Tutorial: New Darlings Top Knot for Shorter Hair

I know, I know.  Christina of New Darlings has the best hair ever.  I wouldn’t kill for those long gorgeous locks of super-thick hair, but I could see myself kicking someone.

One of her signature ‘dos is this huge, fan-like bun.  It’s one of those styles that exudes that cool “Oh, this?” kinda vibe, but it can be a little tough to get right.  While Christina does have a tutorial for this style, I’ve refined it for people with shorter, finer hair.  Let’s get started!

If your hair isn’t already straight, it’s not a bad idea to straighten it.  This will make your hair look nice and smooth when you put it up!  I’ve also found that this style works best on next-day hair, so if you can, skip the shampoo for a day.

Gather up all your hair into a high ponytail.  You’ll want it to be right in the middle of your head.  Use a fine-tooth comb to make sure your hair is super smooth.  Take a hair tie and pull your hair through once, then start to pull it through again–but only partway.  Christina suggests taking your hair about halfway through, but if your hair is my length or shorter, you’ll want to pull more through.

Think of your hair like a slinky at this point.  Pull the ends of the “slinky” down and fluff out your hair a little bit.  Then take a couple of bobby pins and pin the ends down in the back.  Try to cover up some of the loose hairs in the back if you can.

Next, pin down the front.  Make sure that you hide your hair tie as you do so.  I think Christina uses the sticky-outy pieces to cover it up, but my hair isn’t long enough to do that.

Once everything is pinned down securely, I like to spritz on a little dry shampoo and keep fluffing out my hair.  Keep going until it’s HUGE!

And that’s it!  You can use some hairspray to keep it secure, but I’ve never had a problem with it coming undone.

It might take some practice to get it just right, and this actually took me two takes!  Over time, it’ll get much easier, I promise!

Let me know if you try this out–I’d love to hear how it turned out!