By now, we’ve probably all come across the hair tuck hack – a simple case of slipping hair behind the ear to keep it tucked out the way.
Most of us will have done it subconsciously to free our faces of flyaway strands, but lots of us will have done it for fashion, too, because slicked back, polished hair is a whole movement. Smoothing those sides down adds sophistication and an extra stylish detail to hair that’s been left loose – just like rolling up a shirt sleeve, or carefully tucking a button-up shirt into jeans (it’s a whole art form).
It’s a trick that’s been used by celebs and influencers for years and – bonus – it can help show off show-stopping earrings, too.
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But, it turns out there’s more too it than simply chucking your hair behind your ears, if you really want the style to last the distance. In fact, one hair tuck hack posted on TikTok recently raked in over 7.6 million views and more than half a million likes after its creator, Sabrina Anne, showed viewers how to lock that sucker into place.
The braid hack
@sabrinaannesocials diagnosed with the chronic habit of tucking my hair behind my ears😣😂 #hairhacks #hairtutorial #heatlesshairstyles ♬ Birds of a feather – 𝖒𝖊𝖌𝖆 𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖍𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖌
“For all the girlies tucking your hair behind your ears… this hair hack is a game-changer,” Sabrina wrote over the opening clip of her video. She showed how she partitions the front face-framing section of her hair that she would normally tuck, and brings it away from the rest of her hair. Then she braids it from about temple height down to the ends, before securing both plaits under her chin with an elastic band. She separates the top half of her hair at the crown of her head into a ponytail, then slips the braids over the top. Once she lets the ponytail loose, the braids are covered, and only a small section of the braid is visible as an extra lil detail that people in the comments are likening to Lauren Conrad’s iconic noughties headband braid.
The loop hack
@lina.noory Ear Tucking Hair Hack💫 #grwm #hairtutorial #fyp #hairtok This is an amazing hack if you love to put your hair behind your ears, or if your Bobby pins don’t stay in place ✨ Inspo by @kkrriiista 💫 Today’s Affirmation: “I love myself as I am today” 🤍 Memo: if you want more of a snatched look, you can tighten the hair higher on the crown, right below where you sectioned off the hair line. I wanted mine slanted lower for a more subtle look✨ TAG someone who would love this, and don’t forget to save it to refer back to when getting ready! • #hairstyles #hairideas #beautytips #beauty #todayslook #ootd #glam #tutorials #hairtransformation #grwm #style #hairstyle #hairtutorials #foryourpage ♬ The Motto – Tiësto & Ava Max
For shorter lengths and for a flatter finish, influencer Lina Noory, shows how she separates out the front section, then takes a lower section directly behind and ties it into a ponytail. She flips the ponytail over the elastic and back on itself to create a loop. Then she tucks the front section through the loop and hoiks the lower ponytail tight to lock the front section back and into place.
The ponytail hack
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Celebrity hair stylist Justine Marjan (whose clients include Khloe Kardashian, Ashley Graham and Ella Balinska), told followers on Instagram: “[This is] the easiest red carpet styling #hairhack”. She basically creates a simplified version of Sabrina’s braid hack, simply pulling the front sections forward, tying the rest of her hair up and out the way, then tucking both front sides back behind her head into a ponytail, which she secured into place with a thick hair elastic before letting the rest of her hair loose.
The hair glue hack
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Finally, Lina also shared another hair tuck hack (very similar to the one above), but she added in the extra step of using a hair pritt stick to glue the front sections down super flat and neat.
So, just like “no makeup makeup” and the perfect shirt tuck actually require a little extra effort in order to look effortless, the hair tuck has its own hidden formula to level-up a simple hairstyle.
Originally published in Glamourmagazine.co.uk