Adult hair styles....

[raingirl]

How do I make my hair styles look more adult and professional? I'm almost in my mid-thirties and every says I have hair styled like a grade school girl.....

Today I have two sparkly barrettes about one inch long (with rhinestones on them), I parted my hair to one side, and pinned up each side. How can I make that look more professional/adult? The rest of my hair is currently down.

This is a constant issue I have. I never know how to style my hair so that it looks professional.

[Madora]

Perhaps you might like to peruse the Articles section for hairstyling ideas.

Torrin Paige has quite a few hairstyling videos on You Tube.

[raingirl]

Any recommendations for ideas NOT on YouTube? I avoid YouTube like the plague....

Actually, anything that's not a video as I have limited internet bandwidth at home and videos take up way too much to watch.

Found the articles. I will browse and take a look.

I think I'm having trouble because I can't bun, braid or even sock bun. My hair is just too thin for any of that. :(

[browneyedsusan]

"Articles" is on the gray bar near the top of your screen.

It's a shame you can't get youtube. There are a bunch of neat tutorials on there--especially Torrin Paige.

Princesshairstyles.com has some that would probably work. They're shown on a young girl, but would be appropriate for an adult.

Regarding your current hairstyle:
I think it's the little barrettes that are causing the trouble. They're too small and out-of-scale for an adult head. I would remove the barrettes, and twist back the sections of hair that you want to pin back. Then open a bobby pin, straddle the opening right over the twist, and push the pin in. It should be over the twist with the open end of the pin pointing toward your face, and the entire pin should be hidden when you get it pushed in. I learned from a youtube video for how to finesse the bobby pin...

Hope that helps!

[raingirl]

I think it's also my style....I really need a new wardrobe. I guess that it is good we are moving from casual to business casual at work in the next two months.

I'm considering switching to showering in the evenings. I've noticed that henna/darker hair doesn't show the oily-ness as much as my blond hair showed. I think I would have more time to style in the morning that way.

[ravenreed]

Do you have enough hair for a Gibson Tuck? It is a lovely style and quite sophisticated looking, IMO. You can even use a sparkly barrette to finish it and it doesn't look too little girly. One of the sadnesses of my hair journey is that by the time I discovered that style, I had way too much hair for it.

[Maybe]

Raingirl, I have a similar issue. My hair has to look very professional at work.

Today it is down because I can't put it up and look professional. With all my layers and thickness, buns just look sloppy on me at this point.

Tomorrow, if my braid waves don't look good in the morning, I am going to wear a Gibson Tuck.

There is a tutorial on it in the Articles section but basically you just put your hair in a low pony and then split the hair above the elastic, as if you were going to do a topsy tail, and instead of pushing it all the way through, just stuff the pony into the space you have created. Some people add a sock or some other kind of filler in there to make it look fuller. I have lots of hair so I don't do that.

There may be a gap to cover with a barette or a flower etc.

Ditch the girly barrettes at work. I have/am acquiring hair toys for work (not that I have worn them yet) and hair toys for home/weekend. My work ones are very professional. Plain, understated sticks and forks, Ficcares etc. At home or on the weeknd, I can wear more whimsical ones.

I do the same with earrings and jewelry. Mostly post earrings/studs at work, nothing whimsical at all, I save that for non-working hours.

A topsy tail might be "professional enough" for your office environment, come to think of it. Half-ups with a less girly barette. etc etc.

If you really want to be taken seriously at work, think about adding a blazer. It can be cotton or some other more casual material if your office is "business casual". I almost never come to work without one. Usually I wear a suit but sometimes a dress with a blazer. My office is very corporate and there are very few women at my level. I learnt early on that I get treated with more respect if I wear a blazer.

Good luck!

ETA: Adding a couple of blazers in neutral colours may spare you the expense of a whole new wardrobe. I have black, grey and white that I wear over dresses that I woul dnot normally deem apporpriate for my office (sleeveless etc). I don't really do earth tones but if you do, beige, cream, brown might wrk with a lot of your current wardrobe.

