When will it be long enough? (super thick)

[BlazingHeart]

Waaah.

I'm at waist length/about 28", and my hair still isn't long enough to do a lazy wrap or a pencil/chopstick bun. I'm beginning to despair and wonder if I'll ever be able to do ANY buns, not to mention getting frustrated.

My hair circumference is somewhere between 5.5" and 5.8" (not sure exactly, haven't been careful enough measuring because I got that far and went "well, it's THICK"). I would love to hear from other people with really thick hair about when they were able to do buns, and what they did with their hair when it was shorter. I'm avoiding pony-based styles because I don't want to use elastics (the breakage of both hair and elastics is frustrating, not to mention the fact that I need more than two but less than three wraps for a tight pony that will hold up to being styled. That is, two is slightly loose and will just hold as a low pony at the nape, nothing higher or it falls down and out, but three I actually can't do because the elastic will snap first).

Gimmie something to look forward to, folks with really thick hair - how long did your hair have to be for bun styles, and which one could you do first?

TIA
~Blaze

[Bellona]

I have no idea, because my hair is only at BSL, but I had hope that when I got to waist it would be more hairstyle friendly! Our hair is very similar, so I am curious as well. I wish I could be more help. I hope more people comment with suggestions!

[Spring]

5.5 inches would be dream hair for me :cloud9: , but I hope someone with super thick hair will come in with some helpful suggestions.

[mrs.bad85]

I hope someone has an answer! I am at APL and to do anything other than the cinnamon bun I have to do it in 2 separate buns. I am really looking forward to doing some more interesting buns. My hair is around 5" ^_^

[gthlvrmx]

im guessing you could do separate buns on your head, it's cute? :p
Or make two braids on the back and bun those together?

[Nae]

Where is Ultrabella? She has some insanely thick hair.

[RitaCeleste]

Your hair is about as long as mine. I was able to a figure-8 bun and get a pencil in it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyc-1cT9_AE You can give it a try and see? My hair isn't that thick once I twist the poof out of it. I have to be careful not to get too much twist in the hair because that makes it too thick in spots if you know what I mean.

[SheaLynne]

Mine is only 4.5 inch circ, and I was able to manage most basic one-stick updos by hip. Waist I could do some, so you're not that far away with the added thickness. Definitely try some double updos for now, and braids?

[Rocket22]

Wow I can't even imagine what hair that thick is like!!! I guess with every hair thickness and texture there are pros and cons. My hair is fine and thin and I could only dream of hair that thick. I never knew people with thick hair had to have it extra long to put it in a bun or just up somehow.. my thin fine hair rolls up into nothing pretty easily and something I never thought of before.

[Roseate]

I still can't do the lazy wrap with all my hair, but the pencil bun (this variation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0k3dD4qX34)) was my first one-stick, one-strand hairstyle. Just make sure you only wrap the hair around one finger, rather than around your whole hand like she does in the video, and make it super tight! It will loosen a little once you poke the stick in.

Otherwise, divided styles are best for me; a multi-strand cinnabun, or I'll do a half-up lazy wrap and then take the bottom half of my hair and coil it around the outside. Or just do two of whatever bun, one above the other. This avoids having to deal with all my hair at once. Divide and conquer!

[torrilin]

Your hair is about as long as mine. I was able to a figure-8 bun and get a pencil in it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyc-1cT9_AE You can give it a try and see? My hair isn't that thick once I twist the poof out of it. I have to be careful not to get too much twist in the hair because that makes it too thick in spots if you know what I mean.

As a ii, you're somewhere between 2" and 4" of thickness. The original poster is dealing with between 5 and 6 inches of thickness, so depending on where you fall in the ii classification, she's got a helluva lot more circumference than you... and that seriously affects the styles she can do.

[RitaCeleste]

As a ii, you're somewhere between 2" and 4" of thickness. The original poster is dealing with between 5 and 6 inches of thickness, so depending on where you fall in the ii classification, she's got a helluva lot more circumference than you... and that seriously affects the styles she can do.
I can see that now, sorry. When my hair was thicker, I didn't wear updo's. While its a ii now, its been thinned and thinned some more. Something I really don't recommend, thinning. I'm getting thicker but I have a way to go before I'm thick again.

