Love the look of effortlessly chic, low-slung, ponytails? But find that sleek do’s make your face look a little drab? Enter back-combing! 

This style is incredibly easy to master and the extra height can be more becoming on many of us than its slicked down counterpart. Tousle up the ponytail with some sea spray for a daytime, beach-worthy look, or smooth it down with serum for a more sophisticated night-time version.   

Step 1: Start by straightening your hair. 

Step 2: Tip your head over and work a small amount of volumising product from roots to ends. A light mousse with volumising properties is your best option as it won’t weigh the hair down with product – a bonus when you are trying to create height! 

Step 3: If you have a fringe, style this as usual. A side fringe parted far to one side and then swept across (see pic) looks great with this style. If you don’t have a fringe, make a centre part towards the crown.

Step 4: Sectioning. Take the hair that you'll be using in the ponytail in one hand and separate the top 1/3 of it into its own section – this will be the part you back-comb. Section the rest of the hair away. 

Step 5: Take your ‘back-combing section’ and backcomb the hair at the crown to create a rounded silhouette. Spray as you go with a medium strength hairspray to hold it in place. 

Step 6: Collect your two sections of hair together and, smoothing through the sides as you go, gather into a low ponytail – fastening  at the nape of the neck with a hair tie.  

Step 7: Finish off with a spritz of hairspray and off you go! 

Article by Catherine Fitzgerald.