Here’s the Secret To Looking & Feeling Cool All Summer: Updo DIY Ideas

No matter how many times I see magazine articles demo’ing how to achieve flowing beach-y waves, I still just throw my hair up into a style that keeps my neck from becoming a sweaty, sticky mess. (Minnesota’s more than 10,000 lakes are basically just beautiful, relaxing, humidity factories!) Any effort I make to create curl wand magic instantly becomes completely pointless as soon as I step outside. The curl falls, my hair poufs, and I die a little inside thinking about all of the things I could have accomplished during the time I was doing my hair.

This summer, I’m kicking time-intensive styles to the curb. Instead, I’m embracing my beloved buns, ponytails, and top knots by really dressing them up in stylish, quick accessories.

Even the worst possible hair day can’t keep a good silk scarf down. Instead of shrinking away from being noticed on an especially manic mane Monday, laugh in the face of summer heat with a colorful turban. This tutorial from Stylishee is all about the technique. Tie, twist, and wear it proudly. Pair it with a basic tee and other neutral colors, so your pretty face (not your humidity-haunted hair) can take center stage.

You’re bound to be invited to at least one wedding during the height of humidity and heat season. And, while a garden/oceanside/patio/rooftop venue might be amazing to look at, you with sweaty tendrils isn’t. Swoop your hair up, then top off the look with a handmade hair chain, like this one from The Beauty Department. It’s like a necklace for your locks, and you can create it to be as semi-formal or formal as the event. Cheers to that!

Remember pulling your ponytail through the hole in the back of a baseball hat? Yeah, me, too. Even if you wear your hair down, the hat brim gives you some portable shade to beat the heat. Glitzy gems keep the look from veering into “little girl” territory, while the outfit you don with it can be as sweet or sexy as you like. Casual hat paired with a pencil skirt? Yup, that works.

You know all of those loose, flyaway strands floating around your head when you pull your hair up? Banish them with super colorful, multi-strand t-shirt headbands from DIY Candy. Yeah, I said t-shirt headbands. Bring your old tie dye skills to the DIY headband party, and whip up a bunch of hair accessories in every conceivable hue.

Put a pin in it! Keep those trendy short bangs off your forehead by adding a touch of gem goodness. Unlike your grandma’s old-school combs that only pull back a bit of hair, these jeweled beauties wind around and through your hair to create a little mini-headband just for your bun.

DIY divas, this one is for you. Pull back your typical ponytail with this holder from Travels & Treasures that’s anything but basic. Learn to make your own super simple, rose gold, copper tub holder to add a streamlined profile to your pony.