Hair Compression - Bane of My Existence!

[Peggy E.]

my hair is at classic and surprisingly healthy, probably thanks to the wonderful no washing routine I practiced for over a year before my hands simply made it impossible. :o(

so, it's plenty long and I should have terrific updos - thick buns, braids, etc. looks plenty thick when long and loose, but when braided or twisted into submission, it flattens into tiny little knobs which appears to be formed from super thin shoulder length hair.

why? and, more importantly, what can be done to heft up the styles? of course, I can use bun forms and all, but my hair is long enough it should be able to really present noteworthy buns on its own.

any suggestions?

[StellaKatherine]

I have same situation, TB lenght and no one would guess that my hair is that long when it is bunned :( The only thing I can think of for making braids look thicker is pulling the sides. That way the braid will look thicker.

The other thing when I really want to make my bun look big is by making several braids. Like in my avatare photo I actually made that one with 3 braids :)

[Anje]

Peggy, I don't know if your hair holds texture quite the way mine does, but I notice that my updos are significantly bigger if my hair's been in a tight-ish braid and combed out before I put it up. That bit of extra texture poofs my hair up for at least a day or two, or til I wash it.

[spidermom]

I've noticed that certain buns look compact, and others look fuller. The Gibralter, for example, looks a lot fuller than the cinnabun.

[Theobroma]

I've noticed that certain buns look compact, and others look fuller. The Gibralter, for example, looks a lot fuller than the cinnabun.

Hmm, on me a cinnabun looks almost twice as full as a Gibraltar. I wonder whether this is a taper issue?

[meteor]

This is such a great question! You know, even though my buns are big, they are NOT bigger than when I was at BSL! Practically the same size. It's as if the length is not adding any more size to buns. I suspect that thickness of hair is a much bigger factor than length, which is why hair way past floor-length can still be compacted into normal-sized buns.

If you want to make huge updos, sock buns are your friends.
Another suggestion, which is perfect for those with very thick and rebellious hair: bun sectioning! Make one bun from a half-up, and wrap the remaining hair around it. Buns based on multiple braids are big, too.

Also, I notice that my buns look bigger at the end of the day, as they are getting looser. And the more oils I use, the tighter and sleeker the bun can get.

And don't forget that large hair-toys make buns significantly bigger. Think hair forks with multiple prongs.

[StellaKatherine]

On me cinnabun looks awfull. I really like how it looks on other's, but I guess my hair tapes too much for it to look any good at all :( Gibraltar on the other hand makes my bun look better.

[Federica]

I would suggest you to try some flat braids, like the fishtail braid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTrE-lrStGA) or the 4(or more) strands braid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv_S7mlC0us), that always look thicker than english braids and I think that they would look beautiful on your lenght.
I also noticed that chinese buns (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUT3KJgASac) always look bigger than the other buns on me.

[Peggy E.]

excellent ideas. especially anxious to try the half-up bun and then wrapping a bun around that - assuming there's anything much left to wrap around. :o(

I've not had much luck in learning many different buns. the cinnabun has always been tiny and works best for me if I flip it, which I tend to end up doing with most buns. this thickens them up somewhat.

[Andeee]

excellent ideas. especially anxious to try the half-up bun and then wrapping a bun around that - assuming there's anything much left to wrap around. :o(

Great idea! I'm going to try this, too!