Updo How-To: Romantic Bridal Bun

Smooth, sleek finishes are a signature staple for Ohio-based stylist Caralee Pridemore. The bridal specialist is able to create intricate and detailed updos that still have an air of elegance and uniformity.

Pridemore knows the perfect updo starts with the right foundation. She told MODERN that her recent tool must-have when creating her looks is the new Olivia Garden Ceramic + Ion Professional Flat Iron.

"I love adding waves to my updos with my Ceramic + Ion Professional Flat Iron," Pridemore says. "I still get a ton of texture on my upstyles even from using a straightener."

Featuring high performance dual-ceramic heaters, a super-fast heat up and temperature recovery, the tool is ideal for the professional stylist. It also includes 11 digital temperature settings, an ergonomic thumb rest and a 30-minute piece-of-mind auto turn-off safety feature.

For this style, Pridemore used her iron from Olivia Garden to give them updo the perfect starting waves:

Step 1: Use a texture iron all over from the scalp to about 1” down

Step 2: Use your Olivia Garden Ceramic + Ion Professional Flat Iron to alternate curls all over

Step 3: Backcomb from the crown down to the occipital using to create a padding in the hair. This will help secure your pins later.

Step 4: Working on hair from ears back: Secure with a pin in the center, under the backcombing you created.

Step 5: Continue to secure with pins going on the left and right creating and X so the pins so slip

Step 6: After pinned, pull pieces at the crown up to create ridges. I visually like to start in the middle and work my way to the left and right for a balanced ridge look.  I like to use “knitting needles” to help create ridges as well, you can find those at any craft store.  

Step 7: Leave a few pieces in the front. (These will get pulled back later)

Step 8: Create your bun by dividing two horizontal sections into two rope braids, pull apart, wrap in opposite directions, and secure with pins.

Step 9: Bring all remaining hair in the front back into the bun, you can twist and pull apart to balance out the bun. I like to cris-cross these sections over the bun.

Step 10: Leave face framing pieces out in front and curl them away from the face using the Olivia Garden Ceramic + Ion Professional Flat Iron.