Polished Ponytail

" Hi! I'm Leah Wyar, the beauty director at FITNESS magazine. Today we're at the Warren-Tricomi Salon in New York City where celebrity stylist and Garnier Fructis stylist, Marc Mena, is creating beautiful updos that you can wear day or night. So we're gonna start off with Tara who's our photo editor at FITNESS. And we're gonna be doing a beautiful polished ponytail, which is half bun, half ponytail. Marc: Great. So Marc, you were saying that it's really important to start on well conditioned, really hydrated hair."

" Absolutely, especially for a look like this, you wanna really condition it the night before or the day before, just to make sure that your fly-aways are nice and smooth."

" Okay, now you're gonna be creating a knot and so you said that flat ironing it before the knot is important because it will help you create the loop. Marc: Ex- exactly, and it just gives it a sleeker look. So, you want to keep it sleek."

" So first, you know, spray with a little bit of hairspray -- just so you can have some flexibility to work with it. And then you're gonna wrap it and make a loop. Just pull the strand through the loop. Once the ponytail is through the loop, kind of tighten it. Once you have that, you start to secure it. I like to use bigger Bobby pins because she has thicker hair. And then you just begin to pin -- super simple and easy. Leah: So this is a look that you really need to have long hair for, right Marc? Marc: Absolutely. You have to have at least shoulder length or mid-shag length or longer. Because, as you can tell, your hair gets really short once you create that loop. Leah: And I think this look is so great because you can really wear it to the office -- you could wear it as a night out. Marc: You can wear this anywhere -- and this is a very, you know, very chic and sleek look. Once I have my bun secure, I re-spray it -- lock it into shape. Then I use a shine spray, give it that shine."

" And once I'm done with all that, I like to use a toothbrush and a little bit of wax, and just rub it right on top of the bristles. And I like to use the toothbrush to smooth it out."

" Leah: I love this tip because usually we'd use a comb which can create a lot of lot lines, but this is so much softer. Marc: Exactly, this is an actual brush, it's just a smaller one."

" Once you have those fly-aways down, you can spray it one more time and you're all set. Leah: Beautiful! Marc: And there you go with your look. Day or night."