The knee-length and beyond thread

**Saige** · February 11th, 2019, 09:18 PM

I don't tend to braid much anymore either because of the tangle issue, which is a shame because I love braids. If I do braid, it's usually a plain old English braid, as I only have to make three sections. As far as detangling goes, it usually takes me a good hour to get the tangles out of my hair too. I was under the impression that this is abnormal until I saw some of the responses on here! I'm glad I'm not the only one!

I tried to take some update pics but couldn't choose which one I liked best, so I'll post both

They're not the best pictures, sorry. Nothing much has changed. I'm still maintaining at knee length. I swear my hair is actually straight cut, it's just the way it's hanging that makes it look crooked!

I also bought this fork recently from Ketylo. I absolutely love it. It's pretty much the only thing that stays put in my hair. Everything else just slides right out.

**Spikey** · February 11th, 2019, 09:24 PM

Just popping in to say: Saige, your hair is beautiful. And the color of that fork looks so good in your bun, you have really lovely hair.

**Ligeia Noire** · February 11th, 2019, 09:36 PM

Gossamer, those ends look fine too me, not even thin, just normal ends but I understand the will to not step on one's hair ah ah it will look marvelous when you trim as it does now and it will still enable you to take great pictures.

Saige, long time no see, your hair is just marvelous, I am surprised your detangling is around an hour like mine, your hair is so straight, it just seems like it would not tangle that much, you can never tell ah?

**meteor** · February 11th, 2019, 11:57 PM

Absolutely stunning hair, Saige! Thanks so much for sharing!

Originally Posted by sumidha

Pardon me for dropping in here at FTL with no plans for growing longer, but I've been eavesdropping on this conversation around tangles and braids, and I had a question; do any of you ladies who do braided buns all the time have any tips or tricks for making your bun higher on your head?

I've stared making a real effort to do braids, because of tangles and time spent detangling, but doing my bun directly on the back of my head is really not flattering on me, so I usually do them higher. But I haven't figured out a way to make that happen with braids, with them being oriented on my head facing downwards (if that makes sense). For a little while I was flipping my head upside down and then braiding, but it started to make my scalp hurt after a while...

I'd recommend checking out Igor's Royal Bun: http://igorsbelltower.blogspot.com/2...l-request.html, http://igorsbelltower.blogspot.com/2...s-hair_11.html
Variation (with 2 bottom braids): http://igorsbelltower.blogspot.com/2...ess-day-2.html

Actually, the Ellingwoman braided bun that was mentioned upthread goes really low on me, probably because you actually bun the lower braid while using the upper braid as a "pocket" - the structure kind of sags. I haven't tried it in years, because it always broke my hair (where the bread goes into the "pocket above, even when the hair went through the pocket once). The longer the hair is, the more wrapping through the pocket would occur.
So for a higher bun, I'd actually bun the upper braid first and then wrap the lower braid around it, a bit like this (variation, but you get the idea): http://babesinhairland.com/hairstyle...p-braided-bun/

Of course, all of these require more than 1 braid English, and that can already be a lot of manipulation for many folks with long hair that has a tendency to tangle.

Personally, to get my bun a bit higher, I simply start braiding by tilting my head as far back as possible and braiding as tightly as possible - this creates a braid that starts pretty high up. Then I bun the braid (I like a variation on an L-Infinity/Mirrored Spidermom/double-looped LWB Bun). Since the braid starts higher, and the first wrap on L-Infinity Bun goes over/up the fingers (rather than under/down like in some other wrap buns, if it makes sense), and since I use the first braid intersections as the anchoring base for the bun, the bun sits marginally higher compared to many similar structures.

I hope you'll find something that works for you.

**sumidha** · February 12th, 2019, 01:16 AM

Ooh thanks meteor, those are great suggestions! The Royal Bun is right around where I like to wear mine.

Even tilting my head way back I can't seem to get it very high, maybe I have some kind of weirdly shaped head, or more likely I'm a mediocre braider... But I think doing two braids one on top of the other instead of next to each other is going to be a real game changer. I'll also try the L-Infinity braided, that's another bun I really like the look of but always forget to do!

**Sarahlabyrinth** · February 12th, 2019, 02:55 AM

Such beautiful hair, Saige!

If I braid it is just a simple English braid - my hair is fine and cobwebby and at my current length it is much too grippy to try anything like a French or Dutch braid. I guess with the extra long lengths there are styles which can no longer be easily done.

