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The indubitable truths of bob haircuts are this: the style was, by and large, the biggest hair trend of 2019; practically any hair type and texture can pull it off; and it is notoriously, if not infuriatingly, difficult to style in an updo if you don't know what the hell you're doing.
Exhibit A: me. Beyond the beach waves I do (admittedly well) every day, I know little about "styling" my hair. (Mostly because my mum resigned me to a life of bowl and mullet haircuts, both of which require little fuss because, yeah, there's not much room for improvement there.) When I got a bob haircut last month, then, my options became even more monotonous. Throwing it up in a ponytail to wash my face at night now feels like a feat in and of itself, so being charged with making a real hairstyle look good without a fairy godmother on my shoulder sounded impossible.
But as the year reaches its end, I'm ready for a change — and like Kaia Gerber, Dua Lipa, and Amandla Stenberg have so effortlessly demonstrated, it is possible to execute a cute updo with a bob . . . you just have to learn a few tricks. To help make the magic happen, I asked celebrity hairstylist and Herbal Essences brand ambassador Bridget Brager to recreate her favourite everyday braided topknot in step-by-step form — so even the most helpless bob inhabitants like me can look like a star.