[Anje]

Wow, your thickness is on par with Igor's... If you don't get taper, frankly, it'll take quite a bit of length, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. (On the other hand, if it doesn't taper, you could manage to grow some seriously epic hair!)

Wear braids, wear double buns, that sort of thing. Wish I could offer more help, but you've got something like 5x the hair I have.

[Sundial]

You have about 1" on me but you can try wrapping around just 1 finger for the Lazy Wrap Bun. I know most YouTube videos wrap around 3 or 4 fingers but you can tweak it a little to suit yourself. I could do the LWB by wrapping around 1 finger when my length was BSL. Yours is thicker but you may be able to do it at waist.

Otherwise, you can section your half into 2 and create a half-up LWB before pinning the rest of the hair around the half-up bun.

Hope something works out for you!

[Madora]

Here's a pic of my long, very thick hair from the late 1980s:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=6554&pictureid=87275

I started doing buns about an inch past mid back. I don't know which one I did first..but I do remember that I always sectioned my bun, it was never in one clump because it was heavy, unwieldly and too much of a mass on the back of my head if I wore it that way.

Mr. Michael stressed that the secret to successful hairstyling was to section it properly. There are many ways to section and all you need to do is find one that works best for you.

Sectioning the hair makes it much more comfortable to wear all day (and easier to pin) and distributes the weight nicely. Although I did use ponytails in the distant past, I rarely, if ever, do that now.

I have several braided buns that I use from time to time, all done on the sectioning principle. I use 3 inch crimped hairpins to hold everything in place and they work well.

If you are looking for hairstyle ideas, please drop me a line! I'm strictly a braid nut because braids lend themselves to more interesting, intriguing possibilities.

[BlazingHeart]

Thanks for the suggestions, folks!

I still need another 1/4 to 1/2 twist to do even a single-finger lazy wrap bun. Right now, I can just barely get my ends to the tip of the finger stuck through the wrap, so I haven't got enough to anchor itself.

Sadly, braided styles aren't possible for me when my fiance isn't around to help. I've had a bunch of shoulder injuries, so I can't hold my left arm up like that long enough to braid. I'm still working on teaching him to braid.

A sectioned cinnabun is the only thing I've gotten to hold, and I'm still...working on that. Getting things to stay put is hard because my hair is relatively slick. I will have to try more sectioned buns. It didn't really occur to me to try sectioning other buns, but it totally makes sense.

Madora, I'll take you up on that! I'm getting frustrated and tired of always having my hair up in a peacock twist because it's the only thing I can reliably do that gets my hair off of me!

~Blaze

Edited to add: Anje, I have extremely little taper, which gives me a very thick hemline. A rough attempt at measuring just above where my annoying layers (from growing out a very short cut) suggests that I've lost just over 25% at midback. And that's all pre-LHC hair, which includes rought towelling/ruffling to dry it - now that I have better habits, I suspect the taper will reduce slowly. So epic hair is definitely a possibility for me (which is part of what has me tempted to grow to terminal length - I want to know where it is!)

[Sewas]

My ponytail is 4.5, just above waist and very coarse, heavy, and slippery. I do basic buns held up with medium size claws most of the time. I used to be able to make figure 8 buns when my hair was shorter...but now they keep collapsing. My hairsticks slip out most of the time even when following the proper instructions of weaving them in. I recommend trying a braided bun using either one or two braids. With long thick hair, they usually turn out so pretty. I use several small decorated claws. Also the hairsticks work very well with a braided bun. I understand the despair you feel. I also try and try to do various buns but wind up taking them down, trying again, taking it down, trying again, etc. Sometimes one will work!

[MeganE]

I practice doing buns with half my hair at a time, and wear double buns quite often. Other than that... it's just a waiting game. My hair isn't as thick as yours, and it frustrates me not being able to do buns, so I'm sure it's even harder for you. Your buns will be absolutely glorious when you fully grow into them, though!! With hair that thick, and that little taper, your terminal length could be... well past floor.

[SpeakingEZ]

Could you try twisting it upwards and clipping it with a large ficcare or a jaw clamp? I don't have thick hair, but those would be the things I'd do if I couldn't braid.

