Professional Updo?

[Ramona_Fosca]

I need some help in avoiding doing the same old french twist every day...

I'll start a new job soon, it's a management position in banking, small team, but still. I've got all the qualifications for the job, however, the team is likely to be all men that are older than me and have worked there for 20 years ...

So, I need every bit of professional appearance I can manage. So far I am stuck with a french twist and a chignon.

Any ideas?

My hair is between BSL and waist, ii.

[QMacrocarpa]

I think the lazy wrap bun and the pencil bun can look quite sharp and pulled-together, and both can be done with a Ficcare-type clip if you want extra stability. My hair is shorter than yours, and I can do both (though I haven't tried using a clip for the lazy wrap).

Lazy wrap bun (one of many tutorials, this one with a Ficcare):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9PbnpqsnnM

Pencil bun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0k3dD4qX34

Keep in mind that you may not really "need" a lot of updo variety for a professional appearance. My former boss wore her long hair in the exact same updo every single workday, and always looked good. But I can understand you might want to mix things up a bit to keep yourself interested!

[torrilin]

Banking is usually pretty conservative in dress when you're at work. The only reason I'd change updos in your shoes is that my hair is fine and if I wear it in the same style every day, I am courting breakage. As long as I have 3 reasonable options for playing around, my hair does ok.

If a French twist suits you pretty well, how about a flipped cinnamon bun? Done high on the head and flipped up, it adds a touch of height, and it worked on me from BSL on. It should hold fine with most tools. I usually use a neutral fork or spin pins.

If low buns like a chignon are better, maybe an infinity bun would do?

[dulce]

Can you do a long sleek french braid with nice earrings or is long hair down a no-no in the banking world?As someone mentioned the solid coloured ficcares are so elegant and can do a lot of dos.Could you use a conservative wood fork?

[teela1978]

Folded braids look professional to me, and are very easy to do.

[BlazingHeart]

I think any of the braided buns would look great - the braiding gives an intricacy that is very attractive, but keeping it bunned keeps it 'tamed' and professional. I would stick to very neutral pieces to secure your hair, and prefer clips and forks to sticks.

~Blaze

[Madora]

@ Ramona Fosca...

Here are directions for a double braided bun that I used to wear periodically at the law office where I was a legal secretary:

1) Detangle all your hair
2) Brush it back, away from your face, like you were going to do a ponytail style
3) Make a horizontal part from the top of your left ear to the top of the right ear
4) Take all the hair ABOVE the part and braid it loosely. Secure w/hair friendly elastic
5) Coil the braid in a circle on the back of your head (nr. the crown), pinning as you go with long crimped hairpins.
6) Take all the hair BELOW the part and braid it loosely. Secure w/hair friendly elastic
7) Take the braid and wind it counterlockwise around the braided bun you have already made. Pin with long crimped hairpins. Tuck in the tassle.

Voila..a double braided bun that is secure, comfortable, and beautiful to behold!

You can also do this style with 3 braids...or with twisted strands of hair in place of the 2 braids.

[Tabitha]

Loepsie's French Antenna Braid (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_M_oSwRKfc) which Neoma :flowers: mentioned recently is very elegant-looking. I actually secured my first attempt with a narrow 2-prong fork so that is another option if you felt the antenna-effect was not projecting your desired image.

[Ramona_Fosca]

Thank you all for your ideas!!


I think the lazy wrap bun and the pencil bun can look quite sharp and pulled-together [...]

Keep in mind that you may not really "need" a lot of updo variety for a professional appearance.

Macrocarpa, the LWB used to be my favourite at about BSL length - after that, the "wrap around" part started to show through and kind of ruined the sleek look... On the other hand I've seen lots of people around LHC with longer hair manage it. I'll have to look into it again. Thank you for that suggestion!


Can you do a long sleek french braid with nice earrings or is long hair down a no-no in the banking world?

dulce, I'd rather avoid showing the length. And I always found braids will make me appear younger and more "girlish". On occasion, I make use of that, but in this particular surrounding I think I'll skip long braids.


Folded braids look professional to me, and are very easy to do.

teela, thank you for the suggestion, I will try to do a french tuck. I havent't tried in ages, let's see whether this works at my current length.


@ Ramona Fosca...

Here are directions for a double braided bun that I used to wear periodically at the law office where I was a legal secretary:


Thank you, Madora, braided buns don't really work for me. I don't know what it is about them. While I like them on other people most of the time I think they look very old-fashioned on me - and not in a good way.


Loepsie's French Antenna Braid (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_M_oSwRKfc) which Neoma :flowers: mentioned recently is very elegant-looking.
Tabitha, thank you for that link. I just spent 30 minutes on Loepsie's channel. She introduced me to the alternative sock bun a long time ago but I didn't know she had so many videos online. She is so very likeable, how does she doe that?

Back on topic: I'll certainly try and be back with pictures. This goes for the other suggestions as well, maybe you could give me some feedback on the results, than.

[Ramona_Fosca]

and both can be done with a Ficcare-type clip if you want extra stability.


As someone mentioned the solid coloured ficcares are so elegant and can do a lot of dos.

Oh, and enabling is always welcome :). Although I probably own all conservative coloured Ficcares that are currently available...

[Teufelchen]

For the LWB I do not wrap the length around the base, but instead I wrap it around my thump exactly the same way as you do it for the first round. :)

A chinese Bun with a fork instead of a stick and a braided start looks very elegant to me. Maybe you could try that as well. (I've got a pic in my album, but it is with lots of decorative pins. I would leave them out for a professional look)

Flipped Buns always look messy on my hair.

