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SimplyViki
May 11th, 2009, 10:19 AM
I think one of these days I will try and create a video of all my failed attempts at various updos... Even the really simple ones seem to escape my understanding, sometimes. I'm sure I'm not the only one, but it's frustrating! :justy: Maybe if I make a video, it'll be funny and comforting to other people who seem to have two left hands when it comes to hairdos!

Carina
May 11th, 2009, 10:41 AM
I am with you.I am also a updo clutz.I often do a scrunhiebun before work and I braid it before bed.That is it.I don't have the time to practice new updos at the moment.It would be fun to have someone who could teach me.I love to watch the teaching videos.

Fethenwen
May 11th, 2009, 01:13 PM
I think such videos could be quite funny :) and comforting as you said, sounds like a great idea. I'm not a very updosy person myself either, yet that is. I plan to train myself to do more complicated updos than a ponytail when my hair gets longer.

curls2grow
May 11th, 2009, 02:11 PM
I just love the term "updo clutz". I can only do a puny cinnabun with my hair. Anything else I attempt just looks like a lump of hair and frizz.

florenonite
May 11th, 2009, 02:32 PM
*waves* I'm an updo clutz, too!

Babyfine
May 11th, 2009, 02:34 PM
Same here- i don't have long enough hair to do some updo's- but some that my length would allow I can't seem to master. I can't french braid to save my life.
I can do a fairly decent french twist, though.

going gray
May 11th, 2009, 04:04 PM
The only thing I can manage is a ponytail, & up with a claw clip. Don't have enough hair yet, but I couldn't do those gorgeous updos anyway! Would love to see some videos.

embee
May 11th, 2009, 06:19 PM
I have two little buns that I can make for daytime wear. And one silly looking topknot for bedtime. The updo in my profile I can no longer achieve... the skill fell away, now it just looks stupid and falls down quickly. :(

So I guess I'm an updo klutz too. Sigh.

plainjanegirl
May 12th, 2009, 08:47 AM
I also fall in this category. Sometimes after alot of practice I can learn a new updo but if I don't do it frequently then later when I go to do the same updo I have to relearn. My faithful is just a braid.

SimplyViki
May 12th, 2009, 08:58 AM
Heehee! I'm glad I'm not the only one. I used to rely on basically slipknot tied into my hair (surprisingly, it didn't actually slip) but my hair is getting too long to hold itself up anymore, I have to add a hairstick or something, which basically kills the whole appeal of the knot - the novelty of it was that my hair held itself up with no tools... it's not pretty enough to wear with a toy, I think.

plainjanegirl
May 12th, 2009, 09:09 AM
Heehee! I'm glad I'm not the only one. I used to rely on basically slipknot tied into my hair (surprisingly, it didn't actually slip) but my hair is getting too long to hold itself up anymore, I have to add a hairstick or something, which basically kills the whole appeal of the knot - the novelty of it was that my hair held itself up with no tools... it's not pretty enough to wear with a toy, I think.



What about with bobby pins ( cause they wouldn't show like a stick would) ?

BajanGal
May 13th, 2009, 02:14 PM
I totally agree... some of the people on this site have their hair done in updo's so good but I can never get it done :S I wonder if they get people to do it for them??? Does your hair have to be past APL in order to do certain updo's?

zen_oven
May 13th, 2009, 07:03 PM
You're not alone. I SUCK at styling my hair. I can never seem to get updos to look right, or at least get them up to my standards. There's a reason my hair is almost always down! LOL.

SimplyViki
May 13th, 2009, 07:11 PM
What about with bobby pins ( cause they wouldn't show like a stick would) ?
Well, yeah, it would work, probably. I just liked the idea that my hair held itself up - like magic!:magic:

inertia
May 14th, 2009, 01:22 AM
Another clutz here. I can do a cinnabun when my hair is damp, and when it was shorter I could do a French twist when it was damp. Dry, my hair is slippery and spits out the sticks and pins. I don't want to use products when I'm just putting my hair up for a casual day but without them, I sometimes have to try 3 or 4 times to make a secure bun. Usually I just throw it in a low ponytail.

embee
May 14th, 2009, 06:05 AM
... the novelty of it was that my hair held itself up with no tools... it's not pretty enough to wear with a toy, I think.

