Wearing hair up

[unheardletters]

I've never been able to wear my hair up as I am extremely uncoordinated, and my arms get achy and tired after about 10 seconds. I want to try though, so what is the easiest things I can do with my shoulder length hair? What kind of hair toys do you recommend? I've been spending hours and hours watching youtube videos, searching for easy shoulder length updos, but they still look so complicated.

[likelikepenny]

If your hair is the same length as your avatar, you could easily do a nautilus. It takes ten seconds and you can even hold it with a claw clip (like I do sometimes) or use chopsticks.

Peacock twists are the easiest in my opinion, or even a messy scrunchy bun.

[Aredhel]

I have the same problem as you (can't do my own hair, arms get tired really fast) and I second the nautilus bun. Took me about 2 minutes to learn watching a YouTube video, and it takes no time to do. It's guaranteed to hold really well too and it looks really nice! :) I tend to use hair forks and sticks, I won't use elastic bands anymore because they tend to rip out a few strands of hair everytime I use one.

[Anje]

I don't know if you're dealing with physical limitations, but for most of us, the arms up by the head thing gets better with time and experience. Some of it is just exercising to a position that had not been strengthened, but I'm convinced that a lot of it is that you get quicker at putting your hair up. I suspect most buns for my fingertip-length hair took no more than 10-15 seconds.

Check out Nautilus and lazy wrap buns, as a starter. Very easy go-to buns for many of us, and they hold well with something as simple as a hair stick. Hair sticks, forks, claw clips, etc are your friends for holding updos. Elastics are frequently uncomfortable, hard to get over the bun, and can lead to breakage for many of us.

[likelikepenny]

I learned how to do a nautilus from these two videos, also the cinnabun and disc bun are easy as well which torrin goes over.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZvXrEOfJ4w&list=PL9zG1ApDkP_3xu0yF1_eyKzc7mKJaup2T&t=421s&index=173

[likelikepenny]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb-CDSW1euU&index=169&list=PL9zG1ApDkP_3xu0yF1_eyKzc7mKJaup2T

[likelikepenny]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JhXxMY5CGY

Autumn's channel is really good for learning how to do hair stick updo's on shorter hair in general. I recommend checking her out.

[Deborah]

At your length a French twist is very easy too, and looks so elegant. It can be held up many ways, but I like using hair scroos the best. They hold exceptionally well.

[lapushka]

Yes, and don't forget a Gibson tuck. I fear that for a proper LWB or nautilus your hair, especially if it's towards iii, might still be too short.

[likelikepenny]

Yes, and don't forget a Gibson tuck. I fear that for a proper LWB or nautilus your hair, especially if it's towards iii, might still be too short.

I have a six inch ponytail circumference and my hair falls a little below shoulder. The video's I've posted allowed me to be able to do a nautilus, even though I still only use two fingers/ My hair isn't very slippery so I'm sure that makes a difference, but just on thickness, I think she'll be able to do it with a little practice.

[Kikyou]

Gibson tuck is a nice one for this lenght (I really miss it, but Ive overgrown it). And doesn't require to much effort. First tie your hair and loosen it, rest your arms, tuck it in, rest your arms, add pins/comb/small claw clips.

[unheardletters]

Thanks. I'll try them and see if I can do it. I have no hair sticks or anything else so I'll have to buy some.
My hair is not as long as it is in the avatar, that photo is from when I joined in 2011. It's now just at the top of my shoulder blades, when stretched it is almost APL. I got a super short haircut almost 2 years ago. And I lost a lot of hair a few months ago when I had my baby, otherwise I'd be iii.

[likelikepenny]

Thanks. I'll try them and see if I can do it. I have no hair sticks or anything else so I'll have to buy some.
My hair is not as long as it is in the avatar, that photo is from when I joined in 2011. It's now just at the top of my shoulder blades, when stretched it is almost APL. I got a super short haircut almost 2 years ago. And I lost a lot of hair a few months ago when I had my baby, otherwise I'd be iii.

You can always start practicing by using pencils or chopsticks, that's how I started out. However, there are some inexpensive ones on etsy for about $8.

[vpatt]

Thanks. I'll try them and see if I can do it. I have no hair sticks or anything else so I'll have to buy some.
My hair is not as long as it is in the avatar, that photo is from when I joined in 2011. It's now just at the top of my shoulder blades, when stretched it is almost APL. I got a super short haircut almost 2 years ago. And I lost a lot of hair a few months ago when I had my baby, otherwise I'd be iii.

You could practice with a pencil, knitting needle or crochet hook until you get some hair sticks.

[spidermom]

Along with practicing styles (malibu has many tutorials for short hairstyles), work on developing some strength in those arms. YouTube is a wealth of information. Type "exercises to strengthen arms" into the search box.

[emptyque]

Ooh, I do want to try some of those buns. My hair is really slippery, so it usually need to be longer than other people to do the same hairstyle. Lately, I've been putting my hair in a pony and then clipping it up with a jaw clip. It looks pretty professional for work, and I don't have ends sticking out all over the place like I do with a bun. Unheardletters, you may like a jaw clip too.

[Deborah]

Ooh, I do want to try some of those buns. My hair is really slippery, so it usually need to be longer than other people to do the same hairstyle. Lately, I've been putting my hair in a pony and then clipping it up with a jaw clip. It looks pretty professional for work, and I don't have ends sticking out all over the place like I do with a bun. Unheardletters, you may like a jaw clip too.

The ponytail part can be pretty damaging. If you twist for a couple of turns at the root, then put the large clip on as usual, you can achieve the same look and hold, but without risk of damage to your hair.

[emptyque]

The ponytail part can be pretty damaging. If you twist for a couple of turns at the root, then put the large clip on as usual, you can achieve the same look and hold, but without risk of damage to your hair.

I can do that when it's longer. Right now it doesn't stay back otherwise.

[wmaimee]

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/0e/ad/78/0ead78c58a4b7024a64cfebd17b721f9.jpg

[meteor]

One of the things I liked to do before I had enough length for more conventional buns was to braid the hair and fold it upwards tightly (sometimes twisting it a bit) and use strong claw-clips to hold it down - kind of like a beginning of a braided cinnabun or trying to do a peacock twist, but with a braid. If the hair is too short for 1 braid, you could just take sections of hair, braid them and then kind of cinnabun them while pinning them down with claw clips. The shorter and/or thicker the hair is, the more sections or separate braids or buns you may need to split the hair into.

Another thing: if a style doesn't work, don't force it too much, if it means breaking hairs in the process - you might be able to do it later at different lengths or it might be a style that just needs major tweaking to work for the specific hairtype. For example, I could never do a French twist, even at much shorter lengths and then I realized it just doesn't work with my thickness, but at shorter length I could do a style that almost resembled it from some angles: like this - http://www.nerdygirlmakeup.com/2010/03/31/quick-hair-trick/ or some people can do something like an inverted nautilus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4HV5KRxVEQ) or use some tricks, like French twist with a loop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nyDmSNsR74) or french twist with braided base (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCZ1ZxnB_vA - to control some of the thickness) can work for some people... it's all about adapting styles to your hair. ;)