[UltraBella]

BlazingHeart, I am going to be honest with you, I was still having bun issues at TBL.
I have 5.9" circumference without my bangs. The bulk of my hair would just eat up my length. I would watch bun tutorials on YouTube for hours and then try them all. Most didn't work. Many probably would have - had I sectioned my hair and made at least two buns.
I admit, I kind of gave up. I have a very basic grasp of buns. And now I cut my hair, so most buns are impossible. Everyone here was so helpful though, and YouTube was much appreciated.
Good luck !!

[BlazingHeart]

I was afraid you'd say something like that, UltraBella. I know I'll never be able to do the really complex buns with all of my hair in one go, but hopefully with some work I can at least do the basic ones!

As I sit here, I actually have my hair in a 2-stranded cinnabun. I was inspired by all the comments I got here to try again (this time, with my brand new fork that just arrived today, a Baerreis Finny, and there's a bent double-pointed knitting needle pin holding the core of the bun).

SpeakingEZ, that would be the peacock twist I mentioned in my last post. I do that almost every day, because I have to get my hair up or I risk fainting from the heat (literally - it's very embarassing).

MeganE, I think if my hair gets that long, I'm probably going to keep it at ankle-length. I don't need hair I can step on or trip on easily, not to mention I'm a bit afraid of how much it will weigh then, and where would I PUT all of it?!

*sigh* Ah well. Patience, Blaze, have patience. And do more work with divided/stranded versions of buns.

[Sewas]

I recommended braided buns earlier but forgot to mention that I also have trouble holding my arms up for intricate hairstyles or braiding. (old age) However I just do two or three crossovers on my braid then I bring all my hair over my shoulder so I can continue braiding. Sometimes the braid will get off-kilter...but once you start coiling into a bun, it is not noticeable. Good luck.

[Alaia]

BlazingHeart if you're going to go for terminal, I'd bet that by the time you're at terminal, you'll be able to do all of the styles you want to ;)

Don't have any advice to add, you've already got some great advice in the thread. You've got 1.5" thickness on me, and I'm having enough trouble doing updos at nearly waist length :lol:

[pink.sara]

My hair is now APL but I'll chip in as it was waist or longer for many years with a 5.5-6 inch circumference (just under 6 after I grew out my fringe.)
I found pretty much any bun difficult and most impossible until my hair got to 36 inches, but even then it is so straight, heavy (man is it heavy) and silky I could never hold with just a fork or sticks.
So I used to cheat. :rolleyes:
You know how you buy a pack of 10 hair elastics and a few stretch more than others? Use those 2 or 3! I used to make a pony, then make a bun as it gave me a solid base to wind around and also I would poke my sticks behind the elastics for a good hold.
Without using elastics I bought Goody Spin pins and used about 10 per bun to hold, like, I would do a bun, use decorative chopsticks, then spin in pins from all directions to provide the actual hold! They are pretty much invisible and were a must in my hair taming arsenal ;)
And I second divide and conquer all my daily go to buns involved dividing my hair into 2 and winding in opposite directions so it kind of interlocked.
Also I used to lie on my bed with my hair hanging over the edge to practise buns, that way the weight of it doesn't kill your arms and shoulders so much.

Good luck with your buns :)

[Nenyath]

There's another trick you might use to at least get some of your hair up, it's not the same, but it's something! Sometimes I make a high pony and then separate the hair into two sections horizontally. The upper section I lazy wrap, making sure to "anchor" it to the hair tie with the stick or flexi8, the rest I let hang loose in a pony, braid or rope braid.. You can make many variations to this and many types of buns, braided or not :p

[Amelia]

I'm at waist now and i still can't do most of them.My personal revenge on buns is braids.. *grumpf*

[Joliebaby]

Well, I could only do a messy cinnabun type bun at 30". I can only commiserate, I have no idea at what length I could have done figure 8's or nautilus or lazy wrap and all the other ones people talk about.
Thing is, I don't think I want longer than hip length hair, so I'm growing my hair back and hoping that I can do something with it at hip.
I mostly wore my hair down at waist..

[blueygirls]

Hi,

Please don't mind my sillyness. I have about 5.3" circumference excluding my bangs. My hair is now just past my shoulders. I wanted to grow it long so i could try more styles.. when i saw long i meant like waist or BSL.. Why can't you do styles with thick hair? It won't hold or?