Not pretty enough? Your hair? It looks lovely to me! Great color. :)

There are directions somewhere (or were on the old site) for a stickless bun or some such. It wouldn't stay in my hair long unfortunately.

Sheltie_Momma
May 14th, 2009, 07:26 AM
Oh thank you for this thread! I so need to vent on how hard a time I have getting my hair up, and if I do manage that then the trick is getting it to stay up.
My hair is thick (about 3.5 circumference on a pony) and at BSL it will only wrap/loop 1.5 times, which leaves me with not enough hair to loop around and secure but too much "tail" (about 5 inches) to manage. Usually I will braid it to compress it a bit before trying to get it bunned, I secure it and let the ends flail down over the top of the bun. This looks okay but sort of defeats the purpose of protecting those vulnerable ends by wearing an up-do in the first place. ARG. It takes me multiple tries just to achieve this simplest style - it's ridicuous.

For me, it isn't that I don't understand the steps to making the updo's - it's that nothing except really heavy barrettes or extra huge scrunchies/bands will hold my hair. Bobby pins just sort of fly out - it's like my hair expands during the day and pushes the pins out.

I have hope though -
1) Longer hair, if I can get it to loop one more time then I could secure it and tuck the ends under. Crazy thickness means that even at 27 inches it won't loop twice.
2) Grow out the few layers that are causing bits to poke out of my braids and buns
3) Save up for better (Stronger) hair toys.

Whew, I feel better thanks for listening to my vent!

florenonite
May 14th, 2009, 07:34 AM
Oh thank you for this thread! I so need to vent on how hard a time I have getting my hair up, and if I do manage that then the trick is getting it to stay up.
My hair is thick (about 3.5 circumference on a pony) and at BSL it will only wrap/loop 1.5 times, which leaves me with not enough hair to loop around and secure but too much "tail" (about 5 inches) to manage. Usually I will braid it to compress it a bit before trying to get it bunned, I secure it and let the ends flail down over the top of the bun. This looks okay but sort of defeats the purpose of protecting those vulnerable ends by wearing an up-do in the first place. ARG. It takes me multiple tries just to achieve this simplest style - it's ridicuous.

For me, it isn't that I don't understand the steps to making the updo's - it's that nothing except really heavy barrettes or extra huge scrunchies/bands will hold my hair. Bobby pins just sort of fly out - it's like my hair expands during the day and pushes the pins out.

I have hope though -
1) Longer hair, if I can get it to loop one more time then I could secure it and tuck the ends under. Crazy thickness means that even at 27 inches it won't loop twice.
2) Grow out the few layers that are causing bits to poke out of my braids and buns
3) Save up for better (Stronger) hair toys.

Whew, I feel better thanks for listening to my vent!

I feel your pain. I've got hair the same length with a circumference of 4 1/8" and, yeah, I'm having a lot of difficulty with buns lately. I actually found it easier a few inches ago, but now the cinnabun wraps around about one and a half times and is just really awkward. However, my hair's not long enough for any other buns (figure-8, infinity) so I'm in a bit of a rut.

Have you tried hairsticks? Ketylo's dymondwood ones are ace, because dymondwood doesn't break easily, and they're corkscrews so they hold better.

Sheltie_Momma
May 14th, 2009, 03:24 PM
I haven't tried hairsticks yet, but I really want to. I will check out those for sure, thanks for the tip. We are headed to Disney World soon and I really want to keep my hair up and out of the way!

Islandgrrl
May 14th, 2009, 03:52 PM
Hair Spaz, Updo Klutz, whatever you want to call it.......that's me!

