How many long haired LHCers wear the french twist?

[*ReiKa*]

We often talk about buns of any sort, but what about the lovely french twist?

I love this updo, one of my favourites for work, cos it looks so professional and neat. It's also very protective, cos the ends stay inside of the twist undisturbed.
In case someone doesn't remember which one it is/how it looks, here's (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/05/29/article-2333001-1A0A8B39000005DC-590_634x530.jpg) a picture.

For us long haired gals, it's way more difficult to achieve than for "normal lenght" people is, that's because wrapping loads of inches of hair that way is not as easy as it would be with shorter hair.
hypn0tica on Youtube has made a tutorial with her very long hair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIe3wTSuLY8 and she also made other variations, although this is the one I prefer.
But also, when my hair was hip lenght I believe, this is the video that made me achieve a french twist for the very first time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obg8mT08804
If you have a look on youtube, there are so many different ways to achieve it (but most of them apply to long hair, not VERY long hair.)

The problem with french twisting my hair (TBL) is that it's so much of a hit or miss. Sometimes I'll make it on first attempt, sometimes it takes me even 5+ attempts, sometimes even after 243823 attempts I just can't get it so I end up having to do something else. I don't know why.
I like to secure it with my medium sized Flexi8.
So, I'm curious to know, who else here loves this hairstyle? How do you achieve it, what technique do you use, how do you secure it? does it stay in place for long time? any tips and tricks?
:o

[missrandie]

I always did a modified french twist when my hair was hip length.. it was literally just a twist with the top secured with a barette.

Like a peacock twist folded in half.

I know there are some bun styles around here that use my basic twist as their base, but for the life of me I can't remember what they are called.

[lapushka]

It stopped working past BSL for me. My hair got way too long for it, to wear it comfortably, IMO. I did wear a folded over peacock twist for a long time, until I got to waist and got to wear buns.

[spidermom]

Love this style ever since I was a teen and did it with a lot of teasing and hair spray. It's harder to do with my current length (nearly tailbone), but some days I can pull it off. I have a long skinny fork to secure it, also sometimes use bobby pins.

[woodswanderer]

Never quite figured that one. Maybe if I had a chance to learn it on shorter hair.

[daPerley]

I´ve never tried a french twist and ain´t sure I would be able to do one even if I tried, I´m not that good with styling hair so I mostley just shift between the same up do´s all the time :rolleyes:

[Arctic]

I love'em and make my everyday one with hypnotica's method. My more festive one is made more "traditionally". My hair is not long, and I don't have difficulties with my ends.

[Panth]

I don't because of length/thickness combination. My hair is too thin and too fine to make a pocket that will hide the length, even if I could wrangle to fit all the length in (which, let's face it, isn't happening either). I also dislike it because it's impossible to make it attractive and keep a centre part (and my hair will not lie scraped back).

I suspect it's not mentioned so often because:
- it works best on relatively short hair (less than BSL)
- with long hair, if you can wrangle it into working, it gives you a giant "alien head" that lots of people think looks weird and unattractive
- it can be highly temperamental - sometimes it just won't work, irrespective of how practiced you are at it
- it usually requires more than just one fork / one stick / one pair of sticks (sometimes a lot more)
- it looks best (IMO) done very smooth and sleek, which can mean it looks far too business/professional for most people's everyday style

[chen bao jun]

I look the look, its so sophisticated. but I don't do them so often because even though for LHC I don't have long hair (just hitting bottom bra strap stretched) my hair is thick and although its possible, it takes patience and redoing not to get that sort of conehead point on top. I also find it looks great from the side where you can see where its folded, but from the other side, it just looks--well, as you said, like alien head.
When I do do them, I find its nice to used a french twist comb, rather than a flexi or ficcare, the comb part of the implement holds it in so much better and they look so much nicer. I have a comb by elemiah delecto which is great and bijoux manoel makes some nice ones.
the comb adds to the problem of being able to lean head back comfortably though.

[meteor]

I can't do it (too much hair and I don't have the right hair tools for this style). Even if, after lots of trying, I got it into something resembling a French twist, it would look like a giant alien head on me :lol:, so I just admire this gorgeous style on others instead.

A few French Twist videos that I think show useful tricks for long and/or thick hair:
- starts with a knot (folded upwards): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcV6N2R6MO0
- starts with folding hair twice (knee length): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCNHoS5erfw
- starts from a small braid underneath (to compact down thick hair): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCZ1ZxnB_vA or double-french twist base: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg1gpkwJXOo
- a bit like a log roll (knee length) (from around 5:00): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWeO8TWrbvQ

[meteor]

I know there are some bun styles around here that use my basic twist as their base, but for the life of me I can't remember what they are called.

Actually, there are a few buns for long hair that can help there: Log Roll, Flipped Cinnabun, Maki bun and Inverted Nautilus all give that twisted nape area, which slightly resembles the French twist :) :

Log Roll: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7XKBUtl7O0
Flipped Cinnabun (4ypn0tica): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up3ftEV45_c
Inverted Nautilus (torrinpaige): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4HV5KRxVEQ
Maki Bun (emi longhairedatheart): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAXcZGEw8ks

[Mimha]

I absolutely love this hairdo ! But I find it difficult to succeed past a certain length, due to the weight of the hair. It's difficult to have it hold all day and it easily pulls the scalp. And when my hair is slippery, I can forget it ! :rolleyes:

Here is a pic of one of my succeeded ones, when I had APL hair, last November. Now I must double twist my hair and it's way too heavy for my sensitive scalp. I tried everything : bobby pins, U-hairpins, stick (no way !), combs, Ficcare... Nothing is really satisfying. I bought two big metal U-hairpins coated with anti-slip stuff which were the most convincing tools, but the anti-slip make them difficult to insert in the twist.

