Suggest some suitable styles for my full on dance class

[Paranda Belle]

I attend a contempory dance class once a week and it's followed by a jazz dance. It's full on involving turns, jumps and hanging my head upside down, so requires a robust style. I usually wear a rope braided vortex with 3 strands or a braided beehive using two english braids. They are flat against my head, spred the weight evenly and stay for the whole 2 classes when I have pinned them properly.

Problem is I am really, really bored of wearing my hair like this and would love some suggestions for styles that will work on my knee length hair. I can't french or dutch braid very well, so styles involving those are out. I can't be bothered with hair taping and don't want to spend more than 20mins doing it. Doorknob style buns are out, as I find they make spotting annoying, so I need something flatish that spreads the load. It also has to be on my head as I don't want any braids hanging down to hit anyone (this has happened to me many years ago!)

Any suggestions?

[emilia1992]

Would it be possible to tie hair into a ponytail, braid it, hold the base of it against your head with one hand and sort of circle the pony around the base, pinning as you went? Enough spin pins should hold it.......such a style holds my waist-length hair through multiple ballet pirouettes, but of course I don't know about knee length! :)

[HoneyDayTripper]

What about two braided buns-- ala Pricess Leia? Or milkmaid braids?

[fairylover46]

With hair that long, you could try a regular braid starting at the base of your neck and wrap it around your head like a crown braid, pinning as you go. I am a few inches away from classic length, and mine holds well that way. I guess knee length hair would hold, too,if you used enough pins. You might find a style that would work on the Internet, there are thousands of great tutorials out there. Hope you find something that works and have fun experimenting!

[darklyndsea]

Amish braids are time-consuming but stay rock steady until you take them down.

[Paranda Belle]

Thanks for all the suggestions


HoneyDayTripper - I can never get the placement right with double buns and I usually end up feeling heavier on one side than the other. Milkmaids might work.

darklyndsea - If I did have a spare two hours before class, I would try amish braids!

fairylover46 - fake crown braids don't stay pinned on me! I am working on the yulia timoshenko way, but it's not neat enough to wear outside the house yet!

emilia1992 - I do sometimes do my bun that way, but with a rope braid. It does work, and as my ends are quite fairytale they tuck in nicely, but it sticks out a bit so it "catches" when I spot.

[darklyndsea]

There's always the night (or week) before for doing amish braids ;) In my experience it's really difficult to tell how long you've had them in by the appearance.

[Vrindi]

Instead of double buns on either side, what about 2 or 3 buns mohawk style down the center? It might distribute the weight nicely. If you wanted, you could braid each ponytail before you bun it to eat up some of the length and give it a different look. Also, instead of french braiding, you could try 3 waterfall topsy-tails to make a faux french braid, then pin the tail around Jaimie-Leigh style.

And I have to second Amish braids. If you can do them the night before, you can keep them in as long as you want. I do those or interlaced braids when I travel. 3 days in an airport? No problem.
P.S. Yay dance! :D

[Lirona]

Very helpful thread. Can someone point me to a tutorial for Amish braids? I did a search, but I'm not sure which video corresponds to the ones you all are talking about here.

[Paranda Belle]

So I actually had a spare hour before my class. Cue lots of braiding! It actually didn't take as long as I thought I would. I looped the ends through the holes, roped the ends and rose bunned them on top of the criss cross. It worked for my dance class but did need support with a few pins. I think I also needed to do it tighter as it started to sag towards the end. I loved how it looked on me from the front. It did however give me a sore spot when I took it down after 48 hours.

Thanks to all who suggested amish braids and persuaded me to try them out!

[Paranda Belle]

Very helpful thread. Can someone point me to a tutorial for Amish braids? I did a search, but I'm not sure which video corresponds to the ones you all are talking about here.

This is the video I used https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PYjubahR6g&ntz=1

This is the amish braids thread http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=30688&page=13

And here is a helpful picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50071093@N06/5399466859/