The term elegant hairstyles means different things to different groups of people. For one group of people, for anything to qualify to be considered as part of the elegant hairstyles, it has to be a 'formal hairstyle' in the truest sense of the word; so that for those who subscribe to this way of thinking, elegant hairstyles automatically translate to 'formal hairstyles' and the two terms can thus be used interchangeably. Another school of thought has a less stringent criteria, so that any hairstyle that is reasonably neat, whether among what are considered formal hairstyles or not, would still be termed as elegant.
For the most part, elegant hairstyles are characterized by short to medium sized hair - though with a lot of care, longer hair can still be worked into one of these elegant hairstyles. There are a number of specific hairstyles that are almost universally considered to be in the category of so-called elegant hairstyle.
Buns are one example of hairstyles that are almost universally considered to be among elegant hairstyles. The idea in these buns, also called chignons, is to gather the hair towards the back of one's head, and then putting together the bun with a pin. Of course, to make the bun elegant, that hair first has to be 'softened' through a procedure like blow dry, and then have all sides of the 'bun' combed lightly, to keep it all in. properly done, this can be a very elegant looking hairstyle, and it is indeed one of the cheapest elegant hairstyle that one can achieve without having to spend a fortune on the process.
French twists and braids are another couple of hairstyles that qualify to be considered as being part of the elegant hairstyle, almost universally. In French braids, we have the hair all around the head braided to form some sort of a wall, with hair from the sides and from the center of the head pulled in to create the wall, so that the region towards the center of the head is basically left 'hairless.' French twists, on the other hand, are defined by the working of the hair into a low lying ponytail, and then twisting the ponytail so acquired to create what can often turn out to be a very exquisite look.
For the people who have a more relaxed criterion as to what makes elegant hairstyle, just blow drying the hair and oiling it well to make it smooth, and then letting it grow downwards can still leave one with what qualifies to be considered an elegant hairstyle.
