Help?

[Kiraela]

I seem to have forgotten how do to updos suddenly! I am so used to doing things with past-TB hair, that now that I'm almost hip again, I... I am lost. Last time my hair was this length was almost three years ago, and I didn't do that many updos then, mostly braids, and I had massive taper.

What do you do with hair this length, and iii thickness? If my hair were i or ii, I could do so much more with it, so suggestions for shorter i and iis are welcome, as well!


Thanks in advance for any help!

[EvaSimone]

The KarenLynn knot is a good one, you can find instructions in the articles section.

Not to be a shameless self promoter but I like to wear my bun, I think I called it "the stay put bun" I made a thread about it a month or two back if you want to see it.

[Kiraela]

I'll look into your stayput bun, definately.

I've not had good luck with Knots in the past, but mostly that was because the damage was so rough on the ends that it ended up as a real, true knot that took forever to untangle. I need to research them again, see if I can do something with them now.

ETA: Oh, yeah. I do something very similar to that already! It's one of the few things that stays anymore. I didn't realize it had a name, cool!

[EvaSimone]

I'll look into your stayput bun, definately.

I've not had good luck with Knots in the past, but mostly that was because the damage was so rough on the ends that it ended up as a real, true knot that took forever to untangle. I need to research them again, see if I can do something with them now.

ETA: Oh, yeah. I do something very similar to that already! It's one of the few things that stays anymore. I didn't realize it had a name, cool!

The Karen Lynn knot is less "knotty" than the stay put bun. It's more like looping the hair IMO.

:lol: I am not surprised that you did this bun. I learned the bun from an Indian girl I work with so it might be really well known. I couldn't find anything on LHC about it so I just call it "my bun" in reality it's not. :p

[klcqtee]

hm. I love twin buns! My hair is also very thick, but not yet long...anyways, my twin buns are beefier than a lot of other's single buns, so it doesn't look silly. You may have issues with looking like Princess Leia, from Star Wars.

Rose buns are pretty, and they'd be gorgeous with your colour!

[Kiraela]

That's a good idea, KLC. I hadn't thought of double buns. It will give me an excuse to use the tiny short sticks (4.5-5" long) that I couldn't use for a few years because they got lost and didn't hold, and I have done double-8s, and it looked cute. I will play around with variations of types of buns over the next few days, and see what works. Thanks!

[UncommonTart]

I want to say that my hair was about that length when I began wearing the figure eight as my almost-daily style. I see that you're a iii, and I remember how hard it can be to work with thick hair at that length. I'm still recovering my thickness after some thinning due to a health condition, but when I was between waist and hip length I had more thickness than now and was able to wear a figure eight if I used a few extra hairpins to keep the whole thing anchored to my head.

[Kiraela]

What hairpins would you reccomend? All I have at the moment are regular bobby pins, and they are just about useless! :(

[UncommonTart]

What hairpins would you reccomend? All I have at the moment are regular bobby pins, and they are just about useless! :(


For years I used plain hairpins from Sally Beauty: http://www.sallybeauty.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-SA-Site/default/Product-Scene7Popup?pid=SBS-270102

They're big enough and they come in three colors (bronze, black, and silver) to better blend in with your hair. The only problem is that I would lose them or eventually throw them away as the little plastic coating on the tips came off (which takes a long time to happen, and they are cheap, after all...) but I've recently begun using the Amish hairpins. They don't have any little plastic bits to worry about, and I'm more careful about losing them due to the comparative difficulty of getting more. (I could get more, but I can't just wander across the street to buy them, after all.)

(ETA: When I say lose them, I don't mean that they fell out, but that I'd take my hair down somewhere to re-style, or fiddle with, or whatever, and absent-mindedly leave the pins behind when I left. If you don't take them out and leave them, they're quite secure.)

I'd reccommend trying those to start with if you have a beauty supply type place near you, since they are relatively cheap and easy to procure, and hey, who doesn't love instant gratification? If you like the way they work, you might want to get some Amish pins. I think that the three inch size is what you'll want in both, for the most part, but a package of smaller (two inch, maybe) is good to have on hand when you need to tuck away those stubborn bits that just don't want to cooperate with a style.

The plastic Good Hair Days pins: http://www.goodhairdays.com/magic-grip-files/40101-new%20pack.JPG seem to me to be best for looser styles, or for "slippy" dry hair. I have some and love them for things like the Gibson Pouf, but in a sleeker, tighter style, I have more success with narrow metal pins.

Bobby pins really aren't intended for holding up updos, but for tucking back small pieces of hair. The shape is all wrong for anything else. That's why they're so feeble when you stick them in an updo. Took me years to figure that out, and now I love my mini bobbies for tucking my hair into side rolls or pinning back my "bangs." (Can you call them bangs when they're waist-length? Well, you know what I mean- the hair above my forehead.)

Hope that helps. :blossom:

[Anje]

My hair's nowhere nearly as thick as yours, but I had problems at hip, too. Inside-out/nautilus buns should work for you by now, I would think, and they're hard to grow out of.

For pins: 3" Amish pins are nice, as are thin aluminum double-pointed knitting needles bent into a U or V shape. (Pinch them a bit putting them in if you do a V.) Use both like hair forks, not like bobby pins. Personally, I'm not a fan of those pins from Sally's -- they're really flexible, and I find the stiffness of a knitting needle or amish pin holds better.

[UncommonTart]

My hair's nowhere nearly as thick as yours, but I had problems at hip, too. Inside-out/nautilus buns should work for you by now, I would think, and they're hard to grow out of.

For pins: 3" Amish pins are nice, as are thin aluminum double-pointed knitting needles bent into a U or V shape. (Pinch them a bit putting them in if you do a V.) Use both like hair forks, not like bobby pins. Personally, I'm not a fan of those pins from Sally's -- they're really flexible, and I find the stiffness of a knitting needle or amish pin holds better.

That's interesting, because even though the Amish pins work for me, I cannot use the knitting needle pins. They don't stay in- they just slip right out.

[Kiraela]

I will see what I can do as far as getting pins - I might be able to make my own amish pins, and the idea of a double ended knitting needle would be cool. I still don't own a single fork, so I don't know how it would work, though.

I can sort of do a nautilus bun, although it has enough pokey outey ends that it looks more like an inhabited nautilus, haha.

[Sheltie_Momma]

I'm watching this thread with interest since I am iii, with minimal taper and am approaching waist and still can't do the majority of the up-do's I see here....

[SheaLynne]

I'm really no help, but can relate alot to this thread right now, so thought I would chime in. :D

I'm a iii with very nearly hip length with my longest strands, but I still have some layers and taper that I fight with.

SO...here are my "go to" 'dos right now...

lazy wrap bun with a short stick (soon the short stick I love will be getting lost in there though)

cinnabun with a stick or pins

bun that stays

and today I am just barely managing an infinity bun--I could probably use some pins to hold the ends better, but instead, I've just been re-doing it every few hours...but I'm thrilled to be able to pull it off at all! w/o the layers it would probably work fairly well.

I also have Amish hairpins and I would never trade them for anything else! They are the first pins that *ever* held any of my hair where I wanted it. I have 12 each of three lengths, and I count them carefully every time I finish with them and put them back in their plastic baggies...obsessed with not losing my Amish pins! ;)

Good luck and enjoy experimenting again...

[patissegrietje]

What hairpins would you reccomend? All I have at the moment are regular bobby pins, and they are just about useless! :(

I made a 'u'-form from an old knitting pen and use it as a fork, works wonders and is the only thing i need.
It's not very decorative though ;-)

ETA: sorry, overlooked Anje's post :D