PDA

View Full Version : How to do a bun that won't give me a headache?



Nicole404
September 19th, 2017, 01:22 PM
My hair is 32.5 inches (measured by how tlhc registration page suggested) and whenever I try to put it in a bun it always pulls at my hair and gives me a headache. Any advice?

Aredhel
September 19th, 2017, 01:41 PM
It can take a bit of practice to get to a point where you know how tight you're pulling your bun... try holding your bun a little more slack in your hand before securing it, or even positioning it on a different spot on your head. Certain spots on my head where my buns sit are more sensitive than other spots.

lapushka
September 19th, 2017, 01:52 PM
How do you put it up? Do you just throw it up, or comb / brush it out before putting it up. Sometimes that matters. I have about your texture, and I never comb / brush, I just throw it up, lean my head back, run my fingers through, and pull it up and just twist it.

MusicalSpoons
September 19th, 2017, 01:57 PM
Seconding what Aredhel said. It definitely takes some experimenting to find the 'sweet spot' for you - and different types of bun may sit better in different places. Personally, I find doing a low bun with my head tilted forward gives me the loosest scalp hair. Also putting your hands on your head (once you've done a bun) and gently moving all of your hair slightly forward towards your forehead can help. This thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=144164) has some general anti-pulling tips which you may find useful :)

spidermom
September 19th, 2017, 02:13 PM
You can also divide your hair into 2, 3, or more buns. If you secure them close together, it can look like one complicated bun.

Anje
September 19th, 2017, 02:49 PM
Like the others say, position and tension make a difference. I find lower buns are more comfortable, and rarely make them above my ears. Higher seems to get my follicles complaining about being pulled a different way and hurts after a while. That said, there are some people who feel like having a bun that rests on top of their head rather than hanging by tension on the roots is the most comfortable thing. As far as tension goes, again, there's a sweet spot for you that you'll need to find. Many people advocate going looser with their buns, but for me, that creates a few spots that have all the tension for the bun. I'm better off with a snug bun -- not pulled tight, mind you, but one where there isn't a lot of slack in the hair on the sides or similar, so that can also do a portion of the weight support instead of just the thin section at the top of my head.

Spidermom makes an excellent point about multiple buns, and it's especially good for people with thick hair. Two small buns are lighter than one, and because they reduce the bulk of the hair, someone who would have to pull hair super tight to do one bun can instead put their hair up without giving themselves a facelift. You can even bun the top half of your hair, then take the bottom half and wrap it around, if you want a single-bun look but multiple-bun tension levels.

Rebeccalaurenxx
September 19th, 2017, 04:42 PM
I have this problem, if I wear a bun it needs to be low hanging and generally on the looser side. So I will do a semi tight cinnamon bun and then use a two prong or greater fork, because more pressure for some reason is spread around with a fork with more prongs. Sticks and spin pins are more likely to give me a headache.
I prefer a braid above all else though, all buns eventually give me a headache, and I have yet to find the much spoken about "sweet spot" so I just do a low braid and leave it be.

Sarahlabyrinth
September 19th, 2017, 04:46 PM
You can also hold your bun using several smaller claw clips to spread the weight across your scalp.

Corvana
September 19th, 2017, 04:52 PM
Also I don't know if it's true in practice, but when I see a bun made with a fork with lots of prongs (3+, though I don't think I've seen more than 5) I think that it would be more comfortable because the prongs would help spread the weight.

Aredhel
September 19th, 2017, 04:57 PM
Also I don't know if it's true in practice, but when I see a bun made with a fork with lots of prongs (3+, though I don't think I've seen more than 5) I think that it would be more comfortable because the prongs would help spread the weight.

