5 easy Valentine’s Day hair tutorials to help you look like you’ve made an effort #LoveWeek

If life were a film, your Valentine’s Day date would be proceeded by a day off, an army of products and a rom-com montage of you preening and polishing until you look your most fabulous ‘you’. But life isn’t a film, and thank god because that sounds exhausting.

Instead, here are some brilliant video tutorials for quick, low-maintenance but romantic styles to suit every hair type – and every type of Valentine’s Day too.

(‘Romantic’ basically means ‘dishevelled’, so feel free to run for the bus afterwards.)

 

Best for serious chic: Sara Lynn Paige’s ‘Gibson Tuck’ 

 

Inspired by a popular style from the Victorian and Edwardian era (the 90s were sure to get boring sooner or later), the Gibson Tuck is that wondrous thing – a hair ‘do’ that looks fancy but honestly takes no time or skill at all. Just a LOT of kirby grips.

Add fresh flowers or a glitzy slide if you have an extra 30 seconds, and be sure to pin your rolled-up pony so it completely covers your hair band. That’s the secret.

Read Sara Lynn’s tutorial here.

 

Best for long hair: Natalia Simmons’ easiest messy side bun

 

Doing anything with your hair to one side looks instantly more romantic than keeping it in the middle. This beautifully messy bundle of curls works best on long, thick, day-old hair*, and looks even better as it unravels throughout the evening, so there’s no need to try to squeeze a can of hairspray into your tiny bag.

*In beauty blogger speak this means ‘not freshly washed’, rather than the hair of of a newborn baby. But you knew that.

 

Best for short hair: Essie Button’s 2-minute hair tuck

 

A beauty blogger mainstay, the hairband tuck is a cheat that works on all types of hair – but it’s particularly good for bobs, and short or shoulder-length ‘dos that won’t quite stretch to fiddlier styles.

Essie Button’s tutorial is a quick and no-nonsense way to show off a glitzy headband, but you could play about curling and zhoosh-ing your hair if you have more time to spare.

 

Best for diehard romantics: Charlie Grace’s mini heart braid

 

Nobody can say you haven’t embraced the season when there’s an actual heart on your head! Pinterest and YouTube are full of variations on the heart braid, but we love Charlie Grace’s version for being easier, less schmaltzy and more suitable for hair that isn’t Rapunzel-length than the others.

Plus, if you arrive on your date and discover you’ve totally overplayed the Valentine’s Day thing, you can just keep the other side of your head facing them all night. Sorted.

 

Best for very curly or afro hair: Bronzera’s curly hair updo

 

A genius reversal of the topsy-tail idea, this gorgeous pineapple-esque up-do for afro hair or tight curls is exactly the kind of easy idea that never occurs to us until we watch beauty tutorials. Thanks, beauty tutorials!

You’ll spend more time deciding which flower/clip/trinket/bird to adorn your head with than you will actually creating the look, which is definitely the best way for things to be.

 

Main image: Natalia Simmons