How I Got My Half Bun Hairstyle to Last for 7 Days

'I put it up and never took it down.'

21 March, 2018
How I Got My Half Bun Hairstyle to Last for 7 Days

​By now you know the half bun well. If you haven't worn it yourself, you've definitely seen a celeb or two on Instagram wearing it. It's the kind of style that offers up an effortless, cool-girl vibe, which is exactly what I was going for when I put my hair up in one a few days back. I didn't exactly predict that I'd never take it out.

Typically, I'm someone who changes up my look every day, but for whatever reason, I was being lazy after I threw it up into a bun. It was the weekend and I was into the way the style kept looking better as I kept wearing it. So, after the fourth day in, I turned it into a challenge to see if I could actually wear this for seven days and not hate it. (And I promise I never took it out — I swear on my Chanel bag — and I even worked out and went out dancing!) Long story short: I succeeded, no one even noticed (or at least they didn't mention it) that I was wearing the same style day after day, and I'm still so in love with this style. 

The only way I was able to even pull this off was because (1) I have platinum blonde that doesn't get too oily. I usually only wash it every three to four days anyway because you have to treat super-bleached hair like a princess. (2) I wasn't constantly running my hands through it since it was up in a style. (3) I put the bun so high up on my head that it was never really disturbed in my sleep. When I'd wake up, I'd just brush the back of it, push the bobby pins back into place if they'd started to slip out, add a spritz of dry shampoo, and go. 

Here's how the week played out:

Day 1: Thursday

My friend (and insanely talented wedding dress designer Hayley Paige) invited me to a live music show at Pianos on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. So, post-work, I twisted the top of my freshly washed hair into a tight tiny bun, pinned it into place with two white Goody bobby pins in an "X" formation for maximum hold (I wasn't sure where the night would take us so I wanted my style to be secure), and off I went.

Here we are at the Great Caeser show:

[instagram ]https://instagram.com/p/BBG6L7kyMkf/?taken-by=carlycardellino" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >​

After the show, I danced like I was like a backup dancer for Beyoncé ​upstairs at Pianos, and the hair didn't budge. I was shocked, to be honest. When I got home that night, I didn't take down my hair — instead, I just brushed my teeth, washed my face, and went to bed.

Day 2: Friday

The next day, I woke up and had to get to work early, so I didn't have a ton of time to get ready. I liked the style from the night before, so I kept it in.

It didn't look bad when I rolled out of bed, so I just brushed the hair that had fallen down in the back, zhooshed the bun a little, and headed into the office to meet with makeup artist Sir John.

[instagram ]https://instagram.com/p/BBIqBdcyMgi/?taken-by=carlycardellino" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >​

I kept it low-key that night and just chilled at my cousin Charity's before heading home because FRIDAY'S ARE EXHAUSTING. Raise your hand if you agree.

​My style was still very much secure, so I didn't bother with it when I got home and just fell asleep.

Day 3: Saturday

I woke up and went to Physique 57's "Amped Up" barre class (which is code for "you're about to sweat your ass off") with my boss Amy. I put the hair that was hanging down in the back in a bun to keep from getting matted on the carpet during the abs portion of the class. I about died — it was that intense — but at least my hair wasn't a wreck. It just looked voluminous (the heat from your scalp will do that to your hair). 

After class, I grabbed a quick lunch with my friend Julia before going home to take a shower. I normally wash my hair every three to four days anyway, since it's so fragile, so I wore a shower cap to protect my style and get another day out of it.

Saturday night was my friend Cat's birthday, so I went out for drinks with her and a bunch of our friends. It was super-chill, aka there wasn't any Beyoncé​ backup dancing going on, so my hair sustained its intact status.

Day 4: Sunday

This was the day I decided I could possibly keep this style going for a full week. When I woke up, my hair didn't look half bad, so I went for it. (Don't judge my dark circles — I was out celebrating Cat's birthday the night before.)

It was time to bust out the dry shampoo. It shoots out white powder, so it takes away any brassiness that might read as yellow and leaves your hair smelling fresh. I highly recommend it if you have blonde hair. 

My day wasn't that intense activity-wise, so my style stayed in place. I got up, went to church, met a few of my dude friends for lunch (they didn't comment on my hairstyle because they're guys who don't even notice when you get, like, 9 inches cut off, so whatever), got a pedicure, went shopping for a bit, and then headed to dinner with my cousin. She knew about my secret hairstyle project, but still couldn't believe how clean my hair looked. "My hair would have been greasy days ago," she said.

