Back

Recreate Olivia Palermo's sleek braid

The perfect style for humid summer nights

By Alex Noonan

Beauty Crew Digital Content Director / April 11 2016

The perfect style for humid summer nights

By Alex Noonan

Beauty Crew Digital Content Director / April 11 2016

The one hairstyle every woman needs to master for humid summer nights

We love a beachy braid for the day, but a polished plait looks sharp and minimises the chance of frizz on humid summer nights.

“Braids are great for keeping hair neat,” agrees Mark Hampton, Toni & Guy global hair ambassador, adding that the style can look either “preppy and considered, or sporty”.

Here’s three easy steps to get the look.

1

Smooth hair

Depending on your hair type, apply a little smoothing lotion or gloss serum and blow-dry until hair is sleek. Use a paddle brush, rather than a round brush as you want your hair to sit smooth and straight.

2

Part your hair

Using a tail comb, fashion a razor-sharp part, either in the centre or on your favourite side; smooth over the top sections, on either side of the part.

3

Plait at the nape of your neck

Gather your strands at the nap of your neck. “The braid itself is very easy, so just keep the sections tidy while you plait to keep it looking smooth,” says Hampton. Secure with a clear elastic or one that matches your hair colour.

4

Spray to finish

Finish with a mist of light hold hairspray. If fly-aways are a problem, pump a small amount of serum – a half pea-size should do the trick – between your palms and smooth over each side of your part.

The kit:

ELEVEN Australia Give Me Hold Flexible Hair Spray
De Lorenzo Instant Allevi8 Anti-Frizz Shine Serum
Lady Jayne Two Tone Tail Comb

Main image credit: Getty
Illustrations by: Ann Do

Alex Noonan

Alex is BEAUTYcrew’s Digital Content Director and has been since the site launched in 2016. She’s constantly on the search for the perfect shade of nude nail polish and lipstick for fair skin and battles with keeping her fragrances on rotation to under a dozen. You can find her words right here on BEAUTYcrew, and in previous issues of marie claire.