What are your alternatives to teasing/backcombing?

[Petulia]

I used to tease my hair about 3 times a week for college. Now I only do it a couple times a month, but it's so tedious having to finger comb it out every day and I've had problems in the past where I haven't been able to detangle it at all and had to cut some of my hair from the roots because it was knotted so much and hair was falling out because of it. :-( :-(
I usually tease a section from the crown area and pin half of it up, and leave the rest of my hair down.

I have tried hair bump-its but I find them difficult to keep in and to hide under the hair.

So what are the alternatives to this half up beehive hairstyle? Is there another way to do it without the excessive back combing? Or is there a product similar to bump-its that anyone can recommend?

[Groovy Granny]

I can't do any of that with my fine hair, so if I want lift ......I do a half up, puffing my hair up by brushing it back the pushing it to the front.....and securing it more on my scalp with a barrette (your choice if you can see it or not); then finish whatever style I was going for.

[Zesty]

What GG said about pushing hair forward. I've been taking a wedge of hair (between the arches of my eyebrows, roughly, and a few inches back), combing it back, and then pushing or tugging it forward a little bit to get some lift/a little pouf. No sure if that helps too much though because I've never tried for a beehive.

[meteor]

For a small lift, just twist or braid some hair in the front (fringe area), leaving a few inches at the roots loose, and then push it forward to your forehead, to make the roots lift up.

For bigger lift, try something like "hair floss" (http://media.claires.co.uk/pws/client/images/catalogue/products/69821/xlarge/69821.jpg) or just a cut up foamy bun-maker, used like a "hair rat"/"bump-it" with bobby-pins, e.g. like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuKe5hCrbbI.

Alternatively, you could coil up a small braid right behind the front (fringe, canopy) area and then cover that coiled up bun with your canopy hair, e.g. like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DnCi6pY1P4

I hope you'll find something that works for you! ;)

[Nique1202]

One of Torrin Paige's recent videos goes into bump puff things and may be useful to you in this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkPpyFwG5Ss Other than that I haven't the foggiest, I've never been in a situation where I had to have puffy hair so I've never had to find alternatives. Good luck!

[Petulia]

Thanks for the ideas everyone. meteor I liked the idea of the second video where she coils up a braid to make the bump. It didn't work out so well on my hair though since I normally wear the half up beehive with my side bangs out, whereas she used all of the hair from the front of her head. I tried to do the braid from the crown of my head so that I could leave my bangs out, but the bump ended up being on the back of my head rather than on the top of my head.
YouTube tutorials make everything look so much easier :-(

[Anje]

It might be an age or culture difference, but I never saw backcombing as a normal thing that people did, except maybe for fancy updos for special occasions like weddings. I don't have an alternative to it, I just plain don't do it. I don't think anyone I know does.

[Llama]

Those volumizing powders work wonders. I have this one http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod3120541 and this one http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod5340023.
They both work really well to give lots of volume. But I only use them for special occasions because they make my hair feel kinda product-y.
I used to tease my hair at the crown almost every day back when I was abusive to my hair lol. The tease would never stay anyways, would always fall flat. The powders last longer than teasing ever did for me.
I also like spraying batiste dry shampoo to get extra volume- so that could be another option :)

[Wusel]

It might be an age or culture difference, but I never saw backcombing as a normal thing that people did, except maybe for fancy updos for special occasions like weddings. I don't have an alternative to it, I just plain don't do it. I don't think anyone I know does.

Same here. Don't do it, don't like it, don't need it. No alternative. It damages hair extremely, so... no backcombing for me.

[lithostoic]

I didn't even back comb when I was a scene kid haha. I've heard dry shampoo can help add texture and volume. And blow drying upside down, of course.

[papayatree]

I didn't even back comb when I was a scene kid haha. I've heard dry shampoo can help add texture and volume. And blow drying upside down, of course.

I didn't know you where a scene kid! Back on topic, I don't think there are any safe ways to have that backcomed or teased look. I am the last person who would ever try that.

[lapushka]

My mom used to love backcombing. She comes from the sixties when the beehive was hugely popular. I always saw her backcomb, but I never did it myself.

[Wusel]

My mom used to love backcombing. She comes from the sixties when the beehive was hugely popular. I always saw her backcomb, but I never did it myself.

My mom was the sixties-alternative-one. The rebel. Middle part and long, black, uncombed hair. Never beehive and backcomb. :)

[Anje]

My mom was the sixties-alternative-one. The rebel. Middle part and long, black, uncombed hair. Never beehive and backcomb. :)

My mom was a bit younger, 15 in 1970. She was flat-ironing her hair with a clothes iron instead.

[lapushka]

My mom was the sixties-alternative-one. The rebel. Middle part and long, black, uncombed hair. Never beehive and backcomb. :)

My mom has i or i/ii hair at the most - which explains a lot.

[papayatree]

My mom was a bit younger, 15 in 1970. She was flat-ironing her hair with a clothes iron instead.

I can only imagine what that did to her hair!

[yahirwaO.o]

My mom was the sixties-alternative-one. The rebel. Middle part and long, black, uncombed hair. Never beehive and backcomb. :)

You and your mom sound totally cool! :cool:

[Petulia]

I agree that it might just be a bit of a cultural difference. I'm from London in the UK and it's quite common here for younger South Asian females to wear their hair in a half up beehive just on a normal day (there's a lot more of us in London than you'd think!). But also a lot of South Asian bridal hairstyles consist of beehives to hold up and support the dupatta (a very heavy scarf that needs to rest on top of the hair from the crown area). It looks very nice especially in a bun, but there needs to be an alternative that works just as well without causing so much damage :(

[Horrorpops]

Dry shampoo gives me a little lift but not as much as back combing sadly. Ditto blow-drying and then spraying some hairspray into my hair with my head flipped upside down. If you let it set (or gently backcomb with your fingers) this gives me a bit of volume... Depends how big you like your beehives though :D

[Cg]

I have never back-combed and never will.

I always dry and brush upside down, and do not attempt any style that requires unnatural volume.

[01]

Those volumizing powders work wonders. I have this one http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod3120541 and this one http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod5340023. They both work really well to give lots of volume. But I only use them for special occasions because they make my hair feel kinda product-y. I used to tease my hair at the crown almost every day back when I was abusive to my hair lol. The tease would never stay anyways, would always fall flat. The powders last longer than teasing ever did for me. I also like spraying batiste dry shampoo to get extra volume- so that could be another option :) I never backcombed my hair, they're quite poofy by themselves. But when I was playing with natural stuff I tried cinnamon as dry shampoo. It made my hair twice as big! I couldn't fit into doors, lol. It's very drying though, I think it does damage hair over time too.

[Dovahkiin]

Women in the past would save the hairs from their brushes to use.

I imagine it's quite easy to do. Collect for awhile, wash and dry, then manipulate them into a reusable bump, and use as you like? It would be just like your teased hair, right?