[battle_angel]

Hello raingirl, you seem such a nice and sweet woman, would love to meet you in person! :)
The ideas above are excellent, and definitely worth trying! I would have just one note. As a thin hair, I've already tried several times the Gibson tuck and it does not work well, or look good at all.
Also, I had zero succes with the sock bun, but I bought a Hair sponge bun maker and that turned out quite ok: http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Hair-Bun-Sponge-Maker/dp/B004WDV2XA

A simple hairstyle that I do from time to time is the half-up with a twist. Very easy to do and ads a bit the sensation of volume at the top:
http://beautyhigh.com/1-3-ways-twisted-style-straight-hair/

Another hair style that I like to do is the French twist:
http://www.wikihow.com/French-Twist-Hair

Good luck and happy growing! Thin hair can be beautiful too! :)
- Laetitia

[hermosamendoza]

My favorite grown up hairstyle (hence my avatar pic) is to start a freanch brain and then not finish and make a bun. Quick, easy, and lasts all day long

[Kaelee]

Another hair style that I like to do is the French twist:
http://www.wikihow.com/French-Twist-Hair


Ugh! Oh my, bobby pins, and brushing AFTER hairspray? :blueeek:

There are much more hair friendly ways to achieve this style. Better looking, too. (The finished product in that article doesn't look very good at all I don't think..)

Try these: French Twist and Chignon (http://www.lhj.com/style/hair/styles/updo-how-to/?page=5) (careful with those bobby pins!)

Good luck! some great ideas here so far. :)

[katfemme89]

Today I have two sparkly barrettes about one inch long (with rhinestones on them), I parted my hair to one side, and pinned up each side. How can I make that look more professional/adult? The rest of my hair is currently down.


Make a DEEP side part. Then, take both barettes and use them BOTH side by side to pin down the thick side. Move the pins down very low right at the end of your temple.
Then ponytail your hair very low in the back, braid it, and then coil the braid into a low bun (a braid will make your bun appear thicker) and fasten it down with hairpins.
I believe that this will look very elegant.

[florenonite]

I think I'm having trouble because I can't bun, braid or even sock bun. My hair is just too thin for any of that. :(

It sounds like your hair is a great candidate for a French twist, which IMO tends to look better on thinner hair.

[raingirl]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I am horrible with the quoting system on here, so don't be offended if I don't respond to each personally!

Unfortunately my hair is too thin for a gibson tuck. Even though I'm APL (well, 1/2 between APL and BSL), my hair is so thin that I can't even do a sock bun because I can't hide the sock. :( I tried a gibson tuck but you could see all my hair behind all bunched up inside.

That spongee bun maker might work, but I may have the same issue of seeing it through my hair.

I like this one (beautyhigh.com/1-3-ways-twisted-style-straight-hair/) but it just doesn't look right on me with my air dried wavy hair. With my hair blow dried straight it looks better. My hair just looks scraggly when it's air dried.

http://www.wikihow.com/French-Twist-Hair - this is sort of what I do now, but with spin pins to sort of hold it all together. Is there a way to make it look fuller though, because mine is so thin it looks funny I think. Where do I get large pins like that?

I wish my hair was thick enough for a braided bun to look nice, but it just looks odd too.

I'm also trying to avoid elastics. Before I joined here, it was just in a pony all the time, every day. It's a hard habit to break.

[longNred]

I have never in my life heard of hair that is "too thin" to braid.

I agree, a french twist would probably look very lovely.

[JuliaDancer]

I agree with the others who said that it's probably the sparkly rhinestone barrettes that make your hairstyle look more childish, but a barrette on each side (even if they are plain) does give that "little girl from the 60s" look. A neat ponytail can be professional, as well as a single braid, simple bun or braided bun. You don't need a lot of time for a professional hairstyle.

