Newbie needing a lot of help for UDPOS

[jennepea]

Hi everyone!

I've finally decided to start a new thread because I'm desperate! I have hair that's a little past BSL. I don't know what to do with it: I usually wear it down or just bread it. But I know it's safer for the hair to be in an updo.

Here comes my problem. I'm SO bad at updos or any hairstyles for that matters. I look up tutorials on YouTube and even though they seem really easy, I fail at the simplest buns, like the Nautilus.

I don't have pins or anything, but I might use a pencil, right? I don't know how to use the pencil to fix the bun, it's always a mess and the bun disappears in a few seconds... It makes me so angry. I feel so stupid with my useless hands :mad:

Any tips that could help me learn? Any great videos, basic tips? Should I invest in clips?

I could never have been a hairdresser, that's for sure :rolleyes:

Thanks in advance!

[jennepea]

Since I can't edit my posts, sorry for the mistakes/typos. I meant "braid" of course, not "bread". And sorry, English is not my first language, hope you won't mind :)

[Pierre]

Oh don't feel distressed and in pain about your typo :D

I've never gotten a hairstick to work. I wear Flexis all the time (except of course when washing my hair); they hold tight for days. Another good hairtoy is the hairscroo or spin pin.

[moxamoll]

It's all about practice, practice, practice. I can braid my own hair now easily, but that's only after hours and hours of practice. :) Sometimes I thought my arms would fall off before I figured it out. Good luck and keep at it!

[jeanniet]

It does take practice. It took me a while to be able to do any kind of bun, and at the beginning they were always too tight. Try a pencil bun--that's about a simple as it gets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0k3dD4qX34 Basically you make a ponytail, lay it over your hand (or two fingers if your hair is thick) and twist your hand down and to the right (or left) and up, rotating your wrist. When you put the stick in, poke it straight down to the scalp and then turn and go under the bun and out the other side. It helps if you practice the hand motion first, so you understand how it works.

Or try a wrapped stick bun--FrannyG has a great video that's very easy to follow: http://www.frannyslonghairstyles.com/apps/videos/videos/show/9396075-wrapped-hairstick-bun-updo. Then just practice until you get it! :)

[Violettwin]

Oh don't feel distressed and in pain about your typo :D

I've never gotten a hairstick to work. I wear Flexis all the time (except of course when washing my hair); they hold tight for days. Another good hairtoy is the hairscroo or spin pin.

I've never heard of a flexi so I googled it & found myself on the website - they are so pretty! I think i'll be dropping some hints for christmas....:cheese:

[thelittlestdoc]

I'm definitely in a similar position. I'm not great with anything but various types of braids and my hair is a few inches past BSL with layers to about an inch above BSL.

It's taking a lot of practice, but I'm slowly building up different styles. I recommend a cinnabun or two small cinnabuns (low and behind the ears) to start with. They're super easy (basically you just twist the hair and then coil the hair around in a circle). They also give nice curls the next day if you put your hair up when it's still damp.

[Alvrodul]

Practice! You need to practice a lot!!
There are a number of updos that are fairly simple - like the chinese bun. But any updo requires practice for a good result! I would recommend the Updo of the Month threads - they are inspirational, yet they will also deliver a gentle kick to your backside when it comes to handling your hair.
And don't get discouraged if you can't do the styles you like at once. Practice makes perfect. which means you need a lot of practice!!!:p

[Madora]

jennepea, you might try learning how to do a French braid down the center of your head. Torrin Paige has several very good tutorials on You Tube. You can also check out the Hairstyling ideas by clicking on the "Articles" tab in the grey menu bar (above).

Here is an idea for a simple bun:

You will need: one elastic ponytail holder with no metal on it
several long crimped hair pins
a wide tooth comb

Begin by detangling your hair with a wide tooth comb. Go slowly, starting from the ends of the hair and working up to the scalp, little by little, until all your hair is detangled.

Now comb back all your hair into a ponytail. Place the ponytail in the middle of the back of your head.

Take a small piece of hair and wrap it around the ponytail base to hide it. Use small hairpins to pin it in place.

