By NAT HAWK

When it comes to priorities, sleep is my number one. Most mornings, I’ll happily hit the snooze button multiple times before dragging myself out of bed.

The problem with this, of course, is that I’m always running late. And when you’re running late, corners are cut. Breakfasts are skipped. Things are forgotten.

One thing I refuse to forget about? My hair. If my hair is awful, I feel awful all over. So I’ll always take a couple of minutes to make it look okay.

Here are my best tips for styling hair when you’re under pressure.

1. Embrace the wash and wear.

If your hair is relatively well behaved after a wash, do what I do and give it a quick wash while you have a shower. It’ll make you feel clean and refreshed – plus, your hair can air-dry while you’re on your way to work, so you don’t show up with dripping wet locks.

It really helps if you specifically ask your hairdresser for a wash and wear kind of style when you’re getting a cut. I have layers but not crazy ones, so they’re okay to air-dry when I’m power-walking to the bus stop.

I like using shampoo and conditioner that works to protect my hair against the damage I inevitably do to it, but I also like something that’s nice and lightweight – my hair feels disgusting when it’s heavy and weighed down by too much product and I’m sure yours does too.

Each morning I do a quick shampoo and condition, hop out of the shower and brush through with a Comb. After quickly blasting my roots with a hairdryer to get them started on the drying process, I’m off and ready for the rest of my day.

Dry shampoo and a top knot. Done.

2. Go hard on the dry ‘poo.

You need it on those days when your hair is looking flat, lifeless and oily. Dry Shampoo, like Pantene’s Volume Booster helps your hair look cleaner and adds volume. Put in dry shampoo before you go to bed – it absorbs everything that comes from your scalp overnight, and you just have to brush it out in the morning.

From there, my daily style really depends on how my hair is feeling that day. More often than not, I’ll go for a top knot or a high ponytail; if I want to look really polished, I make it a sock bun.

3. Turn to the magic products.

Sometimes, your hair is clean but it’s just not cooperating. It’s not sitting properly, or it’s randomly feeling really dry and brittle, or the roots are okay but the ends are completely disgusting…

Sleek and smooth braids look so good.

Enter BB Crème for Hair. Before I came across this small wonder, which has been ten years in the making, I was under the impression that BB creams were something you only use on your face – how silly (and clearly unaware of the beauty world) I am.

I like to use the BB Crème when I’m trying to put together one of those braided hairstyles that require sleek, smooth, supermodel hair. It moisturises and de-frizzes, and generally does a whole lot of clever things to give you the kind of hair you always dream of but can never quite attain.

If my hair is clean but misbehaving, I smooth a bit of BB Crème through it and then put it up in a nice half-up, half-down style, using a pretty hair tie. No fancy business here, but it looks gorgeous, especially as we come into the spring and summer months.

How do you style your hair when you’re running late?

Feel instantly less-guilty about your dirty hair by looking at these celebrities with dirty hair..

Bake Lively

Drew Barrymore

Gisele Bundchen

Jennifer Aniston

Jessica Biel

Jessica Stam

Jessica Szohr

Kate Bosworth

Katy Perry

Kristin Stewart

Lara Bingle

Miranda Kerr

Nicole Richie

Nicole Richie

Clémence Poésy

Robert Pattinson

Scarlett Johansson