Day 5: Monday

When I rolled out of bed, I was faced with this in the mirror. Not too bad, right?:

The height near my hairline was starting to get a bit intense though, but the bun was staying in place like a champ. I literally never had to unravel it because it never moved. The only thing that happened was the bobby pins started to inch their way out after I tossed and turned at night.

Before going to work, I brushed the back of my hair, per usual, then sprayed a little of Ouai's Texturing Hair Spray into my hair because, well, my hair wasn't smelling great and Ouai's products smells amazing — the scent is like Diptyque and Byredo​ had a baby. It smells of jasmine, gardenia, musk, and rose.

[instagram ]https://instagram.com/p/BBP8BBcSMtA/?taken-by=carlycardellino" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >​

I hit up Ballet Beautiful later that night, which is an intense workout when it comes to working your muscles to the point of exhaustion with reps, but it's more of a stationary workout that doesn't require jumping around, so my hair stayed in place. That said, I was sweaty, so I knew my hair was going to need rescuing. Cue more dry shampoo.

Day 6: Tuesday

Shit was getting real. You can't really tell how high the front of my hair was getting, but IRL it rivaled Snooki's Bumpit bump. It also smelled like the opposite of clean hair, but thanks to the incredible invention of dry shampoo, no one could tell.

No one even commented on the fact that I'd been wearing the same style for almost a week. This is what it looked like from the back after I brushed it and applied dry shampoo to it. 

When I told my coworker Heeseung, who sits next to me, about my story, she said, "Oh, I just thought you were redoing the same style over and over — it doesn't look like you've been wearing the same exact style at all!"​ Success. 

From the front, it still looked pretty good. And a few of my other coworkers agreed. I stopped to see Leah Wyar, Steven Brown, and James Demolet, who all work on the print side at Cosmo. They're tough critics so I asked them how long they thought I'd been wearing this style. They all agreed on two days (!!!!!). When I told them it had almost been a week, they couldn't believe it. I owe it all to the Amika dry shampoo. It's my saving grace.

[instagram ]https://instagram.com/p/BBTsjvlSMjj/?taken-by=carlycardellino" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >​

Later that night, I went on a date sporting my six-day-old hair. It was the bravest thing I did all week. I was praying my dry shampoo was covering up the musty scent of my strands. The guy I met up with knows I work in beauty and probably just thought I was experimenting with hairstyles, which I often do, so he wouldn't have been weirded out if I told him what I was doing, but I kept it to myself. He complimented me when he saw me, and told me he liked my outfit and that I looked nice. Phew, he doesn't think my hair looks gross, I thought.

Day 7: Wednesday

I FINALLY MADE IT! I can't tell you how excited I was to take down this hairstyle. My head was starting to feel the way it does when you keep your ponytail in too tight, and I knew my hair and scalp was going to be tingly when I finally took out the style. My hair was also turning a yellowy tinge and kind of smelled like an old vintage store — IT WAS TIME. It needed a purple shampoo refresher to bring back its vibrant white state and clean hair smell, but first, I had to endure another day of work.

At this point I was kind of self-conscious​ of how my hair looked and smelled. No one said anything, but then again, who walks up to someone and says, "Yo, your hair smells"? 

Finally, it was the end of the day. Brooke, the associate beauty editor, filmed the big reveal. This is what it looked like right before I took it out:

This is me taking it out (the bun was in a permanent curlicue): 

[youtube ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTRoyg12rhI" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="">​

And this is what it looked like after I flipped my head over and ruffled my hair:

Not bad, right? I mean, it could have been worse, and look at that volume! Actually, after I took it down, I put more dry shampoo in it to mask the scent and then actually went to a beauty event with my with my friend Julie — who didn't bat an eye at the fact that she'd seen me wearing the same style for a few days straight. And since I didn't want my hair in my face, I actually put it back up in the half-bun. Because why not? (I think I was having separation anxiety, TBH.)

So, here I am with Liu Wen at the Estée Lauder event sporting my weeklong signature style:

[instagram ]https://instagram.com/p/BBWDwRLSMga/?taken-by=carlycardellino" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >​

Moral of the story: You can rock the same style for seven days, and your friends and coworkers might not even notice, but you better have a damn good dry shampoo with a pretty scent to get you through it. Also: I'm still obsessed with this style, so even wearing it for seven days straight couldn't make me hate it.


Follow Carly on Twitter and Instagram.

Credit: Cosmopolitan
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