The face mask, in particular, has been challenging for many, especially for anyone who is going to school or working in an environment where wearing one is mandatory for long periods of time. The straps have a tendency to irritate ears after prolonged wear and many people are uncomfortable with the way they look in a mask. For children in school, there is the risk that the mask will get lost or dirty throughout the day. 

Today we're going to look at ways to incorporate your hairstyle into your mask. These styles are designed to stay in place all day and minimize chafing around your ears. Plus they look so cute! Grab your face mask and let's get started!

Back-to-school hairstyles with a 2020 twist! Celebrity Stylist Cindy Duplantis has some easy styles to share – watch as she demonstrates on her daughter Greyson. These ideas are perfect for children heading off to school, to keep their masks in place so they don’t get placed on dirty surfaces or go missing.

Brushing through morning tangles is a bit easier with the right shampoo and conditioner, some detangling spray and a Wet Brush. Conditioning helps hair stay tangle-free and the Wet Brush features flexible bristles to take the ouch out of hairstyling. Try Loma Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner (wait until you smell this – seriously, it’s delicious!), Redken One United Multi-Benefit Spray and Wet Brush Pro Detangler.

Cindy suggests looping scrunchies around the straps of the face mask and then wrapping the scrunchies around pigtails placed at about ear level. This not only keeps the face masks in place, but keeps it off of the ears to avoid chafing throughout the day. 

Additionally, she recommends using a scarf to tie the straps of the mask at the back, instead of looping around the ears, which is an easy way to avoid chafing and works for any hair length and style.

Scrunchie Bun

Attach your face mask straps to your bun for a chic way to hold your mask in place through the day. At times when you don't need it to cover your face simply lower as if on a hinge. This is a great feature because you won’t lose your mask or set it down on dirty surfaces when it’s time to eat.

Start with a dry texture spray, like Loma Texture & Finishing Spray, spraying lightly on hair and spraying some directly on your hairbrush. 

Using your sprayed hair brush, pull hair back into a ponytail. Position the base of your ponytail to be in line with the top of your ears.

Twist your ponytail into a bun and secure.

Use a bit of pomade or putty along the sides of your head around your ears where your face mask straps will lie, to keep flyaways at bay. Try Loma Fiber Putty.

Loop a scrunchie through the strap on one side of your face mask and pull through. 

Tie the open loop of your scrunchie around the base of your bun.

Follow the previous two steps on the other side.

Curly Ponytail

Since we're also trying not to touch our faces, keeping curly hair pulled back can help us avoid brushing our hair out of our eyes. And since wearing a face mask can get hot in stuffy workplaces or classrooms, keeping hair up can help us to stay cool.

Section out the area where your bangs would be and clip aside to style later.

Without brushing through, pull your hair back into a high ponytail using your hands. Before securing with a hair tie, and while you still have your hair in your hands, spritz with a leave-in conditioner to help with flyaways, like Unite 7Seconds Leave-In Conditioner.

Secure with a Traceless hair tie or spiral ring, such as Kenneth Bernard Traceless Hair Tie.

Pull the bang section back and add to the large ponytail by wrapping another Traceless Hair Tie around the large ponytail section.

Use small butterfly clips on your face mask straps to hold them back and off of your ears.

Low Ponytail

To keep medium length hair out of your face through the day try a simple low ponytail. Simply spray with texture spray, such as Sexy Hair Surfer Girl Texture Spray and pull back into a hair tie at the base of your neck.

Hair clips are a super easy and chic way to keep straps held back. Instead of looping straps around your ears pull straps back with a cute clip of your choice! 

By using a scrunchie scarf combo I was able to pull back the straps of my face mask without tying the scarf in a knot to make removal much easier!

With the scrunchie and scarf detached I pulled my hair back into a ponytail a bit higher than my ears and secured with the scrunchie. I made sure the small loop attachment on the scrunchie was underneath my ponytail pointed down. 

I then threaded the scarf through the straps of my face mask under my ponytail.

Using the loop attachment on the scrunchie, I threaded the ends of the scarf through the loop in a criss-cross fashion and pulled tight.

Now when it's time to remove my mask, I simply pull the scarf out of the scrunchie loop.