Bun challenged.

[dogzdinner]

Please tell me Im not the only one who is challenged in the bun making department!
Ive been trying all the types of bun on the forum and am having to admit defeat with most of them, either I have the wrong sort of hair or gravity works differently where I live...
I cant do a flat looking bun as the minute I let it go it sort of wobbles down and hangs on precariously with bits slowly dropping out. My cinnabuns always wind up being sticky out little nubbins on the back of my head (yesterday I actually made one in the shape of a pyramid! I mean..how!?).
Annoyingly I have to keep my hair up for work (13hrs) and cant get away with a sneaky braid anymore but all I can do so far is twist my hair up into a mishapen little ball and wrap a scrunchy round it to hold it, and hopefully hide it! oh, and no matter how many times I redo it I still end up with stray fly away pieces, random curly bits and basically looking like I was attacked by a rabid badger!



grrrrrrrrrrrr!! no wonder I usually stick with a braid!

[Madora]

Making a tidy bun depends on how you use your fingers...and you should also pin as you coil the bun (using crimped hairpins, not bobby pins).

The idea is to form the coil and hold it FLAT to the head with one hand as you coil it in the circle. As you move the coil, position the fingers of your other hand so that you are holding the center, but extend your thumb to try and hold on to the outtermost coil so it does not sag. Pin in the 4 directions .. north/south/east/west.

If your hair is long enough, try the sectioned double braided bun. Easy to do, holds like a rock, comfy all day.

[DarthCynthia]

I had a lot of trouble in the beginning with buns too. I have to really use a lot of tension weaving tricks to get stability. I stick with Gibraltar buns now for the most part, and usually use two metal double ended knitting needle s bent into forks, although when I have a pair of hair sticks (mine have broken over the years), I was able to get those to work as well. My hair spits out most other things if I can't really weave them in just right.

[Anje]

I have a terrible time getting cinnamon buns to stay flat myself without lots of pinning. Personally, I suggest something like a lazy wrap bun instead (I twist mine, which seems to help them stay better). Nearly as flat, but it doesn't get that center wrap sproinging out at inopportune moments. :)

[meteor]

^ Great advice, ladies! :D

Dogzdinner, you are so not alone! :) I'm terrible at bunning: I find gravity works against me, too, and I agree, it's so hard to keep the tension throughout the bunning process.

What I find helps is braiding hair before bunning: because then you can work with those braids, rather than that whole unorganized mass or hair. You can start with one English braid, or a few smaller braids, or French/Dutch braid, if you know how to do those.
Try doing a braided cinnabun or the Masara (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND5dJXnBs2k).
Here are some ideas for braided updos (all based on simple English braid(s)): http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=124183&p=2756756&viewfull=1#post2756756

I know the LHC wisdom says it's bad to wear hair always in the same updo, but if the updo is hair-friendly, I believe it's probably fine. I've worn practically the same style for a couple years, and I think we have other members (Panth is the one that comes to mind) who have good success with that, too.

[RapunzelKat]

Welcome! :) And hang in there! :flower: Buns take a lot of practice, and fine hair can be particularly challenging when it comes to getting the right tension so the bun will stay put.

It took me ages to manage hairstick buns, and new buns still always take me quite a lot of tries to master.

Have you ever tried spin pins? Might work well in a cinnabun for you, they're pretty secure and you can pin as you go to help keep the coils flat. :D

[lapushka]

It might be length, might be your hair isn't long enough yet to do buns. The first bun I wore was a Lazy Wrap Bun. I had to be waist before it held. It all depends on the thickness & length of your hair.

[tetisheri72]

Please tell me Im not the only one who is challenged in the bun making department!
Ive been trying all the types of bun on the forum and am having to admit defeat with most of them, either I have the wrong sort of hair or gravity works differently where I live...
I cant do a flat looking bun as the minute I let it go it sort of wobbles down and hangs on precariously with bits slowly dropping out. My cinnabuns always wind up being sticky out little nubbins on the back of my head (yesterday I actually made one in the shape of a pyramid! I mean..how!?).
Annoyingly I have to keep my hair up for work (13hrs) and cant get away with a sneaky braid anymore but all I can do so far is twist my hair up into a mishapen little ball and wrap a scrunchy round it to hold it, and hopefully hide it! oh, and no matter how many times I redo it I still end up with stray fly away pieces, random curly bits and basically looking like I was attacked by a rabid badger!



grrrrrrrrrrrr!! no wonder I usually stick with a braid!

I still can't do a cinnabun. Have you tried looking at videos online to find video tutorials? Torrinpaige, Loepsie, LaDollyVita333, Hypnotica (which is not how she spells her Youtube name, but I can't remember where all the numbers go there), and JJJlonghair all have great videos. There are others here whose names I have just forgotten.

It takes practice. And practice. And did I mention practice?

[Gertrude]

I have very fine hair, just past BSL and braided buns are the only ones that hold. I use steel Amish curved hair pins and occasionally a four prong Jeterfork for a simple one braid bun. If you can make any bit of a braid, even if very short, you can pin that down flat.

I now swear by the sectioned braided bun as mentioned by Madora. It is all she says, easy to do, holds like a rock and very comfortable. I will make that one and make it a faux stick bun, as in the stick is just for bling, the pins hold occasionally. As a high braided bun it looks very elegant with some sparkly clips. People thought a hair dresser had done my bun! Also if I make the first braid a bit thicker than the second one it looks like the bun on old cameos. I can't French braid or Dutch braid, but as long as you can braid at all the sectioned bun works.

When my hair was just not long enough to pin the second braid around the front I just coiled each braid flat and pinned it down. One on top, one down. Which was a historic hair style as it happens.