Sockbuns are ver professional looking to me. And they should work with your length. I would braid or rope braid the remaining hair and wrap it round the base. If it is loose my hair starts looking messy after a while.

[HairStickler]

I think many of the simpler buns look professional, as long as there are no ends sticking out and the hair accessories blend in with the hair. Congrats on the new job!

[C.H.]

For the LWB I do not wrap the length around the base, but instead I wrap it around my thump exactly the same way as you do it for the first round. :)

Thank you for this! I love lazy wraps, but had been struggling a bit with what to do with all the remaining length as the tutorials I'd learned from just wrapped it around the base and I felt this changed the look and/or wasn't as secure.

Anyway, I'd like to second that I find lazy wraps quite elegant and professional.

[Teufelchen]

You are welcome C.H. :flower:

[Copasetic]

I don't know the names of specific buns, but find that any bun worn lower on the head looks very professional. Especially with a side part.

[heidi w.]

All manner of braided buns are nice looking, and generally hold better than a non-braided bun. Just a few pins and tucking give this look polish.

Think about using all of the hairpins: the long ones (known technically as roller pins) the squiggly pins and the short bobby pins. Interlock these by pinning as you go and pinning kind of in a triangle or for starters until you master the triangle format, N/S/E/W such that they overlap a little.

Loosen scalp hair by pressing firmly on the top of the hair and sides and pushing foward to get just enough loosening effect.

You can decorate with ribbon, or whatever you like.

Bees Butt Bun can be pulled downward with a stick or pins stuck down the center and hold.

The thing about braiding and bunning somehow, be sure to account for the extra time spent on braiding. It takes me about 10 minutes to braid the full length of my hair and then put it up. Especially the extra time for braiding.

I am also guilty of occasionally showing to work with wet hair, that is put up.

heidi w.

[heidi w.]

I don't know the names of specific buns, but find that any bun worn lower on the head looks very professional. Especially with a side part.

Agreed. Try not to let it ride the collar as the chafing can make it messy or come undone.

heidi w.

[heidi w.]

I think many of the simpler buns look professional, as long as there are no ends sticking out and the hair accessories blend in with the hair. Congrats on the new job!

With time you can likely get away with using a stick. I have two sticks that are the same and wear them in either side of an updo to hold my hair up, and it looks kind of asian and pointy ends aren't visible.

heidi w.

[MsBubbles]

But Ramona! You are my updo Heroine/Goddess/Guru. Your updo albums are such a pleasure to view. Do most of those styles take too long?

[Ramona_Fosca]

Thank you again everybody for your suggestions! I've tried some of them this morning and wanted to share the results:



If a French twist suits you pretty well, how about a flipped cinnamon bun? Done high on the head and flipped up, it adds a touch of height, and it worked on me from BSL on. It should hold fine with most tools.

I had quite some trouble in getting this to hold - I tried with a four prong Quattro fork which usually holds everything, with crimped amish pins and and with scroos. Finally, a small Ficcare did the trick:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=884&pictureid=107832

I like it a lot! Any suggestions on how to secure it properly are welcome, though.


Folded braids look professional to me, and are very easy to do.

I tried aFrench Tuck and I don't think this is going to work. I don't have that much hair, actually, but I really don't know where to put it...

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=884&pictureid=107830



I think the lazy wrap bun and the pencil bun can look quite sharp and pulled-together, and both can be done with a Ficcare-type clip if you want extra stability.


For the LWB I do not wrap the length around the base, but instead I wrap it around my thump exactly the same way as you do it for the first round. :)

Thank you both so much! I loved the LWB so much that I had actually thought of cutting back to BSL in order to be able to do a neat LWB again... Here we go:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=884&pictureid=107831

It will work even better with another inch of hair, right now it's rather tight, but I love it! In combination with this:


any bun worn lower on the head looks very professional. Especially with a side part.

this is likely to become my go-to style besides the french twist. This is what a french twist looks like:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=884&pictureid=107833



A chinese Bun with a fork instead of a stick and a braided start looks very elegant to me.

I had dismissed chinese buns some time ago, I simply could not get them to work. Now I tried again and I rather like the results:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=884&pictureid=107834

The only trouble is I could not manage with anything shorter than 6". All my forks are about 4.5", so I couldn't use one. With anything shorter than 6" the strands always slipped over the end of the fork/ stick. Will this improve with practice? I really like the bun, but I don't think wearing a particularly long stick will work for work :)

[Teufelchen]

The fork I am using is 6" total, but it works with a 5.5" as well, as long as I clip the ends with some tiny claw clips.

I agree with you on the French Tuck. It does not look perfect this way. I never got it to work, so I cannot give any tipps.

For the fipped bun, sorry, I never get it to stay for longer than 5 minutes.

I am a hairstyle dummy, so I only use the ones I can do.

[HairStickler]

I tried aFrench Tuck and I don't think this is going to work. I don't have that much hair, actually, but I really don't know where to put it...

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=884&pictureid=107830


It's been a while since I've done one of these, but I think there is a vertical space between the scalp and the braid, right up the center back of your head, and you can snake the end of your braid in there as far as it can go.

It looks like you have a big variety of styles now. These are my favorites:



http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=884&pictureid=107831



http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=884&pictureid=107833



http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=884&pictureid=107834

The only trouble is I could not manage with anything shorter than 6". All my forks are about 4.5", so I couldn't use one. With anything shorter than 6" the strands always slipped over the end of the fork/ stick. Will this improve with practice? I really like the bun, but I don't think wearing a particularly long stick will work for work :)

It looks like you could do make that last one work with a shorter stick, with a little practice.