosely curl the rest of my hair that’s down. It makes for a pretty bohemian look. And goes with anything.
I have so much hair and a bang (in summer, what a great idea…), so hot days like today I choose braids. Everything stay in place for the whole day and I can finally stop sweating ahah. But I’m defenetly going to do some of these hairstyle !
xx
By far the most helpful hair tutorials I’ve ever seen! I too have fine hair that doesn’t like to cooperate, so these are all super helpful tips. Need to get on the texture spray bandwagon stat!
Love your suggestions! Heat-free hairstyles are seriously the best!
Be sure to check out my latest blog post!
x. kritsida
http://aperfectcanvas.net/
How do you not get all kinds of knotted/tangled doing the topsy tail and then poking the end up and under? I lose enough hair as it is!
So helpful, Caroline! Thank you :)
Great tips, I will definitely be trying some of these! Thanks for the post!
This was awesome! I love your hairstyles, they’re all brilliant!
I hope you’ve had a lovely Thursday,
Michael
https://www.mileinmyglasses.co.uk
I love all of these, especially as a fellow fine-haired girl who can’t pull off a lot of hair tutorials out there. I used to do the topsy bun all the time when my hair was shorter, and I would just tuck the rest of the hair inside the roll instead of as a bun underneath. Now that my hair is longer, I’ll have to try the bun method.
What all of these styles really brought home for me was the idea of getting messier with the hair! Because my hair is so straight and fine, it can look “too polished” sometimes, so I’m looking forward to getting some texture spray and mussing it up some. :)
love this videos! thank you!
Gorgeous! What a delightful post?
Thank you so much for these easy hairdo’s, and for midlength hair too! I’ve been kinda sick of my bun that I’ve been wearing for ages. Still, like you say, it never fails me and stays the best for every damn day. But some change is nice, thanks for the inspo!
Great tips and instructions. Loving the top knot look but it does give me a headache by the end of the day!
I agree wth the other fine-haired ladies who commented – I’m really excited to try these hairstyles and I’m going to have to get some texturizing spray! I feel like I missed the whole “how to do your hair” part of being a teenager (I still blow dry my hair while reading a book ?) but these seem really doable even for someone who has No Skills. ? Thanks!
Love these ideas and love the bandana look! xx
http://www.laneyslooks.com
this is the only hair tutorial I’ve ever been able to follow. My hair is layered so not everything works but I was able to easily adapt those buns and omg obsessed. THANK YOU from this hair- and makeup-challenged gal!
xo
I don’t do anything with my hair :D Whenever I try something like a ‘do’, it ends up looking fine, but my face just looks better with free long hair. I just wash them, let them dry, comb in the morning and that’s it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate new ideas – thank you so much for your great tips! :-)
Love these ideas!! I’m going to try the bandana one…too cute! I do a lot of top buns. My hair is really long and thin, and I have the hardest time making it look cute. Won’t be giving up though! Maybe I don’t have the right texture spray….can try the one you recommended.
wait okay I love these looks!! sometimes girls will do these posts and i would never wear the looks in a million years. these are so cute and simple!! thanks for sharing!!
Help! These are awesome ‘do’s but I need videos please!
Oops! Just noticed there are videos! Please disregard last comment ?. Thank you thank you! You rock.
I love all of these! Makes me miss my long hair!
Love this! Elegant yet simple styles. I think I could wear the topsy low bun every day (not just the special occasions :) Thanks for sharing!
Super helpful styles! I noticed a lot of comments about fine slippery hair still not staying in styles no matter what you do. I had the same issue- but I’ve figured out how to work with my fine slippery hair. I highly recommend Redken powder grip 03, it’s a texturing powder that I put at the roots for all day volume and hold, it makes my hair so grippy and it mattifies the hair which also helps with grease. The only thing is is that it feels a little chalky and you definitely can’t run your fingers through it! I also use Batiste brand original dry shampoo, and only wash my hair once a week, which I gradually worked my way up to. Not washing it every day makes it way less slippery. I hate the day I wash it because all my grippy products are washed out! The redken powder seriously lasts for days, it changed my hair life. After reading this post I’m now interested in trying texturizing spray, thanks!
Stacy, that powder grip is no joke! Good recommendation for hold. Let me know if you try the texture spray how you like it compared! :)
You are so adorable :*
muteeyahya.blogspot.com
Great tips! That circle hair clip is adorable on you I’m going to have to try to duplicate!
In LOVE with this post! I’m always looking for cute, heatless hairstyles to try. I’m not the type of girl that enjoys putting a lot of time and effort into my hair so this post was definitely helpful for me!
Fashion Blog
http://www.marahfrank.com
I loved the first one! It’s so pretty
xo | Cindy Elena
http://www.boringclothes.com
I just changed my hair at work into the topsy low bun – couldn’t have been easier, and look cute to boot!
Thanks, Caroline!
-Courtney
http://www.babygraham.com
These are brilliant. I’m so glad you mentioned you had fine hair as i normally scroll past hair tutotials. Not because i don’t need or want to know, but because they don’t normally work on my fine hair! So I’m very excited about trying these. The tips on texturizing spray and teasing are great too!
Thanks!
Eliza
The styles look amazing and are simple to style. I love them!!