The Meghan Markle Hairstyle She Wore Once and Never Again

Meghan Markle has a handful of hairstyles most royal-watchers could sketch from memory: the messy bun, the loose water wave, the swept-back updo from her wedding morning. Then there is the half-up hairstyle she wore to a school visit in Sydney in October 2018, a soft, textured, faintly undone look that appeared exactly once at an official royal engagement and has not resurfaced since, not even at a red carpet, a gala or a casual outing in the years since she left royal life.

That single appearance is precisely what makes it worth revisiting. Most of Meghan’s hair story is one of repetition: the same bun reworked for a decade, the same curling-iron technique deployed for evening after evening. This half-up moment is the exception: a look that had one outing and was never chosen again.

A hairstyle with exactly one official outing

On Friday 19 October 2018, during the Australia leg of her and Prince Harry’s sixteen-day tour of Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand, Meghan visited Macarthur Girls High School in Sydney’s inner west. She arrived with her hair worn half up: the crown section gathered loosely into a small ponytail at the back of her head, the rest left down and untouched by a curling iron, her natural texture visible through the ends rather than smoothed or curled into a deliberate wave.

It was, by contemporaneous UK press coverage, the first time the public had seen Meghan wear a half-up style at a royal engagement, described as softer and less formal than the equivalent style worn by the then-Duchess of Cambridge, with more visible texture and looser movement rather than a sleek, pinned finish. Set against a tour that had already produced a messy bun, a low ponytail and glossy waves, it read as one more variation in an unusually hair-heavy fortnight, not, at the time, a look anyone expected to still be discussing years later.

A private preview two days before the wedding

The Macarthur Girls School appearance was not, strictly, the first time Meghan had worn the style. Five months earlier, on 17 May 2018, she and Prince Harry attended a wedding rehearsal at Windsor Castle, two days ahead of their ceremony at St George’s Chapel. Photographers caught her that afternoon with her hair worn half up and loosely textured, a wispy fringe of shorter pieces framing her face around a centre parting, the crown lifted rather than smoothed flat. Several outlets noted it looked close to a fresh trim, and a marked change from the sleeker style she had worn days earlier at the Anzac Day service.

That rehearsal sighting matters for context, but it was a candid, off-duty moment, not a royal engagement with a published itinerary. Which is why, in the strictest sense, Macarthur Girls High School stands alone: the only time Meghan wore this half-up style as part of an official royal duty, with a name, a date and a purpose attached to the photograph.

Not the wedding day, and not a coincidence either

It is worth being precise about what this hairstyle is not, because Meghan’s half-up looks tend to blur together in casual coverage. It is not the wedding-day style. The swept-back half-up chignon Serge Normant created for the ceremony on 19 May 2018, anchored under Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau Tiara and a five-metre veil, was a different, far more structured shape: smoothed, centre-parted, gathered low and pinned tight enough to hold for hours of procession and photographs. (Our full account of that look, and how to recreate it, lives in our wedding-hair story.)

The rehearsal style and the Macarthur Girls School style, by contrast, share a looser, more textured DNA: visible natural wave, lifted rather than smoothed at the crown, no attempt at bridal polish. That resemblance is why coverage has occasionally conflated the two: a soft half-up look worn just before the wedding, and a soft half-up look worn five months later, separated by continents but built from a similar idea.

The technique behind the look

Unlike the water wave, which depends on a large-barrel curling iron and careful product placement, this half-up style leans on restraint. The core move is a small, loosely gathered ponytail taken from the crown, roughly the top third of the head, secured just behind the crown rather than higher up, which is what keeps the finished look soft rather than perky. The rest of the hair is left entirely alone: no curling iron, no straightener, simply Meghan’s own natural texture, allowed to show rather than be disguised.

A light texturising or sea-salt spray, worked through before the crown section is gathered, gives the ponytail enough grip to hold without a tight elastic. The face-framing pieces at the temples, more pronounced in the Windsor rehearsal photographs than in Sydney, are left loose and untouched. It is, in effect, the lowest-effort hairstyle in her rotation: built almost entirely around leaving hair alone rather than working on it.

