I need some help

[hairconvictions]

Hi everyone,
i can't seem to find any updos that aren't really heavy. I have always just worn an English braid but I need to start keeping my hair up. I find buns are so slicked to my head that they give me a headache and are just plain unflattering. I have searched hours for updos but I can't seem to find any that work on waist length THICK hair that is not a bun :( help!!

[ravenreed]

Gibson tucks are nice, as are French twists. I think at waist I could do a lazy wrap bun, and a cheater's figure-8, and that was about it.

[AnqeIicDemise]

My hair is thick enough that most buns take me longer to achieve simply because I can't get the ends to stick in right. I also have a sensitive scalp. I learned to adore the lazy wrap bun as it distributes the weight of the hair loosely around the crown of my head and it is secured with a stick or a decent sized birds beak. I now have enough hair to wrap the ends around once or twice. Back at bsl hair I'd let the ends stick out in a peacock flair.

I also was fond (and still am, actually) of dutch braiding my hair then arranging the lengths into a single or a double bun. Now that my braids reach waist length I weave the ends into my dutch braids like shoe laces and secure the two ends with a pony tail holder and tuck them in underneath the Xs. It is a nice, secure, weight distributed up do. I've worn this to a weekend LARP (as in 24/7 immersion game) and a migraine due to an uncomfortable bun was the *least* of my worries.

Any headaches I got during that game was the lack of food, dehydration and sleeplessness. (what a grand time!)

[sparkle'n'bling]

Bun placement helps. If I do a cinnamon or braided bun, it needs to be high on my head or it feels like it's dragging down. Chinese buns, Celtic knots, and nautilus buns can be lower.
Have you tried milkmaid (Heidi) braids?

[Natalia]

Agreeing that bun placement is key. And though its still a bun a nautilus can be looser and still secure, you dont even need to gather any scalp hair if you dont find it comfortable. I find the lower the bun the heavier it feels.

[lapushka]

Try a peacock twist. I wear it all the time, have worn it ever since hitting APL (or thereabouts). I'm almost TBL now and so the twist is folded a few times over, but it still holds with a simple (big) claw clip.

[heidi w.]

You can always braid the hair, then updo it. It's lighter and tends to hold together better for the entire day. Use long hairpins, not short bobby pins. You can also do twin hair buns. That often looks really cute.
heidi w.

[embee]

Yes, splitting the hair into several sections and doing something with each section makes things feel lighter. Also a "fake crown braid" which is just a braid wrapped around the head.

[Immera]

I do this a lot with a french or dutch braid for an anchor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnEBuIk9GuI&list=PL3B67B789D09D7138.

Interwoven double dutch braids also distribute the weight well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tQ5W0uI-2Y

[spirals]

I have the same problem. I do half-ups and twin braids a lot, but when I want it up, braiding before arranging helps. Try this:
1. Divide hair in half, making the right half slightly bigger. Braid the right half.
2. Bring the braid over to the left side. Make a braid on the left side, using the hair from the first braid as one of the strands.
3. Bring it back over to the right and tuck the ends behind it.
4. Pin the whole thing with 2 sticks or hair pins.

It holds all day for me and is comfortable. I call it a sideways folded braid.

[meteor]

You can always braid the hair, then updo it. It's lighter and tends to hold together better for the entire day. Use long hairpins, not short bobby pins. You can also do twin hair buns. That often looks really cute.
heidi w.

This!
Making 2 buns, doing accent braids, etc helps redistribute weight of hair very well.

I'd recommend french/dutch braiding and then rolling up the braid and locating it in the spot where it feels lightest or most comfortable. It looks beautiful, and the french braid helps because it distributes very well the weight early on along your scalp.

Also, you mentioned that you've just started doing updos. From my personal experience: when I just started bunning my BSL-long hair, it was always too heavy, awkward, pulling... - but somehow that feeling went away. My hair is significantly longer now, but it feels lighter, because I got used to it. Give it time. It might be just your follicles getting used to new styles.

[hairconvictions]

Wow thank you so much for all the ideas! I have four days off work because of surgery so I am going to look these up and start practicing. You guys are life savers- I was starting to dispise my hair out of frustration :( I might even get brave and put up some pics of my attempts :)

[wandlimb]

Just to add - I like the look of a braid circled round my head (not crown braid, just pinned) but it hurts. So what I do is half-up my hair with a big barrette then French braid it right down. Then I wrap it round and slightly under the the barrette, with spin pins at the sides to hold it there. This is really comfy as the barrette seems to take the weight. I haven't got a photo I'm afraid though.