Channel Your Inner Unicorn With Lauren Flax [Hair Tutorial & Mix]

Photo by Lee O'Connor

Recognize these glasses and top knot bun? Of course you do! If you haven't seen Lauren Flax out in New York or LA—or really any major cosmopolitan city—then you're clearly not getting out enough. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Lauren moved to NYC in the early 2000s and immediately settled into the city's music hustle. She started DJing all over the Lower East Side when it was in its nightlife prime (before it became an extended fraternity house), and eventually started writing and producing music as well—a hit single with Sia, collaborations with Le Tigre, Fischerspooner, and house legend MK.

Flax is best known as one half of the self-proclaimed trip-hop duo CREEP alongside her good friend Lauren Dillard; the two have been touring together for years now, and we've been waiting a long time for their debut album. She's also well-known for her top bun. Whether it's on the stage, at the local bar, or in your Instagram feed, we haven't seen Lauren's hair down in years. People ask her about it all the time, so we had Lauren give us a step-by-step tutorial on how to get our hair like hers. She even gave us an exclusive new mix to listen to while we practice.

THUMP: Hey Lauren!
Lauren Flax: Hello!

What are you doing right now?
Writing the second CREEP record at the moment.

I see you've started to DJ a bit more outside of CREEP. It's been a little while. What have you been doing?
I've been doing a lot of solo DJing again; all house music. It's nice to be able to have CREEP for me to get weird, but I'm always going to play house as well. I made the mix below around Winter Music Conference—it has some of my favorite jammers.

You have been wearing your hair in this bun for, like, two years now. What is the deal with this?
It's gone through many stages but seems to get a lot of attention now. Can't a girl just try to be her unicorn self?!

Do you miss your "Bullet haircut?"
There are no pics of it because the Internet rejected it. To explain what the bullet was exactly: it was a hair style I came up with in 2006, consisting of a mullet in the back and a bowl cut on top. I was pretty much only hit on by gay men at that time of my life.

What's next for your hair?
Only time will tell of the evolution of the bun…..

And your music?
Our debut record is coming out soon and I just want to be sure to follow up with another record in 2014. it took 3 years to release this one so I just want to be sure to have a quick follow up. Not as many collaborations this time, we just want to start working with a few different singers. Having fourteen on our debut record was intense.

Could you show us how you do your hair ever day?
Sure!

STEP 1: START WITH WET HAIR
"Wet hair works best to really get that 'together' look, i.e. no fly-aways, etc."

STEP 2: HEAD BACK
"When combing your hair, be sure to tilt your head back so that when you stand up, it will be nice and tight at the bottom."

STEP 3: PULL AND TIE
"Pull your hair through the tie just a little bit, leaving the rest to fall to the side."

STEP 4: WRAP IT UP!
"Wrap the remaining hair around nice and tight, and fasten it in with bobby pins."

STEP 5: MIDDLE SCHOOL STYLE
"The final step is to channel your inner eighth grader and plaster your hair down with a fair amount of hair spray… aaaaaand voilà!"

FINAL PRODUCT!