De-frizz even the frizziest ponytail with this 3-second hack

The “frizz halo” has got to be one of the most annoying things in the history of hairstyles. No matter how perfectly in place your ponytail might be when you leave the house, as soon as it comes into contact with sweat or humid weather, the baby hairs on the top of your head seem to take on a life of their own and pop up into a ball of fuzz. In middle school, I remember desperately trying to use water to slick them back, which (surprise surprise) only made things worse. And as an adult, I’ve started wearing a headband to the gym and on extra steamy days in order to hide the situation all together. Clearly, neither of these is what you would call a “ideal” solution.

But recently, at an event for Morrocanoil, celebrity hairstylist Bryce Scarlett tipped me off to a trick that actually does qualify as an ideal solution because all you need to do it are two things that are definitely already floating around in your purse: Chapstick and a mascara spoolie.

As Scarlett demonstrated on a fellow editor, if you cover a spoolie in Chapstick and then use it to comb the frizz on the top of your head down and back, it will make it disappear. Magic! “In a pinch, Chapstick is basically like a hair pomade,” he explained. And having seen it with my own eyes, he’s right—it really does work.

Of course, that’s not to say you should toss all of your pricey hair products and rely solely on lip balm for all of your frizz fighting needs. “There are definitely things that work better than Chapstick,” says Scarlett, adding that he discovered the trick when he needed to tame a celeb client’s ponytail while they were stuck on an airplane, and turned to the only things he had in his carryon. His product pick if you aren’t in a pinch? Moroccanoil Medium Hold Hairpsray ($24), which you can also spray on a spoolie to tame those flyaways. See? Maybe frizz season doesn’t have to be so bad, after all.

These conditioners can also help tame frizz. Plus, the best way to deal with the humidity-induced breakouts wreaking havoc on your skin this season.