by Jody Barnes

Created on: May 11, 2008   Last Updated: April 03, 2012

Every girl wants to look gorgeous from head to toe on prom night, but going to the salon for the perfectly coiffed look isn't always possible or practical. Luckily, whether your hair is short or long, curly or straight, you can create the perfect prom hair at home. Even if you know absolutely nothing about styling hair, you still have tons of options for creating a classic, contemporary, or flirty formal look.

A few styling products and hair accessories will give you tools to make your hair awesome, and also make your friends jealous that they spent their hard earned cash on expensive salon dos.

While you probably use hairspray or mousse to make your typical styles look great, there are tons of specialty hair products that can help you create beautiful formal styles that will survive all night on the dance floor. You may want to check out specialty products, like curling spray, which helps make curling irons work better and protect your hair from heat damage. Accessories can make any hair style more formal. Check out jeweled hair pins, combs, and barrettes. Also, if your hair isn't quite long or thick enough for the style you want, you can find clip-on fake hair or fake hair scrunchies. Using beautiful accessories and the right styling products will allow you to adapt any hairstyle to fit your hair type and personal style.

The Styles

The Formal Chignon

This classic style is incredibly easy to accomplish at home for anyone with medium to long hair; as long as your ponytail is at least 4 inches long, you can make this work. You can go sleek, using a smoothing lotion on your hair to prevent flyaways and making sure every hair is tucked carefully into your bun; or, you can go for a soft romantic look with curls escaping from the chignon.

Pull your hair into a ponytail at the height you want your bun to be and secure it with a thin hairband. This will make the bun larger. Depending on what you want your hair to look like at the end, you can place a side part in your hair, or leave some of your hair out of the bun, to create loose curls later.

While the typical bun would just be wrapped around the ponytail and pinned into place, you can twist small sections in place to create a textured bun, or if your hair is not particularly long or thick, you can place scrunchies around the ponytail, and strategically pull sections of hair over the scrunchies to create a large bun. Use a hairband to secure the bun, and use hairpins to secure the ends that stick out from under

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