3 chic mom hairstyles

I never was very good at styling my hair, and now that I'm a mom, I really don't have much time to waste on it. When I stay home all day and get stuff done, I look like a slop, and I don't mind. I wear the dreaded yoga pants and tee shirt, and my hair is in a boring pony tail. But when I go out of the house, I feel so much happier, and more organized and accomplished if I look decent. I think it's weird that my appearance should have an effect on my day like that, but there it is. So the trick is finding a way to look cute and make it happen quick. Here are three styles that are my go-to for summer hair.

1. Sleek Sock Bun - This is one of my favorite ways to wear my hair right now. It's good all day, out of your face, and cool, but looks polished. Great for clean hair, dirty hair, or towel dried hair. Slick hair up into a very high pony tail and fasten with an elastic. Next, put on your sock doughnut (cut the toe out of a thick, long sock and roll it like a doughnut), or a bun form (they have these at drugstores and big box stores). Lift your hair up and over the form, smoothing it all down, evenly around and over the whole form, covering it all. Next, take an elastic matching your hair color and place around the hair and form, only once. Then, you take the left over hair and begin gathering it around the bun, twisting as you go. Use bobby pins as you go to secure the ends into the bun. This all sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. Once you do it a couple times, you will be able to the whole thing in 2 minutes flat. You can then use hairspray to smooth and tame the flyways. I like to put a bit of gel into damp hair before doing this and that lends a lot of hold as well.

2. Soft, Wavy Texture- My hair is currently a medium length style, but this method would work for almost any length of hair, I think. I use a 1 1/2 inch curling iron (if you use a smaller iron, you will get a more curly effect and less of a wavy, textured look) to randomly add curl all the way around, leaving the tips straight. There can be some straight pieces mixed in, you don't have to worry about getting all your hair curled. For me, this style works best with clean hair, or second day hair. After that, my hair is too oily and flat. As you finish each curl, gently tug down on the end to get a more relaxed curl, (my fancy hairstylist friend Meg taught me that, hey girl!), then leave it alone until it cools off. The curl will set and last better. When you have all the hair curled that you wish, and it is all cooled off, gently tousle it with you fingers a bit and finish with a little hair spray. 

3. Pony Tail With a Twist- This is the classic, easy pony tail with a twist! See what I did there? The addition of a simple side twist adds a little interest and

personality to the basic pony. This takes a total of 11.567899 seconds to do. 

Start with smooth, brushed hair, and part slightly off to one side. Take the long side and begin at the part, grabbing the hair at your forehead and twisting. Pull in more hair as you travel down the side of your head. Hold onto the end and gather the rest of your hair into a low or medium pony tail and secure all together with a clear or matching elastic. Sometimes I like to do a quick bun, so instead of pulling through the hair like a pony, I just leave it in a little tuck type bun. Finish with a quick mist of hairspray and you're good all day.

Thanks Hon, for being my photographer for this. Xoxo.