Styles to prevent pulling

**Dante** · September 17th, 2017, 01:19 AM

My hair is just past waist length and fine, but there's a lot of it, if that makes sense. Mostly I wear buns secured by hair sticks, and that's worked fairly well. However, the last couple of months, every time I wear a bun (& I've tried a range of different ones), I get a feeling of my hair pulling at my forehead, and it's pretty painful even though I don't make my buns tight. I suspect it's starting to pull now as my bangs (which I've been growing out) are now long enough to be really incorporating into the bun rather than just held in place, and maybe the weight of my hair is an issue too. It's also a problem with ponytails, although I don't wear them as often. Any tips on hairstyles that won't cause this? I'm finding braids are good, but I would love to find some quick styles that don't pull (& despite practice, braids can't beat a 30 second nautilus bun!)

Am I chasing a unicorn or do you have any suggestions for styles to try? Thanks for any advice, especially from anyone's who also dealt with this issue!

**akurah** · September 17th, 2017, 01:56 AM

Originally Posted by Dante

My hair is just past waist length and fine, but there's a lot of it, if that makes sense. Mostly I wear buns secured by hair sticks, and that's worked fairly well. However, the last couple of months, every time I wear a bun (& I've tried a range of different ones), I get a feeling of my hair pulling at my forehead, and it's pretty painful even though I don't make my buns tight. I suspect it's starting to pull now as my bangs (which I've been growing out) are now long enough to be really incorporating into the bun rather than just held in place, and maybe the weight of my hair is an issue too. It's also a problem with ponytails, although I don't wear them as often. Any tips on hairstyles that won't cause this? I'm finding braids are good, but I would love to find some quick styles that don't pull (& despite practice, braids can't beat a 30 second nautilus bun!)

Am I chasing a unicorn or do you have any suggestions for styles to try? Thanks for any advice, especially from anyone's who also dealt with this issue!

I would leave the bangs out of the bun, then once the bun is secured, tuck them into like, an edge or something.

**Corvana** · September 17th, 2017, 02:07 AM

I don't like the pulling sensation I get on my front hairline either, and I tend to just gently pull it so that it's loose enough to not feel tight but not so loose it looks untidy. It helps if I push my bun into my head a bit to puff up the scalp hair, then I super gently fingercomb and then pull the hair forward where it feels the tightest. I grab the bits to pull when I fingercomb, so I do it a few times and it tends to stay mostly tidy.

Some days it feels more pull-y than others, and then I just take my hair down for a bit and redo it a few minutes later or redo it another way to see if that helps any. The worst days tend to have me taking the "bangs" section (maybe an inch or two from the hairline back, from temple to temple or wherever you'd like), twisting it along the hairline, and then adding it to whatever I'm wanting to do. The more hair I take, and the looser I roll it, the more vintagey it looks!

(ignore the bleh hair, it's wash day later "today" since it's sunday now lol)

I've noticed if I use a brush to smooth my hair back when putting it up, the pulling sensation feels worse than if I just use my hands to smooth it out.

**lapushka** · September 17th, 2017, 04:15 AM

When I smooth my hair for a bun I just bend my head backwards, to gather the hair and I don't touch the front (hardly at all). Maybe try loosely gathering the hair?

**HeartofHaleth** · September 17th, 2017, 05:55 AM

I started to get this too, and it was just an issue of finding some new buns to try and switching up the placement. The pha bun is one of my new favorites for an easy, comfy, stable 'do that'll last a while. I don't think I have a super sensitive scalp, though, so maybe that won't fix it for you.

Originally Posted by Corvana

I don't like the pulling sensation I get on my front hairline either, and I tend to just gently pull it so that it's loose enough to not feel tight but not so loose it looks untidy. It helps if I push my bun into my head a bit to puff up the scalp hair, then I super gently fingercomb and then pull the hair forward where it feels the tightest. I grab the bits to pull when I fingercomb, so I do it a few times and it tends to stay mostly tidy.

Some days it feels more pull-y than others, and then I just take my hair down for a bit and redo it a few minutes later or redo it another way to see if that helps any. The worst days tend to have me taking the "bangs" section (maybe an inch or two from the hairline back, from temple to temple or wherever you'd like), twisting it along the hairline, and then adding it to whatever I'm wanting to do. The more hair I take, and the looser I roll it, the more vintagey it looks!

(ignore the bleh hair, it's wash day later "today" since it's sunday now lol)

I've noticed if I use a brush to smooth my hair back when putting it up, the pulling sensation feels worse than if I just use my hands to smooth it out.

That's a great idea Corvana, I'll have to try that!

**spidermom** · September 17th, 2017, 01:09 PM

Twin buns. If you place them close together, they can look like one complicated bun.

**Arciela** · September 17th, 2017, 01:46 PM

What I used to do before I learned the nautilus bun was I would part my hair down the middle and pull in a ponytail at the bottom of my neck and then put it in a small bun.

**Reyn127** · September 17th, 2017, 02:59 PM

One thing that works for me is braiding my hair first. Any sort of braid helps, but the more "french" or dutch" it is (basically, the more that is braided onto your head before it goes away from your head), the less pulling it usually has for me. Also, there are sometimes points where your hair might just hold better with clips/pins than sticks for a little while, who knows why.

**ShahMat** · September 17th, 2017, 03:11 PM

Same problem here, as my hair grows and thickens I start to feel more and more pulling. During the day I alternate a low cinnabun held with a stick/fork with two dutch braids and this solves the problem, but the high cinnabun I've slept in for six months now really hurts, especially at the crown. I wonder if it would be better with two buns

**meteor** · September 17th, 2017, 03:46 PM

Another vote for doing twists or braids at the front hairline: they help redistribute some of that weight and prevent that hair from being pulling into the bun at the back, where it would add to more weight.
And if you can't French/Dutch/lace-braid, you can do small English braids with hair at the hairline, e.g. like in Luana braids or like in beginning of a simplified Ellingwoman bun - basically some of the weight of the hair will be braided in early on so the bun in the back won't have to hold all the weight. You can also do multiple buns, stacked on top of each other, like a bun fauxhawk - like this, for example, or do a sectioned bun, like a "frame bun".