Gently comb the ponytail so that it is smooth and there are no tangles.

Divide the ponytail in two parts.

Take one part and gently twist it all the way to the end.

Holding the twisted hair (not too tightly!) bring it up to the RIGHT and around the ponytail base. Pin it with pins at the north, south, east and west directions.

Take the remaining hair, twist it gently, then bring it up and to the LEFT and around the ponytail base. Pin it securely all the way around.

Et voila...a cinnamon bun.

It is sometimes simpler to section your hair to create a bun than to put it all in one large bunch. Wearing your hair sectioned also makes it more comfortable because the weight of your hair is evenly distributed on your head.

WHERE you place the bun also can make a difference.

Special note: since you are not used to wearing your hair up, it might take time for your hair follicles to become used to being pulled in a different direction. If you find your scalp hurts after wearing a bun, just keep experimenting by wearing the bun for short periods of time. Work your way up to wearing the bun for longer periods of time.

And be sure not to pull back that ponytail too tightly! Tight ponytails are bad for your hair.

You should be able to put at least 2 fingers between the ponytail holder and your scalp.

Bonne chance!

[Carina]

Search on You Tube for the updo you want to learn.
But remember to be patient and let it take time :flower:.

[Purdy Bear]

As others have said theres a lot of tutorials on You Tube. If you search for hair updos it should bring them up. A lot of the updos can be used for short hair as well as the very long, you just need to try them out.

Heres one I found for short/medium hair:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIvoQizL80A

I love Torrin Paige's tutorials, although she has TBL hair, her instructions are so easy to follow and Im sure can be adapted for shorter hair:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kOyGD_KOoA

[jennepea]

Thank you all so much for your advice! I know practice is necessary, but I have to learn to be patient and not to give up after three times, lol. Thank you again!!! :)

[Peggy E.]

Since I can't edit my posts, sorry for the mistakes/typos. I meant "braid" of course, not "bread". And sorry, English is not my first language, hope you won't mind :)


Hey, your English beats the daylights outta my French! If it's not in "Carmen" or some French aria, forget it - and I'll bet 'ya dollar to donuts, my pronunciation stinks, too! We all knew you meant "braid."

As with all things worth doing, anything new requires practice. Some people have a natural affinity, and the necessary dexterity, to easily pick up hair styling. Just look at some of the drop-dead amazing braids some of the members do here - then look at mine and you get an example of how not everyone has that special skill.

Wearing your hair up is not necessarily all that safe for it, but it does keep it from being windblown, combed throughout the day, played with, etc. If what you're wanting is a way to protect your hair, not necessarily the desire to learn to do updos, I have a suggestion: Topsy Tail!

This little device is not 100% necessary to create the pull-through styles, but it makes it infinitely easier and allows you to make some complicated-appearing styles with ease. I use mine almost every day and it's the foundation of a lot of updos.

Even if you put your hair in the pony tail, then pulled through the topsy tail and called it a day, you would be protecting your hair while placing it in the world's easiest "updo!"

Just a quick suggestion. I wear my hair up every day and, believe me, no hair dressing academy would ever have allowed me into their hallowed halls for fear of what I'd do to their notable reputation!

FWIW, I practiced the French braid for years - honest-to-God - before I finally figured it out. Like something just clicked and I got it! Took a lot of frustrating work, though, but it was something I really wanted to learn, so I kept plugging away at it until I got it.

Same way I finally learned to do tatting - nothing but knots, knots, knots driving me insane and then, *PRESTO!* it slipped into lace!

Of course, what can be seen as one person's perseverance may just as easily be taken as an obsession by another....

Good luck - keep working at it and you WILL pick up the skills you need to create lovely styles for your gorgeous hair!

[RitaPG]

LilithMoon on youtube has a lot of versatile hairstyles, they work for several lengths and look so, so pretty ^^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1ylR8NHde0&list=PL57E46FE17AAF0508&index=9

As others have nentioned, it's all about practice. A couple years ago I couldn't even make an English braid, and now I do all sorts of funky styles ^^

[shikara]

Sometimes a bun may not work out how it was supposed to look, but it may still be a good look, and it's still protecting your hair! Messy buns allow for a lot of freedom - there is a wonderful selection of ideas in the articles section (one article, 20 updos).