I think that as long as nothing is tight or pulled wearing the same bun doesn't do any harm over time. Victorians used to really pull the hair back hard in wings towards the back from a dead centre parting and on photos you can easily see widened part, of hair lost in the centre. Late Victorian/Edwardian ladies didn't do their hair that way, but always the same way, and there's no sign of hair lost front and centre in photos. At least I hope so, because every other bun falls down in the end.

[dogzdinner]

Thanks for the encouragement! :)
Think I just need to practise more then (Ive never been a 'hair do' girl before, more a wash and wear type). I think lots of pinning might be the way to go for now. Lazy wrap buns are way out of my league though, even with a Youtube tutorial, paused frequently, I cant seem to copy the style (everytime I think Ive got it and let go for the big TA DAA! moment my hair goes *nah->unravel->floop* LOL :D
Maybe its just a disadvantage of very fine hair....on the plus side I can wear it down to bed or stick it in ponytail bands and it doesnt really tangle or get damaged. Every cloud... :)

[Nadine <3]

I'm in this camp! I got away with protecting my hair with braids for an entire year, but now I'm seeing a lot of splits and white dots on the ends, so I'm trying to not use hair ties as much. Buns are HAAAARRD. I discovered today that they tend to stay in better when my hair is slightly damp. I could always get them to stay in on wash day, but not any day after that and I couldn't figure it out! Today I filled a little spray bottle with water and BAM, it stayed up! It doesn't really look like a cinnabun, but it's up, so I'll take it!

[gthlvrmx]

Maybe this video is good enough to learn how to do a nautilus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0k3dD4qX34

This video helped me when I was first learning how to do a bun. It was one of the first buns i got!

[dogzdinner]

OMG!! thank you soooo much! :D
This one worked perfectly, I managed to do a proper flat bun and it feels rock steady! ok, so it did take me an embaressingly long amount of time to work out how to position my hand and hairstick but hurrah! (Ive bookmarked that one for later!).

[restless]

My only tip for getting a bun to stay in place:
Try grab some scalp hair with the stick/fork youre using if youre not doing that already, it will (hopefully) prevent the bun from dropping :) For example when youre doing the nautilus: insert the stick in the first loop-->shove the stick under the scalp hair under the bun--> stick comes out from the second loop.

[ExpectoPatronum]

I'm bun challenged! (Both in hair and elsewhere ;D). My hair isn't long enough for my thickness to get anything to hold solidly yet - except the disc bun and the cinnabun. Other buns I have to get JUST right or else they don't hold, so I'm close to having long enough hair at least.

Definitely recommend practicing and watching videos. Videos helped me learn different buns and braids.

[meteor]

Maybe this video is good enough to learn how to do a nautilus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0k3dD4qX34

This video helped me when I was first learning how to do a bun. It was one of the first buns i got!

Oh my goodness! Thank you so very much! :flowers:
This girl's explanation is genius! Crystal-clear! I got this bun to work braided at first try and it will probably work on my loose hair, too! :happydance:

Just one question: is this a Nautilus or a Lazy Wrap Bun or something else? I'm embarrassed to admit I can't identify it exactly. :oops:

[brickworld13]

My hair only stays in one bun. All the others fall down. I need much more practice, but I'm really lazy. Benign neglect most of the time.

[Anje]

Just one question: is this a Nautilus or a Lazy Wrap Bun or something else? I'm embarrassed to admit I can't identify it exactly. :oops:
The technique she uses makes it a nautilus, I'm pretty sure. That said, I don't believe there's any actual topographic difference between lazy wraps and nautilus buns, but because you do them a bit differently they can hold a bit different.

[Gertrude]

I must admit I want the earth from my buns. I want to put my hair in the bun before 8 in the morning and take it out of the bun around 11 at night, without needing to redo it. Ever. And the sectioned braided bun really does all that.

I can get other buns to hold about 3-5 hours which is probably pretty good going ! But I am not in a position ever during the day to put my hair up nicely, so wound up with buns that looked scraped back and messy.

To clarify my earlier post. Super fine slippery hair I have.

[arr]

Have you tried using a sturdy hairfork? I recently got a 3 prong jeterfork and i find it makes buns way easier. You dont need as much skill and precision as you do with a single hairstick, you can just form any kind of bun and push it through however and it just stays. I also find it to be more comfortable because the weight is distributed better.

[meteor]

The technique she uses makes it a nautilus, I'm pretty sure. That said, I don't believe there's any actual topographic difference between lazy wraps and nautilus buns, but because you do them a bit differently they can hold a bit different.

Thank you so much, Anje! :) Yes, I could never figure out the difference :lol:, I assumed it's only in that the nautilus creates a twisted loop that is later pulled over the wrapped-around hair. But they both appear very close to me.
Anyway, I've bookmarked that video for the super-effective technique! :D

[dogzdinner]

To clarify my earlier post. Super fine slippery hair I have.

I think this is what I must have too! :)
Went out earlier on a very windy day with my newly discovered nautilus bun and despite making sure I threaded my hair stick through the scalp hair so it was nice and secure it still slid slowly down the back of my head! LOL (well, at least it stayed bun shape....just got lower and lower!).

[meteor]

I think this is what I must have too! :)
Went out earlier on a very windy day with my newly discovered nautilus bun and despite making sure I threaded my hair stick through the scalp hair so it was nice and secure it still slid slowly down the back of my head! LOL (well, at least it stayed bun shape....just got lower and lower!).

I have this problem when my hair is freshly washed and conditioned with silicone-rich conditioners/masques, so I have to resort to a simple braid or keep redoing my bun on those days. If my hair is wet/dirty/oiled, then it holds buns much, much better.