[torrilin]

Huh. That actually gives me an idea for how to work out when your hair will do some styles.

It takes 1.5-2 full coils of a cinnamon bun for me to do a figure 8 bun or flipped cinnabun. Since my hair is so much thinner than Joliebaby's and Ultrabella's, that means those styles start to kick in at BSL (say, 27"?), tho they do not get stable until around elbow/waist length. My circumference is about 3", so my ponytail diameter is a bit less than 1". A single coil of cinnabun tho is not the 2" you'd expect from my ponytail diameter but more like 3". There is space eaten up in the center of the coil. That means the outer measurement of the first coil is about 9". With taper, two full coils measures about 5" in diameter (and takes up around 32" of hair... I can't quite see how to work out how my hair shortens as I twist it), which gives me about 15" to get a third coil... somewhere in that third coil is where I expect Gibraltar buns to start working.

(all circle measurements above are quick and dirty ones where pi=3... spirals are not precisely circles, and hair is not a geometric ideal anyway, so the numbers I'm giving would be the bare minimum possible on MY hair. most likely even my hair would take rather more length than my estimates suggest)

And yes, a single coil of cinnabun is always pretty messy on me too.

This suggests to me that for someone with 6" circumference, 2-3 sections stuffed into various cinnabun/vortex bun variants should be pretty useful around 28". I hit elbow at 32", but a solid looks like waist would take more like 34-36"... that's something else a thick haired person would have to watch. A 3" circumference at 36" is obviously going to have more options than 6" at 28".

[JuliaDancer]

Hi,

Please don't mind my sillyness. I have about 5.3" circumference excluding my bangs. My hair is now just past my shoulders. I wanted to grow it long so i could try more styles.. when i saw long i meant like waist or BSL.. Why can't you do styles with thick hair? It won't hold or?

Think of thin hair as a spaghetti noodle, and think of putting it on a table and making a flat circle by spiraling it around itself. It will go around itself many many times before you run out of noodle. Now imagine having a sausage the same length as the spaghetti and spiraling it into a circle. Even if it was as limp as the noodle, it will only go around itself a few times until it runs out of length. The thick diameter when you twist the hair prevents thick hair from making as many turns around a bun as thin hair.

[chopandchange]

My circumference is somewhere between 5 and 6 inches and I had the same issues as you at that length. I couldn't do any buns at all, and was always baffled to see how effortlessly everyone else seemed to manage.

At TBL, I can now do buns of the "wrapping" variety (Lazy Wrap, Pencil Bun) but the coiling ones (cinnabun, Chinese bun) still evade me. I don't want to faff around doing two buns instead of one, or doing multiple coils. I just want something simple and quick, and thankfully at this length I can do both the two I've mentioned.

There's a mathematical explanation for why thicker hair can't be coiled round as many times as thin hair can. I can see a diagram in my head, but can't really put it into words very well. I'll give it a shot. It is because, since our hair is thicker, the greater width of the strand you're coiling means that the circumference of the spiral you're creating gets wider very fast. Hence, the hair has further to travel round each time, and you can't wrap it around as many times as the thin-haired people do. (Edit: oops. I see too late that JuliaDancer already explained this. Sorry for repeating what's already been said). Someone whose hair is the same length as mine but much thinner may be able to do a cinnabun with, say, seven coils. I might only manage three. Hence, the bun will be looser, and unwind itself more easily. "Coiling" buns are still pretty useless on my hair at this length. Also, our hair weighs more, so buns are more likely to drag themselves down and fall out. It's hard to find a style that stays put.

Oh well! Look on the bright side. All the more incentive to grow our hair massively long and be able to do all those styles most people with WL hair take for granted! ;)

[SpeakingEZ]

Think of thin hair as a spaghetti noodle, and think of putting it on a table and making a flat circle by spiraling it around itself. It will go around itself many many times before you run out of noodle. Now imagine having a sausage the same length as the spaghetti and spiraling it into a circle. Even if it was as limp as the noodle, it will only go around itself a few times until it runs out of length. The thick diameter when you twist the hair prevents thick hair from making as many turns around a bun as thin hair.

That was an awesome analogy!

[pink.sara]

Hahaha, noodles and sausages! Brilliant :D