Between the red curtain and the red carpet, the classic slicked-back bun has stood the style test of time — and now it’s taking on a new role.
Slicked-back buns and ponytails have long been a fashion staple, particularly among the black and brown communities who popularized the protective hairstyle. Now, the straightforward updo with a “clean girl” aesthetic is serving a new function, becoming a way to give people a “new face.”
Allure has dubbed the phenomenon the “bleph bun” — a bun so taut that it has similar effects to a blepharoplasty, or an eyelid lift.
The tight buns and ponytails can redirect brows and eye corners to a different angle, as well as smooth out crow’s feet.
Celebrities have been rocking the new ‘do more and more on red carpets, making it the norm and cementing it as a timeless hairstyle.
Given the look’s lifting effects, there’s been much speculation on many A-listers who rocked the look are getting work done to their faces.
“It dares me to ponder if the pain they’re willing to go through for beauty is the surgical kind or simply from forcing their hair follicles to hang on for dear life,” the Allure reporter wrote.
Ariana Grande, who has been wearing her infamous slicked-back ponytail since her Nickelodeon days, is just one example of an A-lister getting a free eyelift through a hair elastic.
This past spring, Anne Hathaway did her hair with an extra-tight updo at both New York Fashion Week, which sparked plastic surgery rumors and had people online saying she got a “new face.”
Lindsay Lohan hopped on the trend, too, prompting plastic surgeons and sleuths online to guess what procedures she’s gotten — despite the 39-year-old “Freaky Friday” star denying ever getting a facelift.
Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber have also been seen with the intensely tight hairdo in the past few weeks.
Besides, the trend of undetectable cosmetic surgery is rising, saying goodbye to the dramatic and extreme makeovers in favor of barely-there work.
“In the past, highly altered changes to your face were considered ‘normal.’ But now, celebrities have had ‘great’ work — work that doesn’t look like work — [which] are admired and requested,” double-board-certified facial plastic surgeon Dr. Akshay Sanan told The Post earlier this year.
However, while the slicked-back pony can give the same effects of an eyelid for free, there are also beauty downsides to putting your hair in a tight ponytail or bun.
According to Healthline, repeatedly pulling on hair — like wearing it in a slicked-updo — could cause traction alopecia.
People can develop traction alopecia from wearing their hair pulled too tightly in a ponytail or bun — such as the “clean girl” slicked-back bun — or wearing tight braids, cornrows or dreadlocks.
Pulling on the hair repeatedly loosens the hair shaft in its follicle. If the follicle is damaged enough, it will scar and could eventually stop growing. The damage can be permanent, and the hair may not grow back.
To prevent hair loss, experts recommend switching up looks with something looser.