This is very true! I do enjoy wearing forks more than sticks for this very reason. :) It is harder to stick a fork loosely into a bun than a stick though, so I have to make the bun a bit loose to be able to get a fork into it... this is the case for me anyway. :)

Jo Ann
September 19th, 2017, 06:08 PM
I've found it depends on the bun. My sweet spot is when the bun is centered between my ears, on the back of my head--put another way, I have about half of the bun above the tops of my ears and half below the tops of my ears. I also handle a "wrapped" bun (like a nautilus bun) better than a "twisted" bun (like a peacock twist), for some reason :shrug: Still working on finding the "twisted" sweet spot :p

pailin
September 19th, 2017, 10:27 PM
What are using to secure it? I agree that it makes a big difference. I find that hairties pull (if I can even get it to stay, which I usually can't). Sticks are comfortable for me, but if it's a slippery hair day they're less comfortable. Forks are marvelous and generally the most comfortable. I still have trouble with Ficcare- about three quarters of the time they give me headaches.
Usually people tell you to get scalp hair with whatever you use to secure it. I actually usually do not get the stick that close to my scalp- it seems to end up hurting when I do. So I usually do a lwb, center held, but don't get the stick all the way to my scalp. If the bun is the right level of tight, it stays comfortably.

lapushka
September 20th, 2017, 08:54 AM
I've found it depends on the bun. My sweet spot is when the bun is centered between my ears, on the back of my head--put another way, I have about half of the bun above the tops of my ears and half below the tops of my ears. I also handle a "wrapped" bun (like a nautilus bun) better than a "twisted" bun (like a peacock twist), for some reason :shrug: Still working on finding the "twisted" sweet spot :p

That's where my bun is too, about middle of the head, more towards the top. I love it there, and it doesn't budge all day, and I use a 2-prong aluminum fork every time (all day every day). I'm a creature of habit. ;)

spidermom
September 20th, 2017, 10:03 AM
Another thing that was comfortable for me most of the time was to do a dutch braid down the back, then bun the braid. Of course there were days when nothing, and I mean NOTHING, was comfortable, so I'd bun, let it out, bun again, let it out again .... all day long. It was possible for me because I worked at home as a transcriptionist so fiddling with my hair didn't bother anybody. This probably wouldn't be practical for somebody who works with other people.

P.S: this was when my hair was much longer than it is now.

Anje
September 20th, 2017, 10:12 AM
What are using to secure it? I agree that it makes a big difference. I find that hairties pull (if I can even get it to stay, which I usually can't). Sticks are comfortable for me, but if it's a slippery hair day they're less comfortable. Forks are marvelous and generally the most comfortable. I still have trouble with Ficcare- about three quarters of the time they give me headaches.
Usually people tell you to get scalp hair with whatever you use to secure it. I actually usually do not get the stick that close to my scalp- it seems to end up hurting when I do. So I usually do a lwb, center held, but don't get the stick all the way to my scalp. If the bun is the right level of tight, it stays comfortably.
Good points on all this. I'm just quoting you for emphasis, because I don't really have anything to add. All this is true for me, and I hate trying to bun with hair ties.

meteor
September 20th, 2017, 08:37 PM
If it's the first time bunning, consider that your scalp may need some time to adjust to hairs being pulled in a new direction. Just taking the bun down, giving yourself a quick scalp massage and trying again later is what I had to do when I first started bunning hair - I could only go for 5 min, then 15, then 30 min, then an hour, then a few hours, then a whole day... It took a good while, maybe a few weeks? And every time I try a new bun, I do feel some discomfort at first.

Some other things that might be worth trying out:

- braiding hair before bunning (especially useful for very slippery hair) - this way you don't need to twist hair tightly before you bun it and it should still hold;

- trying milkmaid/heidi braids and coronet/crown braids;

- creating multiple buns (stacked one on top of another or side by side);

- creating sectioned "frame" buns (start off with a half-up bun and then split hair in as many sections as needed and twist/braid and wrap them around the base bun);

- using buns that create a few loops instead of just one for weight distribution - e.g. Disc bun for shorter hair or Spidermom's bun/double-loop LWB and L-infinity bun for longer hair;

- using tools with multiple prongs/teeth, e.g. multiple claw-clips around the perimeter of the bun or double forks, multiple Amish pins...

mindwiped
September 20th, 2017, 08:51 PM
As a migraineur, there are days I just cannot bun. I have two snoods that I toss my hair into when I just cannot handle my hair in any real form of containment.

I got two of the whole head snoods, not just the bun covers, from this etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LadyMacSnood?ref=pr_faveshops