The two-second hack everyone’s using to hide a bad hair day

Gone are the days of simply throwing on a cap to hide a bad hair day. 

Hollywood starlets are channelling their predecessors – the actresses of the ’50s and ’60s such as Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, and more – and are instead throwing on a headscarf to add a pop of colour to their wardrobes. 

Wearing a scarf can add a touch of glamour and elegance from the golden era while blending seamlessly with the wardrobe of modern times.

Celebrities like Kendall Jenner have done this effortlessly, with the 30-year-old wearing the accessory everywhere – from Hollywood parties to dinner out with friends, and even on the water, pairing the covering with her bikini. The scarf has also been everywhere at the latest Paris Fashion Week.

But its alignment with celebrity doesn’t mean the accessory can’t be worn in everyday life, including at work. 

Our resident headscarf wearer Kahla loves adding one to complete her outfits. 

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“I’ll throw a headscarf on to add a bit of colour to an outfit (especially in winter) or when I can’t be bothered to style my hair,” she says.

“I always secure it with a discretely-placed bobby pin behind each ear, just so I don’t have to worry about it fluttering away.” 

Here are some ways to incorporate the headscarf into your wardrobe: 

On top

The easiest and most common way to wear the headscarf is laid over the top of your head. 

You simply need to fold a square scarf into a triangle, place the folded edge across your forehead, and tie the two ends into a knot. 

This can be done around your chin in a “coastal grandma chic” style, or at the base of your skull for a more carefree look. 

Like Elle Fanning, who fashioned hers into a swimming cap to protect her hair in the pool, you could also use a claw clip at the back for reinforcement.  

Ponytail

Adding a scarf to your ponytail is one of the simplest ways to embrace the trend, adding a pop of colour to your hair.

If your scarf is long enough, you could even fashion the ends of it into a faux side-pony, like this model backstage at Paris Fashion Week.

Going one step further, you can incorporate the scarf as one strand of a braid, having it peek through your strands in a subtle, wearable way. 

Hijab style

Hijabis are the indisputable queens of headscarves, incorporating their religious faith into fashion, and thus finding innovative ways to wear scarves eons before the rest of us. 

The classic hijab style includes covering the head and ears with the scarf, using one fold at the midpoint of the head to create a seamless silhouette that wraps around the neck.

One guest at Paris Fashion Week (pictured above) tucked her hijab into her jacket for an even more seamless look. 

Paris-based model Sara Coelho Ansari is fond of pairing a head covering with jaunty hats.

In her Paris Fashion Week appearance, she wore a black structured hat resembling a Moroccan fez, paying homage to her heritage. 

Many hijabis also like wearing their head coverings in a “turban” style, fully covering their heads and low buns with fabric, like this guest at Paris Fashion Week. 

Extra protection from the elements

It’s not only women jumping on the trend, with one male Fashion Week guest adding a scarf to the top of his head before securing it with a blue baseball cap. This not only creates an elongating illusion, it also protects his head from the sun. 

And of course, one of the most classic ways to wear a scarf is to wrap it around your neck to protect yourself from the elements, as this guest did with her black knit scarf.