You're Doing It Wrong: Celeb-Inspired Tricks to Getting the Perfect High Bun

How to make this tricky style work in your favor

Not every hair bun is created equal.

For occasions where you'll be stuffing your face with sugar cookies and overindulging on holiday punch cocktails, you are going to feel the urge to look extra-good doing it. For a refreshed holiday hairstyle that's sleek and sophisticated, pull inspiration right off the red carpet. To get a copycat style that's reminiscent of Kendall Jenner's shaggy bangs-bun combo or Miranda Kerr's slick topknot, we enlisted celeb hairstylist Angela Kalinowski to share her dos and don'ts for twisting up the perfect ‘do every single time.

What Is the High Bun: "A high bun is an easy and (mostly) effortless way to throw up your hair for a night out," shared the stylist. While the bun itself is sleek, the rest of the style is relaxed, but still polished. According to Angela, a high bun "looks sexier when it is uniformly a touch messy around your whole head." So, thankfully, while the twisted portion should be slick, you don't have to stress about smoothing out all of those pesky bumps around the crown.

Avoid Sagging and Bumps: Something you want to be wary about when collecting hair for your high bun is gravity. You want it to stay in place and you want to avoid a loose underside, once secured. "This is easiest to achieve by flipping your head upside down and gathering your ponytail that way," recommended the pro.

Get the Position Right: You can wear a bun anywhere on your head, but for a true high bun, you want the knot to sit somewhere between the crown of you head and the top of your head. For exact placement, the expert has a trick: Looking at your profile, angle up diagonally from your chin to the back of your head. "Placing the bun in this specific spot will instantly elongate your face," ensured the stylist.

Loop It Into a Nub: When using an elastic tie to hold the ponytail in place, only pull the hair through partially on the last wrap before you secure it. In other words, you want to secure the strands into a mini nub (fold of hair), which will give the bun its height.  Leave the remainder of the hair hanging loose.

Pull Out Pieces Here: If you have bangs like Kendall and want to pull out a few face-framing layers, or if you want you want to loosen up the crown area just a tad, like Miranda, this is the point in which to do it. "The moment you secure the bun with pins, you can't start pulling pieces out, otherwise you ruin the style," elaborated Angela.

Wrap It: According to Angela, one of the biggest snafus people run into is what she calls "the porcupine effect," meaning that the ends of the ponytail start to spike out once wrapped into a bun. To avoid this, the pro recommended spritzing the tail with some dry shampoo for texture and teasing it to hold strands together.

Where You Pin It Matters: Strategically pinning the bun into place is where most people misstep. "Do not pin on top of the bun because the pins will pop out," warned Angela. After teasing your tail, it's important to pin as you go, inserting pins horizontally, towards the center of the bun. Once the bun feels secure, spritz with hairspray and voila, holiday party, here you come!