5 Ways to Fix Your Bad Hair Day
Last week, I wore my hair in a faux bob. It was so freaking cute and I was feeling totally fierce all day long with my “new haircut”. And then something terrible happened: my elastic totally snapped. Literally, for about twenty seconds, I just stared at the broken elastic thinking different expletives in my mind and wondering how the heck I was going to continue my day looking polished and fashionable without a way to pull my hair back up. I tried to make it work left down, but it looked too crazy from having been up half the day. Ugh!
Luckily, I’m a hairdresser and my purse is full of bobby pins, sprays and all sorts of goodies. I didn’t have an elastic, but I was able to use some extra bobby pins as an aide to keep my hair back. And after a few magical minutes, my hair looked great. But boy was I panicked, thinking I might have to come up with something out of left field to fix it!
I’m guessing you’ve been in this situation before. I know a lot of my clients have and because of that, I’ve taught them a lot of tricks for how to deal when their hair just won’t cooperate. Or when there’s not a ponytail holder to be found anywhere. And since all of you lovely Gigglers are now my virtual clients, I’m going to share my sacred secrets with you! And keep in mind, these quick fixes are assuming you don’t have extra hair supplies or products around. We’re getting creative on the go!
1. Tame frizz with the hand cream or lotion in your purse.
Sometimes it doesn’t matter how long you’ve taken to get ready for the day or what kind of prep you’ve done. Sometimes there’s just too much humidity in the air and when you show up to work, your smooth and classic blowout turns into a frizzy, big mess. The next time you find yourself in this situation without your Moroccanoil or a ponytail holder in your bag, just grab a dime sized amount of the lotion you keep in your office or purse and run it through your ends. If you keep cuticle oil on hand, you can use that, too. It won’t be a perfect solution because nothing can replace your hair products and a good blowout, but it will take your hair from a frizzy mess to a tamed, wavy style.
2. Fix greasy bangs with soap from the office bathroom.
I know it seems crazy and doing this consistently definitely is. Long-term, this would dry out your hair and scalp due to the change in pH compared to shampoo. But if you find yourself without a headband or pin to get those greasy bangs out of your face and you are heading into an important meeting, take a tiny bit of that bathroom soap, mix it with water and rinse your fringe out in the sink. Work it in like you would with a shampoo and after rinsing, make sure it’s all out of your hair. Then, dry with the hand dryer making sure to finger style the hair while it dries. Comb it back and forth across the forehead to give them body and volume. Just don’t forget to wash your hair again that night or the next morning before you re-style so that you don’t dry out your hair.
3. Fix flyaways with the lip balm at your desk.
You just stepped back into the office from a great lunch…. full of wind! And now, you’ve got flyaways poking out everywhere and another half of the day to work. Just grab that Blistex or Chapstick you keep in your desk and rub a small amount into your palms. Work it around in your palms until there’s just a thin coating. Then, just lightly glide your palms over your hair focusing on the areas that have the most frizz and not applying too much product. The light motion and the heavy balm will grab any hairs that are sticking out and you can repeat the motion as many times as you need.
4. Use chopsticks to hold hair up when your ponytail holder breaks.
The worst feeling is when you’ve had your hair up in a ponytail holder all day long and it suddenly snaps. You’re left with dented hair that certainly can’t be left down and look acceptable. The best solution in this kind of situation is to grab some chopsticks. Every office has one in their office break room and a lot of restaurants have them, too. Just gather the hair up like you’re going to do a ponytail, twist all the hair in one direction and positioning the end of the chopstick at the scalp and completely parallel to how the hair is standing, twist the hair into the stick. Then, tuck the the end of the chopstick under the bun you’ve just created and you’ve got a great, unique looking updo! You can also use a pen if you can’t find a chopstick anywhere and pull off the “I was so busy working and looking casually hot that I forgot this pen” look.
5. Use your pressed powder to fix sweaty hair.
When you’ve been dancing the night away and having a great time, chances are you’ll end up with sweaty hair at some point. The club is hot, your moving to the music and when you get to the bathroom, you’re shocked at the wet look staring back at you in the mirror. The best thing to do is work with it as much as you can… after all, sweaty can be sexy. But you still don’t want to look like a drenched mess, so grab your pressed powder and work a little bit into your part line and scalp. You don’t have to worry about using too much because the difference in color between your scalp and powder won’t show up in the dim club. Press in enough that it soaks up all of the sweat. If you have thinner hair, you’ll just look like you have tons of volume and you can rock your hair down after applying the powder. If you have thicker hair, you might want to throw your hair up into a quick braid or ponytail because it will feel dirty with the powder, but using it will make your hair look clean and dry around the hairline, eliminating your problem. And the powder will also ensure your braid holds better even if you sweat more on the dance floor.
Remember, all of these solutions are for the girl on the go. For those times when you are in a hair crisis at the office or out dancing and you have access to nothing but the essentials you keep nearby, this list can help you out. And now, I’m curious! What crazy things have you guys tried to quick fix your bad hair day? Let me know in the comments!
