Updos for BSL, fine, slippery, "stiff" hair?

[Lilli]

I am terrible at updos, or my hair is difficult. It is not layered at all, and about 2 cm from BSL. I think it must be "stiff" or something, because it always tries to pop out of any twist or bun. I could never do a style that didn't involve twisting all the way, or it would take an infinite number of pins to secure it. Hair sticks don't work at all. I'm pretty much limited to a french twist or cinnabun with a Ficcare. Braids are also no good for me as my scalp is very sensitive and in order for the braid to stay, I have to make it too tight for comfort.

I know - whine whine whine - but I don't want to wear it down all the time as the ends are very damaged and look stringy and knotty unless I brush constantly.

[SilverDoe]

I'm the same, the only updo's that currently work with my extremely slippery hair is a french twist, and flipped cinnamon bun, both with a flexi-8.
The only hairtoy that will stay in my hair for a longer period of time. Might be worth a try if you haven't already?
http://www.flexi8.com/

[Lilli]

I'm the same, the only updo's that currently work with my extremely slippery hair is a french twist, and flipped cinnamon bun, both with a flexi-8.
The only hairtoy that will stay in my hair for a longer period of time. Might be worth a try if you haven't already?
http://www.flexi8.com/

I have looked at them, and I just don't like the look of them. If they were not beaded...

[SilverDoe]

I have looked at them, and I just don't like the look of them. If they were not beaded...

What about the simple beaded one?
http://www.flexi8.com/1955.html?id=353q6jhM

[Libbylou]

The Gibson Tuck was suggested to me on this forum several months ago. I am so glad it was. I have very slippery hair and this style holds very well. There are several youtube videos on this style.

[torrilin]

This sounds very familiar.

With hairsticks, how are you putting them in? And are you trying to just use one, or do you use 2?

For braids, instead of doing one super tight one, do two, and try to work as loosely as you can. Some hair will always tend to escape from braids, because even when our hair is in an "all one length" cut, there are still natural layers from hair shedding and regrowing. Doing 2 braids means you'll have more twists in each braid, so they'll hold natural layers more securely than 1 big braid. And THAT means you can go looser. Weirdly, a looser braid is also less prone to having your natural layers poke out.

You may have enough length to do a knot bun. Pull hair into a ponytail, and literally tie it in a knot. Then hold it in place with a hair toy. If there's leftover tail, tuck it under the bun. If you try to go too tight, you can feel it going against your hair's scales, so I found it a very good bun for helping me to loosen up in my hairstyling. It was hairstyle of the month, so there's a good long thread about it in that forum with pictures so you can get ideas for how to pin it up.

The last thing to consider is your conditioner. Some kinds of conditioner encourage my hair to be fairly pliable, and other kinds leave it stiff and hard to work with. While a conditioner that says "volumizing" may sound good... I find they're consistently useless on my hair. Ones for color treated or naturally curly hair tend to be more useful. And oddly, as my hair gets longer, those sorts of conditioners result in a more voluminous look. Your hair may be different in terms of what it gets on with, but in general your conditioner can have a big effect on how easy it is to style your hair.