If you have longish straight hair, how do you wear it?

[chaosisawayoflife]

My hair is just above bra strap length. I've always been a bit rubbish at 'doing' it, so it's always been either down or up in a looped ponytail. Normal ponytails don't suit me for some reason. Anyway, I've realised I need to make more of an effort with it if I want to look vaguely groomed and together, so I'm after inspiration. I got some of those twirly pins and have had some success with buns with them. Today I've done a side plait which I'm quite pleased with. What else can I try?

I often wear mine in a side bun, all I use is two bobbles, brush it all to the side and put a bobble in an inch behind your ear then twirl the hair then start wrapping it around the bobble as tightly as you can then put the second bobble over as tight as possible. I jazz it up with gem clips from new look.

Mine is long and very thick. My default dos are

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=zooey+deschanel+hair+half+up&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1680&bih=925&tbm=isch&tbnid=-1mF1Nc2V2T_3M:&imgrefurl=www.dailymakeover.com/hairstyles/all_womens_looks/zooey_deschanel_dec_12_2009%3Ftid_ref%3D617&docid=8McWXPjM7Ifz0M&imgurl=www.dailymakeover.com/appImages/galleryImages/all_womens_looks/Zooey_Deschanel%252BDec_12_2009.jpg&w=300&h=400&ei=PW2_T7zOIcfm8QOQ4aj3Cg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=774&vpy=115&dur=18&hovh=259&hovw=194&tx=100&ty=122&sig=107587384468143435258&page=1&tbnh=130&tbnw=105&start=0&ndsp=55&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0,i:81" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Zooey half-up half-down

and the <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=high+messy+bun&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1680&bih=925&tbm=isch&tbnid=7Y3enFB476yNxM:&imgrefurl=www.polyvore.com/suicide_blonde_high_messy_bun/thing%3Fid%3D44178132&docid=rQ9qGVGVWGjP6M&imgurl=www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing%253F.out%253Djpg%2526size%253Dl%2526tid%253D44178132&w=300&h=300&ei=M22_T62lMIba8AOj0qn-Cw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1290&vpy=587&dur=1252&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=127&ty=70&sig=107587384468143435258&page=1&tbnh=140&tbnw=142&start=0&ndsp=49&ved=1t:429,r:38,s:0,i:152" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">high messy bun I just tie it in a high ponytail, backcomb, smooth a little and wrap sections around and pin. Hairpspray and voila!

You can google for sock buns - they're easy to do, but hard to explain.

Yesterday my hairdresser showed me how to do a side fishtail plait, really simple and looks so pretty and elegant. How to do a fishtail plait

My hair is long and quite fine and this seems to do a good job of making the wispy flyaway bits look pretty rather than messy

I put mine in a bun with spin pins, do messy pigtail low plaits, side plait, plait a piece of hair from the front and clip itround the back, wear it half up, use a babyliss wave envy to make it wavy (like a huge crimper) and clip one half round to the other side and wear a flower clip by my ear.

I do a kind of bun - you start as if you are going to do two french plaits, you do two french plaits to to the bottom of your head and then you put the length of the hair in a bun - you can use kirby grips to keep flyaways under control.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=french+plait+bun&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=780&bih=596&tbm=isch&tbnid=fga9FXryS9jzOM:&imgrefurl=homeschoolblogger.com/rjdjohn316/2011/11/a-new-hairstyle-the-french-braided-bun/&docid=K_B9HktFyjnWkM&imgurl=i693.photobucket.com/albums/vv296/cityonahill/La%252520Familia/frenchbraidhair.png&w=420&h=560&ei=j-jAT6rRJYWe0QXc8s1U&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=365&sig=100227475811636614172&page=3&tbnh=134&tbnw=95&start=29&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=french+plait+bun&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=780&bih=596&tbm=isch&tbnid=fga9FXryS9jzOM:&imgrefurl=homeschoolblogger.com/rjdjohn316/2011/11/a-new-hairstyle-the-french-braided-bun/&docid=K_B9HktFyjnWkM&imgurl=i693.photobucket.com/albums/vv296/cityonahill/La%252520Familia/frenchbraidhair.png&w=420&h=560&ei=j-jAT6rRJYWe0QXc8s1U&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=365&sig=100227475811636614172&page=3&tbnh=134&tbnw=95&start=29&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:29,i:143&tx=61&ty=77

Kind of looks like this but i do a messy bun rather than a plaited one.

I leave it down but just change the parting to more of a side part: something like this

With a little make up and a smart outfit, it is quite a polished look, methinks. Very low maintenance.