Sock Buns

If your hair hangs past your shoulders, and you're like me - incapable of mustering the effort to blow dry your hair before 9 a.m. -- man do I have a trendy treat for you! It's called the sock bun, and not only does it take under 2 minutes to complete, but it's also a versatile hairstyle, capable of being dressed up or down. 

The Sock Bun on my sister, Brooke for Taylor's college graduation party. 

I can't take credit for this hair craft; my jewelry-making sister showed me this style a few weekends ago at my vintage-shopping sister's college graduation. On the day of Taylor's graduation, we overslept the alarm and woke up at the time we were supposed to leave the house; four of us needed to shower and primp before we left, so the sock bun was our saving grace. Brooke was nice enough to share the style with me in a pinch.

Me and Brooke sporting our sock buns.

Okay, so down to the meat of the post. How do you make your own sock bun? 

To start you need:

• A tube sock that you don't mind cutting. The tube should be about as long as your ponytail. You'll also, preferably, want to use a sock that is similar to your hair color (e.g. not a yellow argyle sock like mine).

• A pair of scissors

• Bobby pins

My sock already has the heel and toe cut off. 

Step 1. Cut the tube of the sock to separate it from the heel and toe. You'll use the tube; discard the heel (or use it as a soggy ankle sock or bathtub plug). 

Step 2. Pull your hair into a pony tail. I prefer a high pony tail for my sock bun, but the sock bun will work anywhere. The Stephanie Tanners out there might opt for a side pony sock bun. 

Step 2

Step 3. Pull the sock tube over your pony tail.

Step 3

Step 4. Begin to tuck the ends of your pony tail up into the sock as you begin to roll the sock down over your pony tail.

Step 5. Keep rolling. 

Step 6. When you roll the tube all the way down, you'll end up with a perfect bun. I usally pin down the bun with bobby pins and spray a bit of flexible hold hairspray to keep my hair from revealing the sock.

The sock bun from the front. 

Finished product from the back.

To finish off this easy-peasy hair style, I like to pair it will long earrings to dress it up, and jeans and tee for a more casual, yet sophisticated look. 

H&M sells this texturized bun maker for $3.99, but I've had better luck with a sock.

The sock bun is a long-haired, blow dryer-evading girl's dream. I haven't tried or seen this style on curly hair yet, but I imagine it would look just as cute. No matter your hair type, test it out for yourself and prepare for the compliments to show themselves in. Happy hair days to all of you!

Photo credit: Mister Jordan S. 

My Summer Polish Pick

A note for those of my friends and readers who don't like feet: there is a small but close-up photo of my (post-pedicure) feet in this post. A note for all people, everywhere: My feet are clean, but not pretty. 

We actually had a relatively chilly winter here in Santa Barbara, which means I too get to experience the excitement of pulling out my sandals for summer just like you East Coasters. So much for not having my cake and eating it too, huh?

In celebration of this joyful annual event, I treated my tootsies to a pedicure yesterday, and, considering that my feet had been holed up inside my shoes for months without any attention, I went to the nice place in town. You know, where they use that exfoliating salt scrub and wrap hot, wet towels around your feet? There really is nothing like a great pedicure, and a bonus benefit of going to the nice place is that they usually offer in a fine color selection. Aqua Nail Bar in Santa Barbara is our nice place, and they delivered on color.

Ladies and gentlemen-who-continued-reading-about-nail-polish, say hello to Camera from Essie's Poppy Razzi collection! This is my official summer polish pick.

It's sold out on Nordstrom.com, so, yeah...that.

It's coral! It's pink! It's red! It's NEON, and it's my color of choice for the summer. I can't wait to try out the rest of the cheery collection.

Camera - it looks orange here, but in person the neon and pink come through. 

I'm not much in to matching my toenails to my fingernails, so while Camera sits pretty on my toes this summer, I'll don my other favorite Essie color of the season, Splash of Grenadine, on my fingernails.

"Morning, Sarah. That's a very nice purple dress. It's very purpley." - Elf

Happy summer nail polish shopping!