Trends that Inspire Me: The High-Bun

I cannot begin my fashion blog series, without starting with a nod to my signature look.

After a series of fashion disasters - cue:

The fringe in primary school (sigh).

The short hair during a mid-teen crisis in high school (never again).

The side shave at university (cringe!) .

Since coming home to Solomon Islands and 35 degrees of heat and humidity though, I've had to find a quick hairdo, that suits both the weather - and my job - but most importantly for me... my style.

Cue: The High bun

What is the high bun?

It is literally my favorite way to do my hair. Let me tell you why.

At university, living in Australia for almost six years and visiting home only occasionally, I usually liked to have my hair down.

Coming home, I had to find a way to keep my long hair, but have a low maintenance hair-do that needed minimal effort (whilst looking stylish and chic - always important) in this island humidity,

I opted for a high bun.

Okay, that's not me - lets be honest - but that's the accentuated LOOK (and I LOVE this picture).

What Do You Need to Achieve It?

This hairdo only needs the following items:

- A hair band

- 3 or 4 bobby pins

- Hairspray

- Scrunchie donut (optional - for shorter hair)

- Claw clip (also optional)

Also, I use gel (or wax) some days, because my baby hair is from Satan, and I’m still unsure of this ‘slick your baby hair down’ look. A downside to this is if you slick either product on too thick, it tends to coagulate and flake when the air con is on too high at work/in the car. (Humidity is also from Satan) Not cute.

So, its back to the basics of washing your hair every second day. But who has time to wash their hair that often? Especially when your hair may be long enough to make towel drying it a nightmare.

So a couple pro tips, before we continue:

• Pro tip #1: Invest in a hairdryer. Duh. Some days, no one has time to be towel drying their hair.

• Pro tip #2: Wrap your hair in a soft lava-lava (translated: sarong), instead of a towel when drying it. This way,, your hair is less frizzier when dry, because the softer lava-lava material passes less static to your hair follicle than your towel fluff. Science, sis.

• Pro-tip #3: Squeeze a bit of lemon into your shampoo. This also tames the frizz a little. Also science.

• Pro tip #4: Invest in a bottle of dry shampoo. The stuff is amazing. It revives your hair and in the Solomon humidity, saves it from looking limp and dead, after not washing it for a few days.

The Look

Now, depending on how high you want your bun, tie your ponytail roughly where that will be.

To finish off the look, I comb my hair out so there aren’t any tangles in my ponytail, then spritz a bit of hairspray onto my hairbrush and comb it through, before twisting my hair into the bun.

This keeps my hair in check so I don't end up with random pieces of flyaway hair in my bun at the end of the day.

Spin all that hair into a knot around the ponytail base and secure the hair in place with a few booby pins, and voila! You have your bun.

You can even mix the look up a little, with a French braid at the top, or bottom of your bun. Or a few cornrows on the sides, if you're feeling a bit daring!

And that, my lovelies, is my first signature look.

Do you have a signature look? Tell me about it in the comments below!