[heidi w.]

For me, for the longest time, til I learned how to use a hairstick, which a pencil is effectively although not as pretty an item in the hair as a decorative tipped hairstick, I had to pin-as-I-go winding the hair in an updo.

For starters, I recommend purchasing a supply of hairpins, the regular sized bobbypins, the long hairpins which are technically known as roller pins, the long bobby pins (as another way of describing them), and then hairpins, the kind of u-shaped with some squiggles on the sides of the pin.

Each pin type has different applications. When my hair was shorter, bobby pins worked, but as my hair gained length, and thereby when coiled up is quite thick, the longer bobbypins had to be used.

I recommend you focus on one updo at a time, not plan to learn 5 updos in one day. Get that updo down, wearing for a while relatively constantly, and then work on the next one. I find working in a mirror confusing, and do my updos blind (no looking).

Most updos begin with a ponytail and to help, and as a kind of starter-kit step, you can band the ponytail and proceed with the rest of the updo.

Pin as you go, the first spiral of hair for creating a regular ole bun, pin 4 long hairpins such that they're positioned, effectively, North/South/East/West, and interlock under the spiral of hair at the tips and a little more than the tip. Then the next swirl of hair, add in more pins clicking in with the pins already established, etc. Proceed to create an interlocking network of hairpins.

After some extended time, you won't need all that many pins, but for starters, that's the way to proceed. Most try to put the hair in an updo and then pin it entirely in place at the end, and then wonder why stuff falls out during the day. That's why, because the core of the weight of the hair is not secured up and with some scalp hair clipped in for hold as well. If you clip the bun not attached to associated scalp skin hair, the whole bun, if well-pinned, will fall out in a clump. It'll just fall down.

This is what I recommend to most newbies to updos. Pin as you go and tie off the ponytail for starters. And get good at one updo at a time. You'll get it. It just takes practice, and patience.

You can do braided buns by braiding the hair first, and then coiling into a bun. It looks attractive on most people. Give it a try!

Eventually you can graduate to ficcare clips and the like.

I wish you all the best, and hopefully I've been of some help,
heidi w.

[Maraz]

The one Madora posted is the only one I've been able to get to work so far. Fortunately, it looks very nice, so I'm happy!

[heidi w.]

Thank you all so much for your advice! I know practice is necessary, but I have to learn to be patient and not to give up after three times, lol. Thank you again!!! :)

Most new updos took me far more than 3 times of practice to master.

With additional gained length, you will tweak the how-to of a given updo, and some updos may no longer be possible. For example, at my length, a French Twist is relatively difficult. But I do a kind of twisted French Twist, and it works, and looks nice on occasion.

heidi w.

[jennepea]

You girls are awesome! THANK YOU :) I will definitely follow your advice and hopefully will make some progress in the coming weeks. I'll keep you posted! You've all been a great help!

[Avaya]

I second the YouTube advice. I have learned a lot of updos from there. :)

[pepperminttea]

Here's a vid (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWf4ElyLAAE) of Torrin's on the basics of using a hairstick. Pencils are a great place to start, just make sure it's smooth to the touch and you're good to go. :D

And here's some styles for your length to get you started, sorry if they've already been linked.
Lazy wrap bun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTt771qkO24) - Habioku's channel incidentally has a lot of pretty styles that might work for you. :)
French twist (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxuGpnAXX6c) - This is with a flexi-8, but you can secure it with sticks, ficcares, forks, or pins.If you want to try out a flexi, try twisting a hair elastic once to form a figure 8, and then using it with a pencil as the stick. I pretty much lived in this style at BSL (with a whole lot of layers).
Cinnamon bun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMfwBQxunmw) - This is on much longer hair, but the basic concept is shown well. You can use sticks, forks, ficcares, or pins for this depending on your preference.

Good luck! If in doubt, just keep practising, it gets easier. :)