candlesandfish
December 30th, 2012, 04:57 AM
Maybe someone's worked this out before me, but I've been wanting to wear this style for ages but cursing (for once) my insanely long hair - it looks great on girls with mid-back to waist length hair, but not me - it just ends up looking huge and messy and then sagging down backwards from the weight.
Then someone on another forum I'm on with shorter hair posted a picture of an upside down braid (french braiding with your head upside down, starting at the nape) going into a bun and that gave me an idea. So I did that, using lots of little sections and pulling firm but not tight, although it got tighter as I started to work up the head and no longer had a curved surface to pull hair from (I took my hair from the edge of my hairline at the point of the braid, if that makes sense - it got further out as I got further out from the nape). once I'd got to just past the top of my head where I wanted the knot, I braided another few sections, then grabbed the other third of my hair that hadn't been added to the braid yet and put all of it into a ponytail with a thick elastic at the point at the centre of where I wanted my bun. the extra braiding gave the braid on my head (which is for support more than anything) more security. Then I finally got to put my head up the right way instead of upside down, and twisted my length to medium-loose (so it looked soft, but was manageable), and twisted that around the ponytail a couple times. I actually ended up with a two-level topknot, with the bit straight out of my ponytail higher than the next wraps which were actually on the top of my scalp hair. Three bobby pins later (at 1 o'clock at an angle, 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock, through the outer wraps of the bun and into the scalp hair and the first wrap of the ponytail) and I had this, completely with lots of curly face framing hair - my hair insists on doing this, and for once it actually adds to the style.
So, this is what it looked like right after I did it (sorry for webcam pic quality):
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/734890_10151209375387717_513601104_n.jpg
From the side:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/kyrieflutter/private/Photoon30-12-12at506PM_zps8fee3f67.jpg
From the back:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/kyrieflutter/private/Photoon30-12-12at506PM2_zpseb4b85df.jpg
and when I got in tonight after wearing it for five hours or so:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/kyrieflutter/private/Photoon30-12-12at910PM2_zps1cd5abf5.jpg
And, because it's really tall, I thought I'd dip my head forward and get a shot too:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/kyrieflutter/private/Photoon30-12-12at910PM4_zps776af96d.jpg
The only issue I found is that it hurt like mad at the front after I took it out, so I'm going to use more bobby pins to support it from the sides and back next time, so it doesn't pull so much.
Then someone on another forum I'm on with shorter hair posted a picture of an upside down braid (french braiding with your head upside down, starting at the nape) going into a bun and that gave me an idea. So I did that, using lots of little sections and pulling firm but not tight, although it got tighter as I started to work up the head and no longer had a curved surface to pull hair from (I took my hair from the edge of my hairline at the point of the braid, if that makes sense - it got further out as I got further out from the nape). once I'd got to just past the top of my head where I wanted the knot, I braided another few sections, then grabbed the other third of my hair that hadn't been added to the braid yet and put all of it into a ponytail with a thick elastic at the point at the centre of where I wanted my bun. the extra braiding gave the braid on my head (which is for support more than anything) more security. Then I finally got to put my head up the right way instead of upside down, and twisted my length to medium-loose (so it looked soft, but was manageable), and twisted that around the ponytail a couple times. I actually ended up with a two-level topknot, with the bit straight out of my ponytail higher than the next wraps which were actually on the top of my scalp hair. Three bobby pins later (at 1 o'clock at an angle, 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock, through the outer wraps of the bun and into the scalp hair and the first wrap of the ponytail) and I had this, completely with lots of curly face framing hair - my hair insists on doing this, and for once it actually adds to the style.
So, this is what it looked like right after I did it (sorry for webcam pic quality):
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/734890_10151209375387717_513601104_n.jpg
From the side:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/kyrieflutter/private/Photoon30-12-12at506PM_zps8fee3f67.jpg
From the back:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/kyrieflutter/private/Photoon30-12-12at506PM2_zpseb4b85df.jpg
and when I got in tonight after wearing it for five hours or so:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/kyrieflutter/private/Photoon30-12-12at910PM2_zps1cd5abf5.jpg
And, because it's really tall, I thought I'd dip my head forward and get a shot too:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/kyrieflutter/private/Photoon30-12-12at910PM4_zps776af96d.jpg
The only issue I found is that it hurt like mad at the front after I took it out, so I'm going to use more bobby pins to support it from the sides and back next time, so it doesn't pull so much.