Hair Ideas: A Topknot For Short-Haired Girls

So you cut your hair short—that's awesome! But it's summer and you want to get your hair off your neck, and you can't. Not awesome! Trust me, I've tried, and every single time I tie up my long bob I end up with a mullet—a big panel of hair hanging down my neck that is anything but a "party in the back." However, there is hope. While writing the "Happy Medium" story for our August issue, I discovered a way that you can get all of your bob (or long bob) into a high bun. All you need is a ton of hair pins—and these tips from celebrity hairstylist Mark Townsend.

The trick is to roll the under layers of your hair into a flat French twist, like you see here on January Jones. When Townsend created this look on Jones, he had her flip her head upside down and, starting at the nape of the neck, began tightly twisting the hair—twisting and twisting until all the short layers were neatly tucked away. Then, he slid bobby pins into the twist horizontally and secured the ends with an elastic, pulling them only halfway through to create a loop. (You can also tie your hair into a ponytail and wrap the ends into a neatly pinned chignon if you prefer.) "What you're doing with the French twist is catching all the short layers while leaving your longest layers free to tie into a knot," says Townsend. "And the key is to use a lot of pins. I probably used 50 in January's hair that day."

Townsend gave me another great tip for recreating this style, which I tried on myself the other day. (Note: I find it works best on unwashed hair.) Prep your hair with dry shampoo. "I find it's much better than hairspray because the powder or the starch gives the hair really good grip without getting crunchy," says Townsend. "And if you find your bobby pins have a tendency to slip out, lay them on a paper towel and mist them with dry shampoo, too."

queeniedress white homecoming dresses