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NEW YORK, USA: As summer in the Northern Hemisphere swelters on, celebrities and the public alike are feeling the heat – and styling their hair accordingly. Gigi Hadid is the latest celebrity to enlist TikTok’s current hot weather hairstyle du jour, which has been dubbed by creators as the ‘pony braid’ – and as someone currently living through the NYC heatwave, I wholeheartedly concur.
The style is simultaneously on trend and seriously handy for minimising sweaty hair disasters. Like the pony braid’s much-hyped cousin – the slicked-back bun, à la Mrs Hailey Bieber – it involves pulling all the hair back into a high ponytail and securing it away from the face and neck to allow for much needed ventilation. As this writer can attest, it’s all the girlies in the US are wearing this summer.
The twist is… well, a bit of a twist. Instead of wrapping the hair into a firm top knot, the sleek hair trend has received a bit of an fun update. Rather than tie up the hair completely, it involves weaving the lengths of the ponytail into a tight plait – as seen on both Hadid and her friend Leah McCarthy in Saint Tropez.
The appeal of the pony braid is in both its simplicity and its practicality. While it provides a mercifully easy way to fight humidity-induced frizz, it’s also a quick hair solution that adds an element of playfulness to a sophisticated (and many would argue, slightly oversaturated) hairstyle trend.
Kendall Jenner is also a fan, having recently worn a Y2K-style iteration to promote her 818 tequila brand. But instead of focusing on just one thick plait, Jenner opted to add even more edge to the look by sectioning her sleek ponytail into several smaller micro-braids, for a different take on the popular look.
The best part? It’s so damn straightforward to achieve, as TikTok creator @georgina.gigii recently demonstrated. Simply sweep your hair back into a sleek pony and tightly plait the tail into a secure braid. Ensure that you’re keeping the section taught to negate any loose ends sticking out – we’re going for sleek, not boho.
@georgina.gigii Who is trying this one in summer? 🥰 #summerhairstyle #hairstrend #hairgoals #braid #ponytail #ponybraid #hairbraids #hairstyles2021 #hairtutorials
You’ll also want to slick down any flyaways with a pomade – I’ve been religiously relying on R+Co’s cult Dart Pomade Stick – to keep the end result neat and chic.
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