Sock bun?

[XOXO555]

I just can't get my sock bun to work! It just ends up too loose and big which means it won't stay up for more than a couple of minutes :rolleyes: What am I doing wrong? How do I get it to become "tighter"?
Right now I'm starting with quite a high ponytail and rolling all my hair into the bun (so that I don't have a tail left that I have to deal with). But once I near my head with the bun I usually have a lot of extra hair, sort of like this: () if the bottom of the brackets are my scalp and the top where the bun is...
Help?

[einna]

I have the same problem, hopefully we can get some good advice! I would really like to make a good sockbun. One thing I will try is making two smaller sock buns as practice. I am thinking it might be easier because there will be less hair to deal with?

[Torrin Paige]

So far as I know, there are two ways to go about a sock bun. The first is the pinless way, like Loepsie shows here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I13J7ArHTkM&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLF730A0984B5563E8 Or, you can use a bit of a bigger sock and just braid the remaining hair to wrap around it like I do here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcTLnOvOEyw

I happen to love Loepsie's version, but my hair is so danged long that it ends up eating my entire head. :) However, it did hold very very well, even with my heavy hair. I usually opt for the braided version, however, simply because it's easier. It only takes one pin to hold the wrapped braid, BTW. Or a hairstick or two if you'd rather.

[Kelikea]

What kind of sock are you using?

[Idjit]

Sorry, I don't have any advice but I will be watching this thread since I can't make a sock bun to save my life. I like the idea of a rolled sock bun but my hair just will not be rolled up.

Just letting you know I feel your pain.

[ruffian]

I have always had problems with sock buns. I can make them look right, but they always feel “wobbly” and don’t stay nice looking for very long. For what it’s worth, I figured out a way to make a “fake” sock bun that does not require any “rolling” of the hair…it works for me, but I don’t know how popular it might be around here.
This is what I do (requires a few pins, including a spin pin or two):

-Make a ponytail, wherever you want the bun to be on your head. Secure with an elastic/ponytail holder.

-Take your (already rolled) sock/donut/whatever you’re using to form the bun (I find the bigger the better, maybe even two socks rolled together, since you won't have the added bulk of hair rolled around it), stick your entire ponytail through the hole, and slide it all the way up to your head. You now have a sock on your head with a ponytail sticking out.

-Bend over, so that your hair falls over the sock, and move the hair around so that it covers the entire sock.

-Take another elastic/ponytail holder, and put it around the whole sock, hair and all, so that it holds it all together at the base of your ponytail. You now have a pseudo-sock bun with lots of hair/ends sticking out under the base.

-To deal with these, what I do is this: with one hand, I take the ends, strand by strand, and pull them back over the bun, into the center (moving them strategically to cover up any part of the sock that is still exposed); and with my other hand I hold them snugly in the center of the bun. When all the ends are collected into the center, I take a spin pin and auger it right into the center of the bun, trying to catch all the ends so that they get pulled into the bun. (Sometimes I need two, in case any ends escaped, but don’t worry - if you use the small spin pins they disappear into the bun and remain completely hidden.

-If your hair is longer, don’t try to force all your hair into the center of the bun; just layer it back over the bun once, spin pin in in the center, and take the remaining ends and wrap them around the base of the bun and pin with a bobby pin if necessary.

Anyway, that’s what I do; I know the instructions are really convoluted, but it’s really simpler than I made it seem. The result, depending on your patience, can be a neat-looking sock bun that looks exactly like a regular one; or a slightly “messy” sock bun that’s still big and billowy, but doesn’t look quite so prim and proper (you can leave some ends sticking out for extra "mess"). Like I said, I don’t know if anybody else will find this method appealing, but I find, for me, anyway, it produces a more stable bun.

[QMacrocarpa]

I read that it sometimes helps to do the rolling part just around a short segment of the doughnut, and once you've rolled all the way, THEN distribute the hair around the sock to cover it. With very slippery hair (not something I have personal experience with), I understand it can help to tuck the hair into the free edge of the sock before you start rolling. For that you'd need a sock made from a rolled stretchy tube, not a commercial bun-form thingie.

To decrease the floppy feeling, I use some spin pins around the base of my sock bun, though I actually haven't done one in a while.

[Kizuna]

When I first tried a sock bun my sock was too big. The hole was too big and the hair didn't fasten. When I changed to a smaller and tighter sock making the bun became much easier. I also try to pull the sock upwards when I roll my hair on to it. This way I hope that the hair will be wrapped tighter around the sock.
Good luck!