[raingirl]

Sorry, I can braid it, it just looks weird. When I do a braid, the whole braid at the thickest is only as big as my thumb around.

[longNred]

gently pulling to loosen up a braid can make it look much thicker and very pretty. and if you can't get the rolled sock bun to work, what about the other method? where you sort of spread it out over the sock and pin it around? granted, it's a bit more time consuming than clipping in some barrettes. there are so many members here with thinner, and utterly gorgeous, hair and updos.

[spirals]

I'm wondering if you can't just wear it down for now. If it's anywhere between shoulder and midback, I don't see corporate types having a problem with it. But anything past that is probably seen as excessive in a very conservtive workplace. Also, I agree about using the barettes only outside of work. Flat roller pins may work. I do that twist thing, too. I insert it into the roll. The curve of the pin is at the tail end of the twist and the two pin prongs point toward where I started twisting.

[ApatheticFairy]

use plain barrettes. I've found plastic tortoise-shell print ones-- 12 for a dollar-- at the Dollar General store and Dollar Tree. I tend to do cinnabuns for work and just plaster the layers down with bobby pins.

Rolls, into a low chignon is really good to get layers out of the way, too. http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Hair-Roll

I also do the Chinese Bun from the Articles section here and people at work really seem to like it.

Have you tried making a donut from your own shed hair to make s donut bun? There's a tutorial on here somewhere about it, so your sock bun won't look so strange when you try and cover it with your own hair.

Professional doesn't have to mean boring, but if your wardrobe needs to look more professional, I'd go with a more conservative hair style. If your clothes look very conservative, you can go for something more fun, like a peacock twist.

[raingirl]

I tried just now with a looser braid and it doesn't look all that bad. Never thought of loosening a braid before - to me they always had to be tight.

I used to wear my hair down always, but it tangles so easily that I was brushing it all the time (and blow drying it straight). I really don't like how it looks when it naturally dries, and I'm also trying to protect it, which is why I want to pin it up.

With the braid though..I still think I look like a kid. Then again, I'm just wearing a v-neck sweater and jeans and hiking boots today at work. I wore a little more makeup though, which seems to help. When I was blonde, I could do just mascara and I was fine, but that doesn't seem to be cutting it with the darker hair.

[raingirl]

To clarify, we aren't business casual or professional at work yet. Right now we are ultra casual, but that will be changing before Christmas. I'm just preparing myself now....

And these darn bangs I'm growing out that are at chin length - they are driving me nuts! I'm finding it hard to pin them back into any style. once they are long enough to fit behind my head with the rest of my hair, I'm sure styling will be much easier.

[Arya]

What about a flower bun? That should make it your hair look thicker! Curling before trying buns can help to give the appearance of volume as well. Talking about the sockbun again, have you thought of trying a smaller donut than an actual sock? What about a child's sock?

[raingirl]

I was actually wondering about a child's sock as well. I was also wondering if it wouldn't be too weird to dye it with henna as well so it matched my hair better?

[browneyedsusan]

And these darn bangs I'm growing out that are at chin length - they are driving me nuts! I'm finding it hard to pin them back into any style. once they are long enough to fit behind my head with the rest of my hair, I'm sure styling will be much easier.

Tell me about it! *sigh* I pin or braid them daily and am ignoring until Christmas, then will re-evaluate....

[lapushka]

Lilith Moon is a great resource for some adult, professional, hairstyles:
http://www.youtube.com/user/lilithedarkmoon

[feb26]

What about using combs to pin back your hair with instead of barrettes? I'm curious how the other girls who have longer hair wear it at work, take inspiration from them. I do the half pony quite often, use Goody elastics & you'll be fine. Butterfly clips are a nice way to pull hair up without it being obvious how thick/thin your hair is. Also, if you like the braid idea, you can always braid just down to the base of your shoulders & leave the rest loose.