I'm hopeless and I really don't care!

windinherhair
May 14th, 2009, 10:21 PM
If it could brighten someone's day then they can watch me mess up on my hair. Ha! It would just frustrate me more to watch it myself. :D I am about ready to give up with this herringbone braid. (I posted pics if you want to check out my post.)

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?p=589133#post589133

Furiana
May 15th, 2009, 03:30 PM
If it could brighten someone's day then they can watch me mess up on my hair. Ha! It would just frustrate me more to watch it myself. :D I am about ready to give up with this herringbone braid. (I posted pics if you want to check out my post.)

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?p=589133#post589133

Ah, but at least that looks like a herringbone braid! I see your wonky braid and raise you this! :silly:

(And before you comment, I *wasn't* lounging at home nor had I just showered. I was trying a legitimate bun before changing into day clothes and going out!)

http://i44.tinypic.com/11ujhgi.jpg

sukhi_v1023
May 15th, 2009, 04:11 PM
Lol! Furiana, that's me on a daily basis, except I've got super blackest black hair!

*gives Furiana a high fave*

sukhi_v1023
May 15th, 2009, 04:11 PM
I mean a high FIVE. Oye vey...

Furiana
May 15th, 2009, 05:25 PM
Lol! Furiana, that's me on a daily basis, except I've got super blackest black hair!

*gives Furiana a high fave*


I mean a high FIVE. Oye vey...

Lol! *High fave for my hairdo twin* :rockerdud

Furiana
May 17th, 2009, 07:15 PM
Oh, come on, everybody! Where's all the ugly photos? I know I get at least one in EVERY batch!

Case in point... :rockerdud

http://i40.tinypic.com/20a30vo.jpg (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=2963&pictureid=39408)
Links to album

SimplyViki
May 27th, 2009, 12:43 PM
Thread resurrected, for the sake of avoiding starting a new unnecessary one...

O. M. G.
I cannot do a log roll for the life of me!! I think maybe my hair is not yet long enough for its thickness, or something... or maybe it's the remaining layers that kill my efforts... Jeez. When I've been here a year, I'm so changing my custom user title thingie to "Updo Uber Clutz". Don't quote me on that, though - who knows, maybe in a years time, I'll be an Updo Uber Whiz!

serenitygal
May 27th, 2009, 01:37 PM
I'm still a bit of a klutz, but I'm sloooooowly getting better with practice.

My hair is at BSL when dry. I've finally realized that a fair number of the hairstyles here are designed for nearly waist-length, or perhaps BSL on a person taller than I am (I'm 5'2").

I learned to french braid by doing it in front of the TV every single night as soon as my hair hit shoulder-length. Practicing that much was the only way for me to learn.

I learned to do a french twist by putting my hair into one every day for months when it was the only way I could wear my hair and being willing to have it look a mess by the end of the day. I'm not sure that I could make a good-looking french twist on the first try now; it's been probably a year or so since I wore one regularly.

Right now, I have a few styles I'll use in public. If it's my day off, I'll usually leave my hair in a french braid. Since I wear it that way every night, I just spritz a little aloe and water over my hair, smooth it with my hands, and leave it in my night-braid all day. Sooooo comfortable--no pulling, no tugging, and if I want to take a nap, I can just lie down without worrying about a bump on my head! :P

At work, my hair is either in a Chinese bun (easiest bun EVER: make a ponytail, put a stick horizontally behind it, split the poytail in half and wrap it around the stick on either side, pin) or in a sort of Gibson knot-***-half-figure eight thing. My hair is still too short for a figure eight, infinity, nautilus, KL knot...Really, the thing that's worked best for me as far as learning updos is that I have to wear my hair up at work. We're expected to look business casual, and big, curly hair is not business-y! Then, too, I live in Texas, where summer highs are often well over 100 degrees.

I don't understand all the articles on updos here; sometimes they just don't "click" for me when I try to transfer the words to the physical. (I'm sure the problem is on my end, rather than the author's! :flowers: ) I do understand a few of them, though, and they've been most helpful!

(sending good updo vibes...)

