I don’t know about you but for me, those extra 5 minutes of shuteye in the A.M. are more precious than an entire night’s worth of sleep. I don’t remember a single morning when I’ve been on schedule. A typical morning involves cramming a shower, breakfast, getting dressed, and putting on my makeup — all in under 45 minutes — which leaves me with absolutely no time for styling my hair. And there’s only so many times you can walk into the office in a ponytail.
This is why I prefer to be prepared for running late by arming myself with these hairstyling hacks that make my mane look presentable in all of 5 minutes. I can literally walk out the door with my hair looking like my crowning glory.
1. Leave your hair in a braid
This is LEGIT. I always, always, always sleep with my hair in a braid. If I want lived-in texture, I wrap my hair in two loose braids. If I want tighter, beachy waves I use an assortment of rope braids and regular braids, and trust me this hack is my go-to. I always wake up with voluminous texture and I barely have to do a thing to style my hair in the morning, except unravelling the braids!
2. Dry shampoo is your BFF
Make no mistake, this is not a bottle of mere product. This is CPR for hair. Dry shampoo can extend your blowout by an extra day or two. Plus it gives limp hair a boost by adding volume to the roots and texture to the hair. Here are some of our favourite dry shampoos.
3. Blow dry the crown
I hate washing my hair in the morning because I prefer to let my hair air dry. But on days where it’s criminal to use any more dry shampoo (and a wash is mandatory to be out and about in civil society), I have no choice but to use a blow dryer. But covering all my hair can take a good half hour, and I’m not willing to spend that kind of time and effort in the morning. So here’s my advice – tackle the crown area of your hair. Tame the flyaways and blow dry the Mohawk down to a sleek finish. You will look polished.
4. Style face-framing pieces
If you have 5 more minutes to spare, take a curling wand to the face-framing pieces of your hair, or tame unruly flyaways with a straightening iron. This here is a great hack to curl all your hair in a jiffy if you have a little more time on hand in the morning.
5. The topknot is a saviour
When all else fails, there’s nothing like pulling out a good old topknot!