When she isn’t filming The Kardashians in Los Angeles or sitting courtside at Knicks games in NYC, there’s a solid chance her toes are in the sand somewhere closer to the equator. Indeed, that’s exactly where she is at the moment, serving up nonstop beachy beauty and style inspo on her Kylie Cosmetics brand trip to Turks & Caicos. The latest mood board-worthy look? A plaited ponytail that’s pretty much the perfect elegant hairstyle for a seaside dinner.
In a set of photos posted to Instagram on June 4, Jenner shared what appeared to be a look for evening festivities: A slinky white halter t-shirt dress that left very little to the imagination, large hoop earrings decked out in gemstones, and a bejeweled minaudière. She paired the sexy ensemble with what I can only describe as the platonic ideal of “beachy evening glam” - gleaming skin with a lightweight base and plenty of highlighter, glossy lips, and a slicked-back ponytail, braided into a shiny plait without a single hair out of place. Jenner has also been sporting a blinged-out rhinestone mani - the handiwork of her go-to artist Zola Ganzorigt - and a metallic French pedi.
We all know the world runs on trends. Sorry to break it to you, but humanity has always followed beauty trends: from prehistory to the Middle Ages, from the Renaissance to the Victorian era, often making some seriously questionable choices along the way. Trends get dug up, chewed over, and spat back out, trying to update them for the present. So far, so normal, but there’s a limit to everything. Because then Kylie Jenner shows up, posts a photo of what the internet has dubbed the partless slick back, and suddenly millions of people start wondering how to recreate the look of the moment. Except the hairstyle in question is literally just a slicked-back ponytail with no parting. A style most of us have probably worn countless times. And yet, the moment it gets attached to a celebrity and given a new name, it instantly becomes a trend.
Everything okay? I get reinventing the past. I think it’s beautiful to bring forgotten trends back to life, turning old ideas into something new. To be honest, the problem isn’t even Kylie Jenner’s ponytail. It’s everything that comes after it. In recent years, we’ve witnessed a real obsession with the rebranding of the obvious. Beauty doesn’t necessarily create anything new anymore: it often takes something that already exists, gives it a catchy name, and turns it into a trend. The clean girl look? Light foundation, glowing skin, and neat hair. The toasty makeup? Warm tones on eyes, cheeks, and lips-basically the cousin of cinnamon makeup, teddy bear makeup, and dozens of other aesthetics born online. The same goes for all those fruit-inspired beauty looks: strawberry, cherry, berry. Fun? Absolutely. Revolutionary? Not really. Often, it’s just a shift in blush or lipstick shade, and suddenly the trend gets a new name. But the magic isn’t in the aesthetics, it’s in the storytelling.
Because our brains love categorizing things. We like naming phenomena, sorting them into boxes, and feeling part of something recognizable. Once a look gets a label, it stops feeling like a random choice and becomes an identity. You’re no longer wearing pink blush - you’re recreating cherry blossom makeup. It would be easy to blame celebrities, but that would be too simple. Kylie Jenner is just doing what influencers do: existing online and posting a photo. The real phenomenon is how we react. Social media runs on constant novelty. Every week needs a new aesthetic, a new look, a new hashtag. And when ideas start running out, we recycle what already exists, polish it a little, give it a more sophisticated name, and relaunch it as if it had just been discovered. It’s not a new mechanism, and that’s exactly why it always works. When we see hundreds of creators talking about the same hairstyle, we start looking at it differently, and almost without realizing it, we begin to find it more interesting. Why? And it’s no longer just about naming things: it’s about building a character, a lifestyle, an identity to aspire to. And when an aesthetic becomes a community, it stops being just a trend and becomes something you want to belong to.
So we’re not really talking about beauty trends anymore. We’re talking about a system where social recognition changes the way we perceive even the most ordinary choices. A ponytail, a slightly higher blush placement, a color combo we’ve been doing in front of the mirror for years suddenly become an aesthetic, not because they’ve changed, but because someone isolated them, named them, and shared them. The problem isn’t that ideas are missing. When Kylie Jenner watched the New York Knicks play the Philadelphia 76ers on May 6, she probably thought all eyes would be on the navy blue (and what looks like crocodile leather) Hermès Birkin casually sitting on her lap courtside. Little did the reality TV star and beauty brand founder know she would instead spark the hottest-and most debated-hairstyle of the summer: the partless ponytail. First coined as the “partless slickback” by content creator Hannah Burbach, the partless ponytail is exactly what it sounds like: a ponytail without any defined parting of the hair.
