Hair help

[texasgal]

My hair is extremely thin and fine. I want to do braids but they are so thin and my bun is tiny if I can manage to get it up. Any tips on making my braid and bun look thicker and helping it stay up?

[lunasea]

Check out the paranda thread!

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=91490

[Horrorpops]

This might be something you already do but if my braid is looking a little thin after I put a hairtie in it I gently tug at the braided sections, starting at the top of the braid and moving down to the end. Gently pulling each hair section in the braid makes it look much larger and voluminous. I swear it doubles the width of the braid easily!! This also works for braided buns and the like! :)
The only downside is I have layers and this encourages some of those to fall out and the overall effect can be messier - but I like a relaxed-looking loose braid so it doesn't bother me... but it could annoy you. Hope this helps!

[picklepie]

"Pancaking" braids can help (lots of YouTube videos on how), and various buns (depending on your length-- emilonghairedatheart has great bun videos on-- I believe-- i hair that is very fine). But I also wanted to say that I love the look of long, slender, willowy braids, and petite, whispy buns. They look feminine and delicate, to me. Maybe we always just want what we don't have? But I do admire hair like that in updos, and I hope you give your hair credit for its many fine qualities! :)

[Nique1202]

There is nothing wrong with thin braids or small buns. For one, everyone started out with small buns at first as they grew their hair out. For two, it's just how your hair is, there's no shame in that. Your hair is part of you and that makes it beautiful, no matter how thick or thin it is.

[Arctic]

Same as with braids, you can also gently tug buns to be/seem larger. (and yeah, I often do the braid tugging, it does indeed help to make braid wider, but also flatter).

Sock bun is a classic, too.

A fan bun makes bun seem bigger, as does, what I call a fancy bun (check out my blog for photos and instructions).

Oh, and if you have some waves or curls in your hair, this helps too to make buns/braids bigger. The curls don't need to be nice looking :D

Then, ofcourse, there is different kinds of hair styling products, which are often overlooked here at LHC by straighter haired members for some reason. For thicker looking hair and better hold, salt sprays, dry shampoos and hair powders are the bomb!

[Carolyn]

Sock buns! Go get yourself one of those foam donut things or make one from a rolled up sock. They are the padded bras of the bun world.

[Hurven]

When wearing a bun, you can use a hair donut or make one yourself from a sock. Instant thickness-increase! :)

[lapushka]

My hair is extremely thin and fine. I want to do braids but they are so thin and my bun is tiny if I can manage to get it up. Any tips on making my braid and bun look thicker and helping it stay up?

How thick is your hair (i, ii, or iii) and how long is it?

[MoonMaiden]

Besides using one of those bun makers, What i occasionally do to use as a base for my bun is use a larger type scrunchy,, so youd make a pony tale and than make ur bun over the scrunchy, that will give a lil oopmh :)

[gwenalyn]

Experiment with braiding tighter or looser. For a long time, I thought if I braided my hair looser, the braids would look bigger. It turns out, though, that braiding tightly made the braids look fatter.

Seconding the styling powder!

[Panth]

Definitely hairtype your hair (see links in my sig.) so that we can give you more precise recommendations.

[Agnes Hannah]

My hair is also very fine and thin, I love parandas and have used some old extensions to make one. I have also made a donut hair rat from my combings and this works a treat too, and its all my own hair, as I haven't got enough to cover a mass produced donut. Forks are brillant at longer lengths for me, I love jeterforks, 4 pronged ones. Finally, for difficult days when my hair will not do as I want, I can also twist it up fold it back on itself and put a claw clip in.

[j88]

You could braid a tiny bit of fake hair in to the braid for adding thickness, and just hide the top inside your hair. For bun use a tiny "donut" inside. Those spoungey things.

[texasgal]

Thank you everyone for your help it is greatly appreciated! My hair is almost waist length and by the visual hair type guide in Panth's sig I am 1b/f/i. I'm wondering if maybe I cut it to say bsl it may appear a little thicker? I am using Jamaican black castor oil mixed with rosemary oil to help maybe thicken it up. Also what is everyone's thoughts on maybe using rogaine? I also take zinc and 10,000 mg biotin daily. TIA

[dancingrain91]

Thin hair is beautiful in its own way. I would pancake braids and buns or use bun forms.

[meteor]

Thank you everyone for your help it is greatly appreciated! My hair is almost waist length and by the visual hair type guide in Panth's sig I am 1b/f/i. I'm wondering if maybe I cut it to say bsl it may appear a little thicker? I am using Jamaican black castor oil mixed with rosemary oil to help maybe thicken it up. Also what is everyone's thoughts on maybe using rogaine? I also take zinc and 10,000 mg biotin daily. TIA

About rogaine/minoxidil: AFAIK, it only works for male pattern baldness and female pattern baldness - and it has to be used regularly non-stop, or else the thinning resumes. If the hair is naturally thin, it's not going to do much - it can't increase the number of existing hair follicles. :(

About supplementing: probably best avoided, unless you have specific deficiencies. With some supplements there is a risk of overdosing, with others - the excess that is not absorbed is simply excreted as "expensive urine". Check out the "(in)famous biotin rant" by Igor for details: http://igorsbelltower.blogspot.ca/p/infamous-biotin-rant.html

Things like hair donuts, sock buns, hair rats, pancaking braids, parandi, clip-in extensions, hair pieces, bump-its, volumizing hair products (e.g. with cassia, hydrolyzed proteins, panthenol, film-forming humectants, filloxane technology), hair sprays, mousses, hair powders, dry shampoos, styling hair upside down, putting hair in top knot to give root volume, etc... can all be pretty helpful. :)