TikTok Hair Trends | What to Try & What to Skip!

It’s no secret that TikTok is full of useful beauty and wellness hacks, such as using dollar bills or bank notes to create the perfect winged eyeliner. Take a quick scroll and you will no doubt come away with something new and intriguing to try, even more so when you go down one of the most popular TikTok rabbit holes: #hairhacks. The platform is nearly solely responsible for getting us all to buy a whole host of styling tools and hair accessories, not to mention it’s encouraged us to try out a bunch of hair styling hacks to go along with said accessories!

While there is an allure to the platform’s trends, it is this casual use of videos, without knowing the science or skills behind them, that has landed people in hot water, or worse – doing real harm to themselves and damaging their hair and skin in the process.

So how do you know which viral hair hacks to try and which ones to avoid? Artistic Director at Tara Rose Salons, Rhi Hurley shares her advice to separate the fads from the facts, helping you know why some trends are better left to the professionals.

Hack Number 1: The Ponytail Shag – putting your hair in a ponytail and cutting it off

Firstly, most of the time this is not these creator’s area of expertise, and they are using scissors that are not meant for hair cutting; thus they are using incorrect tools for the cut and sadly, people are following this example. Secondly, they are cutting blindly, without a guide so they don’t actually know what they are going to achieve. They don’t know how much length they are taking off and where it’s going to sit on their head etc. Stylists have studies for years to master this technique and so to try it after watching a five second video is a big no-no. This is one hack, best left to the professionals who know the angles of how your hair will sit, and how to texturise and blend to give you the best shape for your face.

Hack Number 2: Cutting your own Bangs

It’s not a full cut at least, but still one which requires a level of expertise. With so many different lengths and shapes of bangs, a stylist can assess and advise which would suit your face shape. This particular cut is not personalized to everyone, so for example if you have a round face, you can potentially make your face look even more round by copying someone on YouTube or TikTok who has a long, slim face.

Hack Number 3: Perfume on your Straightener to change the Color, or Perfume in general on the Hair

If you do this, you are likely to try everything! There are chemicals in perfumes that react to heat – alcohol being the main one. Alcohol and heat together create fire, and so users of this trend are lucky they haven’t set their hair alight. We have had clients come to us who have used bakhoor or perfume on their hair to make it smell nice, which has reacted with the bleach and caused a chemical reaction that melted their hair off during a strand test. The chemicals in perfumes and bakhoor are not designed for hair at all and become even more dangerous if you’re going to use them alongside chemical processes like color or Keratin. At Tara Rose, we would recommend hair perfume and scented products that will not leave your hair dry, damaged, and susceptible to a fire hazard.

Hack Number 4: Heatless Curls

Now this is one hack we can get on board with! Heat really does cause a lot of trauma for the hair and a lot of people think they use heat protection, but they are not actually using it correctly. So instead of traumatizing the hair and damaging it, heatless curls are a great option for anyone who wants to go curly. If your hair is less damaged from heat, then naturally it is going to look better. Plus, you have a bigger range of what you can do with color because the damage isn’t there. Ultimately any style that promotes better hair condition is something that is a win for both you and your stylist.

Hack Number 5: The High Ponytail Curl Technique

This hack sees the hair taken up into a high ponytail and sections taken from it to curl. This time saving method is also meant to be an easier way to curl the hair too. Again, this is a hack we wouldn’t say no to as the hair is being curled quickly and is not being overheated. By taking sections and pulling them all up into a ponytail, there isn’t the problem of too many sections to try and complete. It’s quick, effective, and one to try – just don’t forget your heat protection.

@tararosesalon