Personal Triumph: Black Tie Hair

All my life, a formal event meant one thing to me: a professional blowout. There was no question here- even if I was at a blacke tie wedding in the middle of nowhere (and I have been to MANY of those), I did my research to find any excuse for a salon in the area and made an appointment 4 hours before the bride was slated to make her walk down the aisle. I just couldn't even fathom doing my own hair and having it look black-tie worthy.

But- thanks to a crash course in all things beauty when I filmed 28 episodes of Beauty BFF for MSN, at my cousin's wedding in Atlanta last weekend I had a burst of confidence that propelled me to go it alone. Confidence and complete exhaustion (thank you, tail-end of first trimester!). And I got more compliments on this 'do than I have ever gotten on a fresh and smooth blowout.

So, here is what I did (and I apologize for the not so great photo- hindsight being 20/20, should have asked my husband to get a better angle, but we are still in that "oh wow look at how your belly protrudes, we must get a photo to document this" phase of my pregnancy):

My hair was dirty- like 4 days no wash dirty. The best state for styling. I took my mini Pssssst Dry Shampoo and sprayed it from roots to ends- very generously.  After parting it down the middle, I took my 1 1/14 inch curling iron (I recommend Hot Tools, just ordered one for myself, I was using a sad substitute on this occasion that shall remain nameless) and curled my entire head to added texture. Step 3: I took a giant bag of bobby pins, spilled them on the bathroom counter, and went to town pinning my hair back, always twisting small sections before securing with a pin, working my way back and then slightly off to the side.  Once my hair was all off my face, I twisted the ends into a messy (not necessarily purposefully messy, it just kinda worked out that way) bun and instead of using any elastics, I relied on my trust bobby pins to hold it just at the nape of my neck. Two nice coatings of L'Oreal Elnett later, and voila- un-perfect perfection.

We should all be grateful that textured, messy hair is back. Give yourself an excuse to experiment and something tells me you will be pleasantly surprised with the result! Give it a try, and keep me posted.