SimplyViki
May 27th, 2009, 01:51 PM
Serenitygal, that's a good idea as far as the french braiding, I think I will try that. I have so little time in the mornings (my own fault - no matter how early I set my alarm clock, I will hit snooze until the same time every day) that it would be very handy for me. I just usually English braid it for bed, but it always looks terrible by morning.

Yes, a lot of the styles I'm not even long enough for yet, even though I'm at waist - it also has to do with the thickness, I've heard. Like the infinity/figure 8 bun - I can only sometimes make it work - but I'll blame that on my layers, which pop out and make the bottom loop look crazy.

Would you believe, I have a really hard time with the chinese bun? I can't keep track of both tails and wind them around in opposite directions at the same time... I feel like I need two hands! That and I need to get some better pins... I only have the teeny tiny metal bobby pins (or hairpins? I don't know - the ones that look like a lopsided, squished U, not like a regular U) and not the nice big plastic ones that some have. (Easy Days? Or something like that?)

Longhairpixie
May 27th, 2009, 02:09 PM
Is there a club we can all join? lol

SimplyViki
May 27th, 2009, 02:20 PM
Is there a club we can all join? lol
I dunno, but we could all unofficially meet here!:D

pandora114
May 27th, 2009, 02:34 PM
YAY I'm not the only one! That's one of my biggest fears when I get longer hair. I can't updo my own to save my life, french braid or whatever. lol

plainjanegirl
May 27th, 2009, 03:52 PM
That's neat that you can wear your nighttime french braid the next day! I could never do that cause I toss and turn too much so it would be a MESS in the morning.

wheatfree
May 27th, 2009, 08:00 PM
Heck, I just want to be able to do a braid that doesn't have little pieces of hair falling out all over. Updos are beyond me.

SimplyViki
May 27th, 2009, 09:39 PM
Heck, I just want to be able to do a braid that doesn't have little pieces of hair falling out all over. Updos are beyond me.

I have resigned myself to the little pieces falling out all over - layers'll do that to ya. I keep repeating to myself those little bits of style advice in fashion mags that say that "messy braids" are trendy and pretty. I will keep on repeating that to myself, even when it is no longer trendy. Not that I usually care what fashion mags say... just when they validate my current habits, LOL.

Torrin Paige
May 27th, 2009, 09:52 PM
I am here to offer encouragement! I, too, was a complete up-do klutz, so much so, that I cut all of my hair off in a fit of pique. After realizing that you actually HAVE to fix short hair to make it look right, I vowed to learn how to manage mine once it was long again. I am still almost completely worthless when it comes to fixing someone else's hair, but I have managed, through much trial and error, to figure out what to do with mine. I'm not going to tell you that it was easy, because it wasn't and I threw my hairbrush a lot and occasionally just threw myself on the bed and cried sometimes, but it is possible to move past the klutz stage. I am living proof. I wish you all luck and promise you that extra length actually did seem to help me.

wheatfree
May 27th, 2009, 10:36 PM
Messy braids are trendy & pretty? Hey wait. Does that mean I'm finally in style?;)

SimplyViki
May 28th, 2009, 07:20 AM
I am here to offer encouragement! I, too, was a complete up-do klutz, so much so, that I cut all of my hair off in a fit of pique. After realizing that you actually HAVE to fix short hair to make it look right, I vowed to learn how to manage mine once it was long again. I am still almost completely worthless when it comes to fixing someone else's hair, but I have managed, through much trial and error, to figure out what to do with mine. I'm not going to tell you that it was easy, because it wasn't and I threw my hairbrush a lot and occasionally just threw myself on the bed and cried sometimes, but it is possible to move past the klutz stage. I am living proof. I wish you all luck and promise you that extra length actually did seem to help me.
Wow, we got a comment from the famous Torrin Paige of YouTube genius!! :thud:This thread must be goin' places. :agree:
:DAnyway, that is very encouraging, thank you. Yes, I'm certain extra length (and growing out these annoying layers) will help me, if nothing else, I'll get the bottom half of a figure 8 to stay put.