**lapushka** · February 12th, 2019, 03:23 AM

Originally Posted by gossamer

If i thought it would be traumatic, I don't think I would be considering doing it, you know? Also, I really don't think taking 30cm off (minimum, but necessary) will take me much above ankle if I cut while damp. It's really not that much that I've got down there...

It doesn't look like a lot on the picture, and it looks like you'd be back to a thick hemline!

I guess for me at *this stage* (FTL) that amount of hair off, would be traumatic, but then I don't have your length, so I should have maybe looked at it differently?

Anyway, good luck on your trim, whenever you go for it. And ankle is still long, girl! Rock it!

**eresh** · February 12th, 2019, 08:03 AM

Growing back to Ankle is my goal, I had it once before but cut back to knee to thicken up the ends.
I don't think I will be growing past floorlength, but you never know, this thread does inspire me a lot.
Gossamer, do you want to trim because you think the ends are too thin or do you want to be at a more handy length like ankle?
Your ends domn't look that bad but I totally understand the want to trim back.
I did it every time I went past midcalf. I always cit damp too (well my hubby does that for me)
Which buns do you usually wear with this floorlength hair?

Meteor, I love the bun instruction you posted for the royal bun by Igor!
I will have to try that!

So beautiful Saige!!! Your hair is so full, all the way down, great!

**gossamer** · February 12th, 2019, 09:36 AM

@Saige: They all look like fabulous photos to me! And that fork is perfect for you!!

@lapushka Given that I haven't really been able to gauge growth well for the past 3 years since it reached floor, I think you're right that it doesn't feel the same as hair that's growing toward new length markers.

@eresh I think it's a mix of both, but more that I would much prefer an easier length. I don't want to complain too much about the way my ends look because I know that it might be discouraging for people whose hair texture and thickness is different from my own.

Buns I normally wear are cinnabun (with front twists or without), braided nautilus, braided lazy wrap, faux crown braid, and then the ellingwoman bun. On rare occasions I'll still do the helix bun with two sticks and lots of pins, but it's not normally worth the effort to get it to stay up!

**meteor** · February 12th, 2019, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by sumidha

Ooh thanks meteor, those are great suggestions! The Royal Bun is right around where I like to wear mine.

Even tilting my head way back I can't seem to get it very high, maybe I have some kind of weirdly shaped head, or more likely I'm a mediocre braider... But I think doing two braids one on top of the other instead of next to each other is going to be a real game changer. I'll also try the L-Infinity braided, that's another bun I really like the look of but always forget to do!

I should add that L-Infinity is still a horizontal structure and is only marginally higher on me (it doesn't seem to sag as much as many other buns, that's all), but what I do differently compared to classic L-Infinity is that after the second loop I reverse direction back to counterclockwise in order not to go down around the base, but instead go up again. I like buns where a bit more hair mass is concentrated above the stick/fork rather than below, if that makes any sense. So my direction goes like this: counterclockwise (above fingers), clockwise (down and around thumb, then back above base), then counterclockwise again (above fingers and then remaining tail continued to wrap around the base).

And if you are lucky enough to have sticks and fingers long enough for this, you can do Double L-Infinity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3EcIu22znA), too. Again, I think these types of structures marginally help buns sit higher, because you get more mass distributed to the loops above base (held by hairsticks) and less weight distributed to the wrapping around the base that tends to sag and just be a bit lower. For example, I find the Chinese bun goes really low for this reason: the base is low and tends to sag and the hair just keeps wrapping around that already low base, adding even more wrap "layers" below it.

As for the Royal Bun, I should have added that it's only the base for many other ideas.

I myself don't like to fiddle with cinnabon-like wrapping (not enough solid hold in final structure, though I like the pinwheel effect), so I would still do this with a trusty L-Infinity or Spidermom's bun or LWB or what have you... Igor tried it with a Nautilus bun, for example, and got pretty much the same thing (http://igorsbelltower.blogspot.com/2...s-hair_28.html). It will look similarly but with better hold.

And depending on how you wrap it and how you start your English braid, the Spirit Bun can work for higher overall positioning and better weight distribution, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIseEhedKAE And if you start with a smaller English braid (on top of head, you can stop after just a few passes) and then add it to the rest of hair to form the final English braid (a-la Ellingwoman bun), you can get a higher bun, since the first intersections will be much higher and that's where your upper stick (and the hair you'll be wrapping around it) will be.