I Tried Viral TikTok Hairstyling Hacks To See If They Actually Work (And The Results Were Honestly Surprising)

Ready? Hair we go...

Hey! I'm Fabiana. I'm a girl who loves all things beauty, but when it comes to my thick, long, wavy hair... I get a bit lazy with it (as I've admitted in another post where I mentioned how I barely wash my hair). Point proven!

Fabiana Buontempo / Via Instagram

I'm always on the hunt for a good tip or trick to make my life easier — and that includes styling my hair. To take a break from my usual, I decided to try some of the popular hair hacks I often see pop up on TikTok.

Fabiana Buontempo / Via Instagram: @fabianabuontempo

After spending way too many hours down a TikTok rabbit role for *cough cough* research, I picked five hair hacks that I wanted to try. I wanted to see if they actually work and live up to the hype.

NBC / Via giphy.com

Here's how everything went!

HACK #1: Contain long, thick hair in a single claw clip by using a low-ponytail + bun trick below the clip.

I love claw clips and have always wanted to style my hair with them. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found a way for the clip to hold ALL of my hair the same cute way I see all over social media. Luckily, @breannacohoonhair answered my prayers by showing a clip hack for us thick-haired people.

@breannacohoonhair / Via tiktok.com

In the hack, she pulls her hair in to a low ponytail, loops it through a hair-tie to create a make-shift bun — then sticks that bun under the claw clip. From there, she wraps the ends of her hair back around and tucks them into the clip. Kind of hard to explain (easier to just watch the TikTok!), but it's seemingly a quick way to stash a lot of your hair underneath the clip, rather than in it.

Here was my attempt:

Fabiana Buontempo

Did it work? I so desperately wanted this hack to work. Part of the problem with this hack was that I couldn't get my hair in a low, tight ponytail because when I pulled my hair partially through the elastic to create the small bun as shown in the TikTok, it caused the rest of my hair to loosen up and pull out of the ponytail around my ears. 

Then, when I gathered the ends of my hair and clipped it all up, it clearly was a hot mess. I did several attempts, and each looked worse than the last. I still think I have too much hair for a claw clip, and I might just have to kiss the dream of wearing my hair like this goodbye. 

HACK #2: Easily create volume at the roots by using a flat iron.

There's nothing worse than the front sections of hair falling flat. (And I usually solve this problem myself with dry shampoo.) But when I saw this trick of using a flat iron to create volume on flat roots by @taybeckerbeauty, I was intrigued.

@taybeckerbeauty / Via tiktok.com

In the TikTok, she flat irons her roots straight up, then quickly lets the hair cool. When the hair lays back down on her head, you can see a bit of extra volume. For even more volume, she recommends flat-ironing twice (in opposite directions) and locking it in with hair spray.

Here was my before-and-after attempt:

Did it work? This hack worked like a charm! My flat dirty curtain bangs were brought back to life with the simple use of a flat iron. I never would have thought to use a flat iron to create volume as it sounds a bit counterproductive, but leave it to TikTok to continuously shock me. After using the flat iron, I sprayed some dry shampoo and voila!

HACK #3: Use a sock to achieve bouncy curls — with zero heat.

This hack almost sounded too good to be true — yet the stunning results some TikTokers like @gillianxgrace achieved from this technique were pretty mind-blowing to me.

@gillianxgrace / Via vm.tiktok.com

She basically braids her hair around a cotton sock (or bathrobe tie) and then sleeps on it. In the morning: no-heat curls! She notes this works best when her hair is "90% dry" after a shower. You can also shortcut this by spraying your hair with a bit of water.

Here was my attempt:

Did it work? Instead of a sock, I used Robe Curls, which is the same concept, except instead of a sock, it's a curling headband. (It still requires the exact same technique to be done to achieve the bouncy, heatless curls.) I sprayed my hair with some water to get it a little damp as instructed, parted my hair down the middle and on each side, wrapped my hair section by section around the headband, and secured it with a scrunchie.

Four hours later, I took out the headband, and, to my surprise, my hair was left with a lot of pretty flips and soft curls. It didn't create the same curls I would achieve with a hot curling iron (or the ringlets I've been seeing on TikTok), but I also wasn't mad at the results I got. It was a simple technique to achieve bouncy, flowy, pretty hair without any heat damage. I would definitely try this method again!

HACK #4: Achieve the perfect messy (but not too messy) bun by making two small looped buns, criss-crossing them through each other, and wrapping excess hair around the base.

In another long hair hack, @hairby.payt shows her trick for doing exactly that.

@hairby.payt / Via tiktok.com

Here was my attempt:

Fabiana Buontempo

Did it work? This hair hack had me put my hair into two high pigtail buns with excess hair sticking out. I then had to take the two buns and criss-cross them into a knot before taking the excess hair and wrapping it around the knot and securing it with bobby pins. 

My finished bun definitely did not look as pretty as @hairby.payt's version, but I think I did somewhat achieve the messy bun look. (Then again, I asked my mom if my bun looked good, and she said "no." So there's that.) The bun did feel very tight, which wasn't surprising considering I had three hair ties in my hair. This hack definitely requires some practice so I would give it another try and use hairspray next time to combat any frizz sticking out. 

HACK #5: Quickly style baby baby hairs without any heat — only a Q-tip and a hair elastic.

Usually my baby hairs are an after-thought when I wear my hair up. So when they peek out, they can look messy. But @kaylaxbbyy showed off a no-heat hack for easily curling baby hairs.

@kaylaxbbyy / Via tiktok.com

This one is pretty simple: She just wraps her baby hairs around a Q-tip, secures with a hair elastic, and then lets it set for few minutes.

Here was my attempt:

Did it work? I actually liked this hack! As bizarre of a technique as it is, it did somewhat curl my baby hairs, and to me the hairs looked like they were curled without trying too hard. I only did the technique on one side to compare it to my uncurled baby hairs, and I preferred the Q-tip side.

Have you ever tried a hair or beauty hack from TikTok that you really loved (or hated)? Tell me in the comments below!