... Well I admit that I'm not very patient either !^^

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=14392&d=1416693342

[Chromis]

I super love the look, but at my length, I get a hadrosaur sort of look from them. I do the log roll instead, which looks very similar to muggles.

[TrapperCreekD]

This is one of the styles I wish I had learned/perfected when my hair was shorter, it's so elegant looking! I *can* do it but I'm not a fan of the alien head look. As 4ypn0tica so beautifully demonstrated, it can be done with long hair and not look really weird, so I like to to refer to my hair as too thick at this length to do a nice french twist.

[Carolyn]

I've never been able to make a French twist that satisfied me. My twist always has this big lump that gives the illusion of a misshapen head. I think of a French twist as a formal hairstyle and have almost no occasions to wear it. I maybe go to a wedding once every year or two. Other than that I can't imagine going that formal. I live in jeans or yoga pants and Birkenstocks.

[Zwaluw]

I've never done a French Twist, but I do occasional pin a simple braid to my head, which sort of gives the same silhouette.

[missrandie]

meteor, you rock! It's a mild version of the log roll and a little version of the beginning of the nautilus!

When Torrin begins her nautilus with the twisting, that was essentially my hairstyle. I used my finger instead of my hand and just twist-twist-twisted until all my hair was contained, then clipped the top with a very UNFRIENDLY barette (I know that now). Mom still does the style, but with her Mother's Day ficcare :)

[meteor]

^ Aw, thank you so much, missrandie! :o :flowers:

And I agree: these buns with a French twist feel need a barrette / flexi-8 / ficcarre / fakkare / a comb maybe... basically, something that will squeeze together the hair - sticks or forks probably won't work here so easily.

[DeadlyUnicorn]

This video has been the most helpful for me (meteor already posted it but, yeah lol) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCNHoS5erfw

I've been using a spider claw clip to secure mine. I never attempted the style until recently.. It really would be much easier with short hair :p And it normally does take me more than 1 try to get it right. I think it just depends on your hair type, method, and how you secure it. I twist my hair a bit (sometimes I just fold it up though, without twisting) and then fold it up and tuck it under. I usually have to adjust the rest of my hair and maybe comb it back so it's smoother (sometimes I get gaps in my hair and it looks like bald spots :( ). Then I place my clip around the middle. My biggest problem is that the bottom usually ends up looking odd

[chen bao jun]

I absolutely love this hairdo ! But I find it difficult to succeed past a certain length, due to the weight of the hair. It's difficult to have it hold all day and it easily pulls the scalp. And when my hair is slippery, I can forget it ! :rolleyes:

Here is a pic of one of my succeeded ones, when I had APL hair, last November. Now I must double twist my hair and it's way too heavy for my sensitive scalp. I tried everything : bobby pins, U-hairpins, stick (no way !), combs, Ficcare... Nothing is really satisfying. I bought two big metal U-hairpins coated with anti-slip stuff which were the most convincing tools, but the anti-slip make them difficult to insert in the twist.

... Well I admit that I'm not very patient either !^^

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=14392&d=1416693342

Very pretty, Mimha.

[MINAKO]

I would love too, but it doesnt work for me. The weight of my hair is insane and so is the size of especially looser sort of updos. It would just be one giant floppy mess. Maybe i missed a few tricks on how to create this style in a way it looks neat and stays in place on me, but so far i dont see it working unless i cut back alot.

[Priska]

My hair is not heavy or too long or slippery. It's dry and tangly, so I guess I should have a great success with this hairdo. But it always opens and unravels and hangs down quickly. Even though I used 5 bobby pins last time. I think wooden hairfork maybe could do it. Must find it somewhere (sticks don't hold my french twist well either).

But I love this hairdo and could use it anywhere. Especially with some funny hair fork.

[Cg]

On rare occasions I could get one to stay intact for a few hours, but that was when it was shorter than hip. Also I needed two Grip-Tuth FT combs + 6-8 G-T clips. No other anchoring device(s) ever worked, not even momentarily.

[angel-baby]

I used to wear them for ballet class sometimes, but they really only worked for me when my hair was about shoulder length. Even at BSL it's kind of a struggle to make one that looks good.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I wear them regularly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOLVCmhqVr8 I secure them with spin pins these days and they hold like a rock!

[WednesdayAddams]

Once in a blue moon, but my hair isn't very long at this point. I'm not sure whether it will start to feel bulky as it gets longer.

Mostly I've worn it in professional settings. It isn't really a day-to-day style for me. It's beautiful but it feels formal to me and I have a kind of boho style.

[Flittingsis]

I've always loved the look of them, messy or perfect. My messy is not a good messy, though. I just managed to put my hair up in one and for the first time it is actually staying (with 4 U pins). So, in general, never because either the ends won't tuck in, it's too tight, or the top looks awful.

[Lady Stardust]

There’s a thread about French twists here (https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=152267), with more great video tutorials.

I love the style, particularly with flowers along the line of the twist. Sometimes I can get it to work, but it’s hit and miss.

[Gwendolynn]

I would absolutely love to wear a French twist but have unfortunately not found a way to keep it up comfortably. I will surely try out some of these ways or try to combine some tips! I think it would be such an easy and classy way to put up my hair that does not take a lot of time or effort to take down.