Last night, at Postino, I fell in love. She sashayed in wearing white linen, big gold hoops, and had perfect just-blushed cheeks. But her hair, her hair! I was at a table with seven girlfriends, fashion mavens all, and we couldn’t take our eyes off it. She had one of those cool braids  framing her face, and it swept back into a loose bun. It was the perfect summer updo. Every thirty seconds, one of us was twisting about to look at her. How did she do that? How is it so fabulous? How can we be her?

“You guys, STOP staring,” Christina said. “She’s going to think we’re insane.”

We stared some more. Examined. Pondered.

My friend Jami imagined aloud how chic she would feel at work, walking in with easy, lovely summer hair. I was envisioning all the flowers I could pin next to the bun.

Finally, we sent Alissa over to explain all the staring and to demand instructions.

Today I tried them. It is HARD to french braid your own hair at that angle. I wonder if Tyson would learn and do it for me. So I tried a twist instead.

Behold:

How to do it: section off the front part of hair that you’re going to braid or twist. It’s about 2 inches back, and you want to take some from behind your ear, too, not just in the front.

Put the rest of your hair back in a pony or a clip. French braid or french twist the section, going all the way down to the end of the hair. Fasten the braid with a rubber band. Take down the rest of your hair, and then pull all of your hair, including the braid, into a bun in back.

More inspiration:

I’m going to try the braid with the hair left down next, like this:

Except I will try not to think of Lauren Conrad. I interviewed her once on a red carpet, and she was mean. If I ever get to walk down a red carpet wearing clothes I don’t pay for when all I’ve done is be on reality TV, I will not be mean. I will be very, very grateful that anyone finds me interesting whatsoever.