Bun Ideas for APL-BSL hair?

[mallorykay13]

So I have air that is about halfway between APL and BSL and the only stick bun that I can get to work with my hair is a cinnabun. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Sundial]

If you can do a cinnamon bun, you can probably try the flipped cinnamon bun. The seashell bun might also work. Split bun, lazy wrap bun (not sure if you need more length for this), pencil bun should be fine too

[Apple_Betty]

Mine is at BSL and I can do an infinity bun, and a chinese bun. You can find tutorials for both on youtube. :)

[kellinaturalmom]

So I have air that is about halfway between APL and BSL and the only stick bun that I can get to work with my hair is a cinnabun. Anyone have any suggestions?


I wish I had suggestions for you! My hair is about that length, a little shorter, and I pretty much wear a ponytail everyday. I have tried doing different buns (chinese bun, sock bun, some other bun I don't remember) but my hair falls down. It's just too short or fine. I had a psychotic moment earlier today and ordered 5 flexi-8's online. I can't believe I spent that much money!!! (It was buy 4 get one free, though!) Hopefully they will work out and give me more options for updos.

[mallorykay13]

I wish I had suggestions for you! My hair is about that length, a little shorter, and I pretty much wear a ponytail everyday. I have tried doing different buns (chinese bun, sock bun, some other bun I don't remember) but my hair falls down. It's just too short or fine. I had a psychotic moment earlier today and ordered 5 flexi-8's online. I can't believe I spent that much money!!! (It was buy 4 get one free, though!) Hopefully they will work out and give me more options for updos.

How much were they? If you dont want one I will buy one off of you! You should PM me.

[kellinaturalmom]

How much were they? If you dont want one I will buy one off of you! You should PM me.


Here's the link. http://www.flexi8.com/ I bought 2 mini's, 1 ex small, and 2 smalls. I'll get back to you about buying one, I have never even worn one before! What about you?

[Tabihito]

You might be able to do a modified nautilus bun, depending on how tight you do it. You just leave out wrapping the excess tail around the base. Your hair's thicker than mine though, and a little shorter (I'm an inch from BSL...). It might work. If not, it should pretty soon.

Also, I'm not sure if it has a name, but I do this bun-thing. I twist it like a bee-butt, but instead of each layer going under the last, they go on top of them. You sorta have to hold it there, and then I flip it so that the top layer is closest to my scalp and then put the stick in. It holds quite well, actually.

[mallorykay13]

Here's the link. http://www.flexi8.com/ I bought 2 mini's, 1 ex small, and 2 smalls. I'll get back to you about buying one, I have never even worn one before! What about you?

Never worn one either! Keep me posted!

[torrilin]

I've seen some posters with ii thickness get the pencil/nautilus/lazy wrap bun to work on fairly short hair, like shoulder length or shorter. My hair just laughs at the idea. Fine and a 3" circumference and slippery are not a nice combo.

The buns I use most often are cinnamon bun and knot bun variants. With the way I make a cinnamon bun, a figure-8 bun is juuuuuuuust doable at BSL (say, 26"). For whatever reason, an infinity (the horizontal version of the figure-8) takes more length and is still not stable at around waist, so call it 32". Up and down flipped cinnabuns worked starting around BSL, tho sometimes I find I have to twist my hair the opposite direction from normal to get them to hold. A plain knot bun (take hair, tie in a knot like you'd use to start off tying your shoes, pin in place) worked starting at BSL. A Celtic Knot (take hair, tie a slip knot, pin in place) has just started to work.

I usually get through the trudge from shoulder to BSL by alternating cinnmon buns, ponytails and single braids.

[mallorykay13]

Blech. There is nothing but cinnabuns in my future it feels like.

[Patty lou]

What about a Sock Bun.


Patty lou

[dmarie63]

What about a Sock Bun.


Patty lou

I just did a sock bun for the first time (successfully, anyway lol) and I LOVE it!! I'll be doing this often!! It makes my hair look sooo much thicker and smoother! I love it! And then I twisted the ends around the elastic so I feel like that protects them. I definitely recommend this bun for those of us with shorter hair and want to pretend that it's longer lol

[HappyMuser]

You should try a Cameo bun! It's easy and you can do it if your hair is long enough to to a cinnamon bun :)

[MinderMutsig]

I don't understand how some of you are able to do a cinnamon bun but not a lazy wrap? A lazy wrap takes waaaaay less length. I have been able to do a lazy wrap when my hair was just above APL but I still can't do a cinnamon bun because my hair doesn't even come full circle yet. Especially not when twisted, and you need to twist to get a cinnamon bun.

I know all those lazy wrap tutorials say to wrap the hair around 2,3 or more fingers but if you do it around just the tip of your index finger and then as you go around, lift the index slightly to make room for the remaining tail (read: just the very ends) that just went around the tip of your thumb, it should work. I also stab the hair stick not just through the holes where my fingers were, but also through the coil near my scalp. In the beginning I needed 2 hair sticks to get it to hold but I can manage with one now except on days when my hair is exceptionally wurly.

I really dislike the sockbun because you need elastics to hold the hair. My fine hair hates elastics. The temporary big bun just isn't worth the halo of broken hairs to me.

[Juanita]

Hair forks hold better than sticks too.

[QMacrocarpa]

You can use an "elastic slide" (a hairstick (not-too-long works best) plus an elastic) to hold a folded braid in place on the back of your head. The hairstick goes horizontally through the scalp hair behind the braid, and the elastic is looped around both ends of the stick, holding the folded braid in place. I find this quite stable and use it frequently, along with lazy wrap buns and pencil buns (my hair is APL-ish).

To stabilize a stick-secured pencil bun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0k3dD4qX34) a bit more, I find it helps to weave the stick through scalp hair and bun hair an extra time. For an extra stable pencil bun, I use this sort of Ficcare-type clip (http://www.nickashop.com/hair/accessory/hair-accessory/pinccat-01/hair-pin/p089.html) instead of a stick (and I find no extra weaving is required with the clip).

If a lazy wrap seems just barely possible, but you're worried about it not staying in place, I'm not above sticking in a couple of spin pins to help stabilize it. You can also use a clip to secure a lazy wrap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9PbnpqsnnM), but I haven't tried that myself.

If you don't mind using an elastic to anchor your starting ponytail, the Cheaters' Easy Hairstick bun (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=25145) is also terrifically stable. I don't use this as much as I used to, now that I can do the pencil and lazy wraps, but the other night at an English Country dance I wasn't sure my stick-secured pencil bun would be up to the challenge of a holding through a dance with a lot of skipping, so I switched to the Cheaters' Easy HS bun and it didn't budge.