Messy braids are trendy & pretty? Hey wait. Does that mean I'm finally in style?;)
Oh, yes, absolutely! See?
http://www.glamour.com/beauty/blogs/girls-in-the-beauty-department/2009/04/cute-braid-alternative-fishtai.html
Hers is even messier than mine!
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g314/vharrod/Hair%20Pics/noname-2.jpg
Oh, and you want an updo atrocity?
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g314/vharrod/Hair%20Pics/noname-1.jpg
(both are cell phone pics - sometimes it takes decent pics, sometimes it doesn't)
I was trying to do a pinless, stickless, tool-less bun thingie that somebody showed me from YouTube, but it made my head look like an alien. I think my hair's too long for that one to look decent.

Longhairpixie
May 28th, 2009, 12:21 PM
Torrin Paige just check out your youtube page! It's awsome! :}

Furiana
May 28th, 2009, 07:03 PM
SimplyViki, those are amazing! :rollin:

SimplyViki
May 29th, 2009, 07:08 AM
SimplyViki, those are amazing! :rollin:
Yeah, that alien bun (as I've been calling it) is really something. :D

MsBubbles
June 6th, 2010, 02:49 PM
I got a lot of joy and some big laughs from this thread just now. Thanks SimplyViki for starting it! I love your idea in the beginning about making updo failure videos. In my head I ran with that idea and came up with "I wonder if there's a video website dedicated purely to abject failures of one kind or another?!". I'd start it off by posting videos of me attempting french twists, french braids, cinnabuns, fishtail braids, crown braids...

I'd be bald by the time I was finished.

Really hating myself right now for not being able to do any other updo than a pretzel bun. The pretzel bun is great, though, thank god. I can sort of do an English braid but now that I have learned how to properly start one, they keep going wrong and fall loose...not in a pretty, disheveled way either. In a bucket of grease way.

ETA: just attempted a simple rope-braid as demonstrated on Youtube. I copied exactly what the girl did, even mimicked her hand movements so I'd be sure to twist it the right way.

FAIL!!

Plus I pulled out a good ten long hairs.

Screw it man. If being updo proficient means I have to rip my hair out just forget it. Me and my pretzel bun'll be just fine (thanks JJJlonghair!).

Pallas
June 6th, 2010, 03:52 PM
Honestly, besides that being really funny, that could actually help you with your updos. Maybe their is something you don't realize you're doing wrong, but other people could say "hey, I saw your twisting the wrong way/skipping a step!"

Carolyn
June 6th, 2010, 03:59 PM
I wish I could get my hair to stay in a tied knot. I can't tell you how many failures I've had when trying to get a nice updo.

MsBubbles
June 6th, 2010, 04:47 PM
I wish I could get my hair to stay in a tied knot. I can't tell you how many failures I've had when trying to get a nice updo.

Well I think for me it was the revelation that - gasp - claw clips aren't the tools of the devil at all, and actually hold that knot in my slippery hair! I appreciate the sympathy and if it weren't for this updo I may have called it quits on long hair already.

Chaja-girl: I dunno, that sounds too optimistic and positive. (kidding :-))

BunnyBee
June 6th, 2010, 04:51 PM
Yeah I think it's time we had some vids where the hair doesn't look perfect every time and falls down, gets tangled, ends up in your mouth etc.. instead of the neat and effortless looking stuff you guys usually post to youtube <_<

It'd be.. Educational :D

SimplyViki
June 7th, 2010, 07:39 AM
LOL I was surprised to see this thread surface. :D I've added a few decent updos to my non-clutzy repertoire, but I'm still pretty awful at some others.

jane53
June 7th, 2010, 08:55 AM
I'm an updo klutz. And I have no excuses. I have the length needed--it's hip length--and I should have the experience--it's been long for 44 years.

But for the past several years, I've just worn it in a low ponytail.

I can also do a modified cinnamon-bee-butt with a hair stick.

And by forcing myself to learn from this site, I've learned how sort of do a lazy French twist and a figure 8 bun.

