The Half-Up hair tutorial

Best done on hair that hasn’t been washed, here’s an easy hairstyle that takes a few minutes and is an up-do that’s not too prissy-perfect, but is nice and messy. Here is Megan’s photo tutorial on how to create "The Half-Up"…

Best done on hair that hasn’t been washed, here’s an easy hairstyle that takes a few minutes and is an up-do that’s not too prissy-perfect, but is nice and messy. It’s called the half-up as, like the Grand Old Duke of York, it’s neither up nor down.

I was inspired by the hair tutorial in November Elle UK and decided to recreate it myself at home and show you how to create it yourselves.

It took me about one minute to prep the hair and lightly backcomb the top, and about 4 minutes to knot the back.

The products I used were L’Oreal Playball Wax Smoothie for texture at the beginning (not washing your hair helps enormously) and Sebastian Re-Shaper hairspray to secure each knot as I did them.

Note – there are no bobby pins used at all, so you can even sleep in it without administering self-acupuncture.

Here’s my photo tutorial on how to create "The Half-Up"…

Step 1: Prepare the hair with a texturising product so it’s nice and thick. I rub it between both palms and start from the ends first so the roots don’t get weighed down. I also backcombed the crown a little so it didn’t look too flat.

Step 2: Take sections half the size of your finger from above your ears and pull them to the back. (Pictured below: me doing this for the third knot down.)

Step 3: Tie a double knot at the back of your head.

Step 4: Spray the knots with a good hairspray. Note: no bobby pins are required.

Step 5: The finished Half-Up.

Variations:

Try doing knots all the way down to the end and ending in a ponytail

Try ending hair in a plait, pulled out to look not-too-tidy.

Try doing it down one side of the head, rather than down the centre back.

Megan Robinson 2 January 2012.