The ‘Cali twist’ is about to be our go-to summer hairstyle

Updos continue to enjoy their moment in the sunshine, and one spin on the style that we’re crushing on hard is the ‘Cali twist’ which – speaking of sunshine – is a recipe for gorgeous summer-ready hair, just in time for warmer days.

We spotted a particularly dreamy rendition recently, on top LA hair stylist, Kathleen Riley’s Instagram grid. She created the look for socialite, Sofia Richie, and pimped it out with flower pins to take the look to the next level.

As for what, exactly, a Cali twist entails, it basically sits somewhere between a French twist and a Pammy updo. It has the romantic elegance of the former, with the relaxed California beach babe vibes of the latter and it makes for a pretty phwoarrr combo.

To create it, you’ll need to have the basics of a French twist down (and we should warn you, they look crazy complicated), but once you’ve got the knack the Cali twist is an easy 2 minute hairstyle from there.

One TikToker @alexgaboury simplified the French twist in her video. “Gather your hair into a ponytail and hold it in your right hand. Place your index and middle finger on your left hand above your ponytail and tightly wrap the base of your ponytail up and over your fingers to the right,” she says. It makes more sense when you watch the video. “Next hook and tightly twist your fingers to the left, twisting one full turn counter-clockwise as you bring it to the top of your head (while using your right hand to keep your ends at the bottom). Now using your right hand, gently pull up the base of your twist to create that French twist look. Twist and tuck your ends underneath and secure from bottom to top using French [or bobby] pins,” she says.

Got it? Nahhh. Neither did we, so it’s worth a few practice runs before the motions become automatic. Then, when you’re confident, that’s where you can go to town on personalising the style and giving it your own laidback twist (see what we did there).