I can't French braid my hair to save my life. (did I mention that my hair is very slippery?)

I yearn to be able to do a lazy-wrap bun because they look so good on the posters here who have posted pictures of them, but all the tutorial videos I've seen for them are made by people with shorter hair than mine. The lazy-wrap is too lazy to hold all that extra hair!

I came to LHC to keep myself from cutting off my hair in disgust. I really do have healthy hair and I've had it most of my life, so it would be extreme and probably traumatic to cut it off.

I've gotten a couple of positive comments about updos I've learned here. But then one group of people at work responded with actual SHOCK when they saw my hair up. One said, "You look like a DIVA!!!"

So I'm a klutz. Not as bad as I was, but still learning with a long way to go.

buzzlegum
June 7th, 2010, 09:40 AM
Can't do an updo to save my life. I also lack some length because my longest layers are BSL when stretched, others are baaarely APL when stretched and then there are those really short ones...

Can't even do a french braid. With all those layers, I really don't know how. Messy braids might be in but when only a tiny part of your hair is really long, it gets quite problematic. Oh, and it makes my upper arms hurt. Anyone know the feeling?

SimplyViki
June 7th, 2010, 09:57 AM
Can't do an updo to save my life. I also lack some length because my longest layers are BSL when stretched, others are baaarely APL when stretched and then there are those really short ones...

Can't even do a french braid. With all those layers, I really don't know how. Messy braids might be in but when only a tiny part of your hair is really long, it gets quite problematic. Oh, and it makes my upper arms hurt. Anyone know the feeling?
(bolding mine)

Oh, yes. Definitely. My elbows get all achy from updo-practice, too. :lol: Hang in there!

YesitsReal
June 7th, 2010, 10:08 AM
I know what you mean! Every time I go into the bathroom to put forth some effort and "do my hair," I have to bring three ponytail holders, two sticks, a comb, a brush, oil, gel, and many, many prayers, because I'll go through three different failed hairstyles before I find one that looks okay and will stay there. And forget any kind of horizontal braid. They all look like I did them in a high wind. By the time I leave, I'm usually red-faced, sweating, and my arms won't extend above my shoulders anymore. :p I love crown braids, but I just don't think they're in my future.

UltraBella
June 7th, 2010, 10:18 AM
I have a mental block when it comes to buns and updos. I just learned a sock bun. That's it :(

jane53
June 7th, 2010, 10:26 AM
I have a mental block when it comes to buns and updos. I just learned a sock bun. That's it :(

I have a mental block against updos to some extent too. I could never join that thread "Wear Your Hair Up For A Month/Year."

My feeling is why HAVE long hair if you don't wear it down sometimes. Heck, a LOT of times!

And I'm not one of those people who wears my hair up during the day and then lets it tumble down in all its glory for a dear husband at night. I'm single and I live alone, and my cat doesn't really care what my hair is like.

So I wear it in a low ponytail, so its length is apparent. But I was getting sick of that and the updos really do give me variety. And I can't just let it hang free at work. There's too much of it, and I'm a professional, and I'm supposed to look like a grown-up, whatever that is.

So I'm happy to have learned my few new updos here at LHC. But I won't be wearing my hair up all the time.

emmabovary
June 7th, 2010, 10:48 AM
I'm very impractical in general, but not with updos! For some reason, it's like the only area where I manage to apply any sort of spatial intelligence. Hehe. I'm just a clutz with everything else!

jeanniet
June 7th, 2010, 11:49 AM
I belong here! I can manage a passable french twist, and a twisted bun that doesn't fall out right away, but that's about it. The other day I braided my hair and thought it felt pretty nice, but when I checked it in the mirror it looked just awful. I'm pretty sure a five year old could do better. My hair is at a difficult length now, too. A few inches longer and I might be able to manage more buns without them falling out or having hair sticking out all over.

I keep perusing youtube for simple bun ideas, but someone needs to make a "Buns for Dummies" video. :D