Paris Hilton's hair stylist has a super chic hack for keeping your mask in place

The phrase 'necessity breeds creativity' has really rung true for beauty junkies during COVID-19, especially when it comes to protective masks. We're dialling up our eyeshadow looks, doubling down on our mask-ne-fighting skin care routines, and even matching our masks to our manicures. Phew.

But while all of these unique trends definitely help to make a sad situation better (at least from an aesthetics perspective), they're not doing much to help the facial feature doing all the heavy lifting: our ears.

Anyone who's worn a mask for an extended period of time (which should be everyone, right?), will understand — the strings holding it in place can really start to dig in after a while. We didn't know ears could get tired, but honestly, ours have just about hit their breaking point.

And so we held out hope that a genius hack designed to give them a well-earned break would emerge ASAP. Well, celebrity hair stylist Olivia Smalley has discovered just that, and it's as cute as it is clever...

In addition to styling the strands of some of our favourite icons (Paris Hilton and Britney Spears included), Smalley has some pretty stellar ideas in the practical-meets-pretty department as well.

The breakthrough? Clips. Yep, these not-so-humble hair accessories have again been given an entirely new lease on life, now moonlighting as mask-holding pins. And they're damn good at their new gig. "Ears hurt? Grab a clip to hold back mask," Smalley wrote, debuting her stroke of genius via Instagram. "And not to mention it looks so cute," she added.

The secret? The size — the bigger clip the better to keep the mask strings in place successfully. And don't worry; there are some super chic oversized options available.

Basically, this gives us both a way to take some pressure off our poor ears, and an excuse to buy a zillion more snap clips (especially considering you'll need two per look; whether you want to match or clash is completely your call...)

Main image credit: @parishilton


Obsessed with hair accessories? These are the clips, slides and ribbons we're loving right now...