Why the look never became a repeat

According to PureWow’s own account of Meghan’s hair history, this is one of the styles she has genuinely never brought back: “she surprised us with a half-up style during her visit to Australia. She hasn’t worn her hair like this since.” That is a notable claim for a public figure whose hairstyles are otherwise catalogued obsessively. The messy bun has resurfaced from Brixton to Düsseldorf to a Montecito kitchen, and the water wave remains her default for almost every evening appearance.

There is no confirmed, on-record explanation for why this particular style stayed a one-off. What can be said with confidence is that the timing lines up with a broader shift: within weeks of the Australia tour, coverage of Meghan’s hair increasingly focused on the messy bun and the water wave as her two working signatures, and the half-up look was quietly retired rather than deliberately abandoned.

How to try the look at home

Start with day-two or day-three hair if possible; freshly washed hair often lacks the texture this style depends on. Work a light sea-salt or texturising spray through damp or dry hair, focusing on the mid-lengths and ends, then let hair air-dry or diffuse it loosely to encourage natural movement rather than smoothing it flat.

Take a triangular section from the crown, roughly temple to temple, and gather it into a small, low ponytail, leaving the rest of the hair down and undisturbed. Secure loosely with a soft, snag-free elastic, and leave two thin pieces free at the temples for the softer version seen in the Windsor rehearsal photographs. Skip the curling iron entirely. The point of this style is showing your hair’s own texture rather than sculpting a new one.

Why it still matters

Most of what makes Meghan Markle’s hair interesting is its consistency: the same bun, the same waves, worn across a decade and two continents. This half-up moment is worth remembering for the opposite reason: a hairstyle she wore once, at one school in Sydney, and then simply let go. In an image landscape built on repetition, a genuine one-off is rarer than it sounds. For more of the styling stories behind her most photographed looks, browse our Royal Style & Fashion coverage.

Frequently asked questions

When did Meghan Markle wear her half-up hairstyle?

She wore it at an official royal engagement on Friday 19 October 2018, during a visit to Macarthur Girls High School in Sydney, on the Australia leg of her tour with Prince Harry. She had also worn a similar, looser version privately two days before her wedding, on 17 May 2018.

Is this the same hairstyle Meghan Markle wore on her wedding day?

No. Her wedding-ceremony hair, created by Serge Normant on 19 May 2018, was a smoother, more structured half-up chignon built to anchor Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau Tiara and a five-metre veil. This look is looser, more textured and was worn separately, at the pre-wedding rehearsal and later in Sydney.

Who styled Meghan Markle’s hair on the Australia tour?

George Northwood, her regular London hairstylist, was responsible for her hair throughout the 2018 Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand tour, including the messy bun, low ponytail and half-up looks documented across the sixteen-day trip.

Has Meghan Markle worn a half-up hairstyle since 2018?

Not in this specific form. According to PureWow’s account of her hair history, she “hasn’t worn her hair like this since” her Australia tour appearance, making it one of the few Meghan Markle hairstyles that has not resurfaced in the years since.

What makes this half-up style different from Meghan Markle’s messy bun?

The messy bun is a full updo, with all the hair gathered and pinned into a low bun at the nape. This half-up style only gathers a small crown section into a ponytail, leaving the rest of the hair down and untouched, which is part of why it reads as softer and less deliberate.

How do you recreate Meghan Markle’s half-up hairstyle?

Gather a triangular section from the crown into a small, loosely secured ponytail, and leave the rest of the hair down with its natural texture intact. A light texturising or sea-salt spray helps the gathered section hold without needing heat styling on the rest of the hair.

Why did Meghan Markle stop wearing this hairstyle?

There is no confirmed public explanation. The style’s single official outing coincided with the point at which the messy bun and the water wave became her two most consistently repeated looks, suggesting it was simply not chosen again rather than deliberately retired.

Details of Meghan Markle’s half-up hairstyle are drawn from contemporaneous UK press coverage of the October 2018 Australia tour and the May 2018 wedding rehearsal, together with PureWow’s published account of her hair history; styling credits and dates are correct as of 2026.