Thick hair problems

[librarychick]

I must admit, I feel a little bad about having to post this after reading so many threads where people post about having thin ends....that is not the problem I am having.

My best guess at hair typing puts me at: 2c/3a, m, thick (just at 4 inches...holy cow, I never knew that before XD) I can't measure the length just now, but the tips (just micro trimmed) brush the tops of my tailbones.

I can't attach pics yet, but I've made an album in my photobucket account for anyone who'd like a look-see. http://s131.photobucket.com/user/librarychick77/library/Hair%20Pics?sort=3&page=1

I'm having trouble with a few things, the main one being that with my hair so thick I'm having trouble doing the more interesting buns. Example: knot bun...total fail. Ends all over the place and not tuckable. The problem is that wrapping my hair around itself means all my length is eaten up! I see so many cute buns on here and on youtube, and then I try to do them and, even though my hair is long, I run out of length. :(

Any good bun suggestions? I'm regularly doing a nautilus and a cinnamon bun, both held with sticks, or a lazy wrap bun, or a braid...kinda stuck at those.

I switched to the no wash method when I found the forum a few months ago (June?), and haven't used shampoo since. I have done a few conditioner/honey/egg yolk treatments, and LOVED it. I'm down to water-washing once a week or a bit less, and using corn starch as a dry shampoo about once a week (or before big events like the wedding I'm in on Saturday). So far my hair has taken to it really well, I was a bit iffy about it at first as my hair became completely un-brushable for a few weeks, but now it's way more manageable, even if I am basically putting it up every day.

Now that I've measured the circumference, I'm wondering something else too...I shed like CRAZY. Seriously, big hair balls come off my brush every day...how is it still so thick???

My goal is to grow it another 2-3 inches...then see how I feel ;)

[Esperada]

I found out today that splitting your hair into 2 makes it a lot easier to do hair styles with thick hair. My hair measures between nearly 6" and a few times has been close to 6.5" and trying to get a bun to stay without exploding is impossible.
I find plaited buns help a bit or putting the top part of my hair in a bun and using the bottom half to wrap around the bun or do 2 buns. That failing I can normaly twist my hair up untill it coils onto itself and get it to stay slightly presentable.

[Madora]

Esperada is right. Thick haired people can wear their hair more comfortably if they section it, instead of putting it all in one place. With sectioning, you distribute the weight of the hair across the scalp, making it easier to wear longer. The double braided bun is an example of a sectioned style. You can experiment with several other styles using the sectioning technique.

[Hele]

I'm having trouble with a few things, the main one being that with my hair so thick I'm having trouble doing the more interesting buns. Example: knot bun...total fail. Ends all over the place and not tuckable. The problem is that wrapping my hair around itself means all my length is eaten up! I see so many cute buns on here and on youtube, and then I try to do them and, even though my hair is long, I run out of length. :(

Now that I've measured the circumference, I'm wondering something else too...I shed like CRAZY. Seriously, big hair balls come off my brush every day...how is it still so thick???

My goal is to grow it another 2-3 inches...then see how I feel ;)

beautiful hair, librarychick! And i just want to say "dude, i totally feel your pain". My hair is just getting back to it's normal thickness after a bad shed, i'm back up to around 4.5-4.6 circumference, pre-shed i was 4.8ish. I've always been a heavy shedder, like i need one of those push brooms i've seen at barber shops after i comb my hair out. I've had people come over and see the hair ball in the trash after a shower and freak out, wanting to know if i'm all right. And i am, it's normal for me. I feel like i should be bald too but nope, still got a ton of hair.

until i joined this site i thought i was a moron when it came to putting my hair up, i'd watch youtube videos made by people with shorter hair than me and i wouldn't be able to do them. I never realized the thickness factor! It wasn't until i got to just past tbl that i could start doing many buns, and even now it's a struggle with some of them. Cinnabuns still fight back for me because that first coil is so big it doesn't want to lay right. Have you tried a chinese bun? That's one of my "when all else fails" buns, i learned it from this video (bonus epic bun drop)...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLoi4odyFkc

[Zesty]

Everyone is already giving great advice, so I won't restate what's already been said. I will say that my hair used to be as thick as yours, and I did half-ups with buns I couldn't manage with all my hair. I also learned a lot of neat braided styles that weren't exactly buns, like a crown braid, the Madora, 4 and 5 strand braids, etc. I also did rose buns with two rope braids, cameo buns, vortex buns, etc., which all involve splitting hair up. There should be plenty that you can try.

[jeanniet]

Pretty hair! I'd put you at 2b/c. I don't see the spiral curls that would push you into the 3s. With thicker hair, more length and/or sectioning is key. 4" isn't too bad, but you'll find that you'll have more options with 3-4" more length, and then more as you grow longer (if you do). With wrap type buns (I mean that wrap around your fingers/hand), if you only use a couple of fingers you'll have more length to work with. Even with all that, I was pretty limited with what I was able to do even past hip. I really needed at least another 6", and probably more like 12".

[Timea]

have you tried the disc bun? my hair is a little thicker than yours and shorter too (just past hip length) and i can do disc bun and lazy wrap bun. if i divide my hair into thirds i can do a nautilus with a third of it but it doesn't stay well yet.

[meteor]

I agree with everyone above. :) It's all about sectioning or doing two or multiple buns. Standard buns don't necessarily work on thick hair.
I can only do 2 updos comfortably at the moment (braided bun, milkmaid braids), and I do slight variations of them.

I recommend checking out Torrin Paige's tutorial on putting up very thick hair:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZvXrEOfJ4w

Also check out Janet Stephens' historical updos on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/jntvstp) - they work pretty well on thick hair, you just need to really adapt them to your hair.

[chen bao jun]

I think thick haired people shed more. My theory is that, since there is so much more hair, there is more to go into the catagen phase (or whatever it is where the hairs shed out) at once. So the sheds can look scary. All my life people look at my sheds and freak out and say I must be sick or I should be bald, but since this has been going on at least since I was 5 or 6 years old and I still have 2x as much hair as most people at age 57, I don't think its anything I need to worry about.And yeah, section the hair. I'm bottom bra strap and what buns I can do are sectioned. Another thing you might do is get a Jeterfork with a lot of tines, like 4 or 5. I find that with mine I can smoosh my hair together in a vaguely bun shaped thing and once I put the Jeter in, it looks like a bun.