Sure, it’s hardly revolutionary; I personally, like many people, have been wearing one for as long as I can remember. But whether you’re team “partless slickback,” team “partless ponytail,” or team “it’s literally just a ponytail,” it doesn’t really matter. It’s the perfect hairstyle for when the temps rise above 80. And as Burbach states in her video, “It feels so chic. I feel incredible walking around. Are you okay? “That's your run-of-the-mill slicked-back ponytail, babe.”
But there are many reasons why a partless ponytail has been worn by generations of women and continues to dominate trend cycles. This time, especially, experts say people want to go with a more minimal look overall. Iggy Rosales, celebrity hairstylist and one of Jenner’s trusted go-tos, explains that we’re seeing a shift from soft, undone hair to something that feels “sharper, cleaner, and more intentional.” “It's clean and modern,” Rosales tells Vogue. “A part immediately creates a direction, while a partless ponytail feels more symmetrical and almost architectural; it puts more focus on the face, the makeup, the jewelry, and the overall silhouette.” “Clients want anything that feels clean and authentic,” adds celebrity hairstylist and Shark global ambassador Bobby Eliot. “The simplicity of a partless ponytail is timeless.” Rooney Mara, Kim Kardashian, and Jasmine Tookes are just some of the other celebs experts point to who wear the style often. Jenner was recently seen wearing it again on a brand trip to Turks and Caicos. The partless ponytail is one of the more universal hairstyles that works on anyone for any occasion; it strikes that perfect balance of being striking while also functional.
“[The hairstyle] survives real life-wind, humidity, long events, travel days, beach shoots in Turks and Caicos, red carpets. The hair still looks good hours later,” Rosales adds. “Sometimes the trendiest thing is also the most practical thing, which is pretty rare.”
How to Style a Partless Ponytail
Rosales says it does not have to be complicated, and it’s fairly easy to do on your own. “No tail comb required. No special tricks,” he says. “Just a hairbrush, a hair tie, a head, and a reasonably accurate sense of where the center of your face is.” All you have to do is brush hair straight back from every angle to hide any visible part, he explains, and to make sure everything flows into one clean direction. Secure it into a ponytail, and you’re good to go. The key is balance. “You want it polished, but not so perfect that it starts looking like a motorcycle helmet,” he says. “It's a surprisingly simple hairstyle that somehow convinces people you spent an hour doing it.”
But if you do want to go for a super-slicked-back look, hairstylist at Beauty Supply Carlyn Griscti recommends first prepping the hair section by section. Something like the Bumble and Bumble thickening spray, she says, works like a setting lotion before you grab a hot hair tool to blow-dry hair away from the face and back. You can use a dryer like the Dyson Supersonic or Eliot recommends the Shark Beauty Glam Styler with the brush attachment to direct the hair all the way back to get that partless look. Then use a styling stick or wax stick (he likes the R+Co Dart Pomade Stick) before finishing with a hairspray (Griscti recommends something like the L’Oreal Elnett), securing everything with a hair tie. “It's such an effortlessly chic way to do your hair at home,” says Griscti. No debate there.
Have a beauty or wellness trend you’re curious about? We want to know! Kylie Jenner has proved that she's not afraid of experimenting with her look in any way, shape, or form. This particularly refers to Kylie trying out different hairstyles, lengths, and colors. We've seen her in everything from mint green hair, to a blunt bob, to rainbow braids. And yesterday, Kylie stepped out with her older sister Kourtney Kardashian in a hairstyle we've never seen her in before. By now, we know that Kylie loves braids, and has worn different styles of them more times than we can count. However, we hadn't seen Kylie wearing just a single braid until now. She posted two photos on Instagram showing both the front and back of her new effortless hairstyle. Kylie's jet black hair was parted in the middle, with a few strands left out front. Her hair was then braided and gathered up to its middle point, and the remainder was styled into a ponytail. In other words, Kylie wore a half braid, half ponytail to enjoy her Wednesday out with her big sis. This braiding technique is perfect for anyone who loves to wear their hair in a style that's purposely messy.
If you want to try Kylie's half-and-half hairstyle, it could be worth watching a tutorial first.
