9 Chic & Trendy Winter Hair Styling Hacks To Try This Season For Instant Volume

During the holiday season, it’s fun to elevate your hair game with chic braid ideas, updo hacks, and ponytail ideas for festive gatherings. You can embrace voluminous hairstyles with our selection of nine TikTok-approved hair styling tips, which work wonders on thin hair, no matter your age.

These celeb-fave trendy styles are a favorite among social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest and are bound to pique your interest. So why not explore your options and experiment with these stylish hairstyles? In addition, we also reached out to professional hair stylists and experts to learn more about trying these looks out for yourself this winter.

9 Winter Hair Styling Hacks To Create Volume & Hide Thinning

1. Loose Messy Buns

One stylish solution for thinning hair is to opt for a classic messy bun, which offers flexibility in terms of tying it as loosely or tightly as desired and positioning it to conceal any areas of thinning on the scalp or elsewhere. Moreover, this hairstyle can also be enhanced with added volume and movement by pulling out some face-framing strands and using hairspray to lock your style into place.

Ghanima Abdullah, hair expert and cosmetologist at The Right Hairstyles tells SheFinds: “Whatever you do, don’t pin your hair tightly in the area of the hair loss. In fact, avoid any tight pulling in those areas as it will accelerate the loss of your hair.” (Noted!)

2. Half-Up, Half-Down ‘Dos With Bows

With the holiday season just around the corner, a cute way to celebrate and accessorize your favorite half-up, half-down ‘do is to add a festive bow. Like the aforementioned low bun, you can section and tie half of your hair up wherever you’d like to create more volume and hide any thin spots if necessary.

According to Amr Salem, hair expert at INKredible Scalp, another way to make this look appear more voluminous is to “use bobby pins to create the illusion of thicker hair by pinning up certain sections in different ways.”

3. Claw Clip Updos

Claw clips took BeautyTok by storm throughout 2023, and they’re not going anywhere! If you want to make your tresses look voluminous, effortless and draw less attention to any thinning or hair loss, this could be a great hack for you, Abdullah says.

“If you need a nice hairstyle that hides thinning and doesn’t need any chemicals or heat, simply create a loose updo with a claw clip,” she says. “Allow a few tresses to hang in the front and on the sides. This style looks lovely and doesn’t age you or cause undue stress on your locks.”

4. Bubble Ponytail

In the wake of the Euphoria-inspired beauty craze last year, there are plenty of Y2K and 90s-inspired hair trends that seem to reappear every season. This winter, don’t be surprised to see bubble ponytails back and better than ever!

It couldn’t be easier to revamp your classic ponytail and make your hair look thicker at the same time. To try this out, create a traditional high or low ponytail and use dry shampoo to secure your look. Then, experienent with elastics and pull your tresses through and stretch them out to make as many ‘bubbles’ as you’d like.

5. French Pin Updos

Another chic and Parisian-inspired way to keep your hair up this winter is to use a French pin. Salem explains that cute pins and accessories like these can be a game changer to hold your locks in place while also looking polished and stylish. If you have naturally finer or thinner hair, this is even more beneficial as you can pin your hair up in whatever way makes your hair seem fuller.

“Updos are one of the best ways to show off your beautiful face and at the same time cover up any bald spots on your scalp,” he points out. “You can do an updo with long hair, short hair or even no hair at all.” Salem says that the key is to be “creative in how you style your locks,” like with a cute French pin to dazzle up your look!

6. 90s Blowout / Butterfly Cut

A stunning layered haircut to try out this winter is the butterfly cut, which mimics a classic 90s blowout.

Melissa Franco, professional hair stylist and owner of EmberRose Salon, tells us that this style involves clever layering to give your locks an instant boost. “The shortest layer is in the front,” she explains, adding that “it can be as short as a longer bang, and as long as below the chin, giving it tons of versatility.”

After determining the shortest layer, she says that “all the hair is pulled to that length and cut to be gradually longer from there.” This naturally allows both layers and lengths to “get longer towards the back, often creating a V or U shape in the length at the end.”

This haircut is great for anyone who might struggle with finer or thinner hair, she stresses, because “while clients often cut well over a foot or more off of their hair in most areas, they potentially can lose almost no length.” This, Franco notes, makes the hair “far lighter, allowing it to achieve far more volume than before.”

7. Barbie-Inspired Ponytails

If we had to describe the style of Summer 2023 with one word, we’d use the term, ‘Barbiecore.’ While that was months ago, a voluminous ponytail inspired by ones that Margot Robbie rocked throughout the smash-hit Barbie flick are still in and as cute as ever!

To recreate this look, as seen in viral videos like the one above, many beauty aficionados have shown a clever hack for instant volume. To start, slick your tresses back into a high pony. Next, move your ponytail farther from your head a bit. Make a hole in your hair and then flip the ponytail within it for a cute Barbie-esque look!

8. Rose Buns

If you have bobby pins, hair ties, hairspray and want a chic way to sweep hair out of your face and make your features stand out, we suggest trying a rose bun this winter! John Belt, hair expert and owner of Belt Salon tells us that he believes the rose bun trend, as seen on Bella Hadid, is popular on social media and in high fashion because "it is a unique and creative way to style hair, and it can be done with various hair lengths and textures."

He adds, "as a hair stylist, I appreciate how versatile and customizable the style can be to suit each individual’s preferences." While one pro of the style is its beauty, elegance and timelessness, another positive aspect, Belt says, is its ability to conceal thinning hair (or draw attention away from it).

By slicking your hair back, you can experiment with this step to find where to pin it to best hide bald patches or areas you’d like to cover up. "The rose bun style could potentially help hide hair loss or thinning hair as the coils can create volume and texture around the bun," Belt points out.

9. Baby Braids

All this year, Hailey Bieber has been an epic beauty trendsetter, inspiring us to dye our hair the ever-trendy 'bronde' hue, to don 'latte makeup' and to rock 'strawberry girl summer' looks.

Another chic look we've seen her sport on Instagram are baby braids, a cute 90s-esque hairstyle often seen on TikTok that traditionally requires you to wear your tresses down, parted in the center and little face-framing braids styled on each side of your face.

Abdullah points out that this is also easily customizable, as you can experiment with your parting and where you place the braids. She also suggests "pinning them so they don't fall down" and "pulling out wisps of hair on the front and sides to compliment your new hairdo."