Ladies and Gentlemen,
Peacebang, do you have any suggestions for putting long hair up without a plastic claw clip? My hair is very thick and heavy; I like the way it looks when it’s up (it makes mid-twenties me look a little more take-seriousable, for one thing) but I hear you that the plastic clip is too informal for a worship setting. I’ve never been able to make it stay up with hairsticks (no idea how people manage that). Any other ideas?
This may seem like an inquiry for the lay-dees, but PeaceBang knows of a few dewds with long locks out there. What’s the scoop, Rapunzels? How to advise this colleague? Who, by the way, earns big props for inventing the term “take-seriousable.”
My first instinct is to go to the fashion mags which always seem to have lovely features on how to twist up hair — features that make PeaceBang wish she was still in kindergarten with shiny brown hair all down her back before her mom took her to the salon and had it ALL CUT OFF into a SHAG that made her look like a BOY, giving PeaceBang the first twinges of Inadequate Femininity
Insecurity that would plague her all her life.
Allure magazine often has nice long-hair features, Dear Writer, and there’s nothing wrong with having a few friends over, serving them a pitcher of sangria, and trying new hair-do’s together. We’ll see what PeaceBang Nation* has to say about this.
*a wee reference to Red Sox Nation, ya’ll. We’re in the ALCS play-offs.
A low pony-tail in the back is good, and it doesn’t give the headache that a higher ponytail will.
Or you can use a barette instead of a clip. Do the same kind of twist, but barette it. If it’s really thick, you may have to rubber-band it, then twist and barette it. That’s not a very good description… i’ll try, but it’s easier done than said. Low ponytail. Grab the hair and twist it upward. With the underside of the barette, grab a bit of hair that’s not in the ponytail but on the side of your head, grab the rubberband and/or the outer chunk of the hair that’s in the ponytail, and a bit of hair from the other side of the ponytail- hair that again is not in the ponytail but on the side of your head.
Sheesh, this is hard to do.
I hope that makes some sense.
J
Hope you feel better soon!
oh keeping long thick straight hair up, i know the trouble.
most barrettes don’t work, but there are a few that are made especially for thick hair.
i’ve had luck with hair sticks, but it often takes 4 tries to get my hair and the sticks to jive in such a way that things are stable.
there are also hair pins (not to be mistaken for bobby pins, but often used well with them), once you really get good you can do a bun with only 3 or 4, but it does take practice.
My hair is long (midback) VERY thick, and insanely curly. Putting it up is a major effort.
I’m afraid a big plastic claw clip is about the only thing that works for mine, however I’ve found one that instead of being long like the old banana clips is rather roundish, sort of bun shaped. This way the hair falls down over it and hides the clip. Problem solved.
A french twist and about 20 million bobby pins also works well, but it does take a while to do.
Bobby pins. There’s quite a few styles of pins available, try experimenting to find the ones that work.
Ditto the bobby pins. I lucked out with this issue a little bit, because my mom was an active duty marine with waist-length (thick!) hair. The rule for female marines is that your hair has to be off your collar, and none of your hair accessories can be visible. Bobby pins are the way to go.
One option: french braid your hair, then pin the ends under. It will stay back all day this way, and won’t give you a ponytail headache.
Another option: the basic chignon. Tie your hair back into a ponytail with a normal elastic ponytail holder. Twist your hair around the base of your ponytail, Pinning As You Go!!! This is important, because if you wait to pin until it’s all twisted and looks like a bun, it’s going to be much harder to secure.
I have mid-shoulder thick wavy hair, and I’ve started using Flexi8s on my hair instead of claw clips. I bought mine at the local street fair, in a lovely “old metal” color, but I think you can get them online at http://www.flexi8.com
I also had to use their little “how to” videos to figure out how to make my French Twists not have the “spray” of ends at the top, so you might want to look at the videos even if you don’t buy their clippies.
Temporarily long-haired male seminarian here (Wigs4Kids takes gray hair). I can’t give advice about updos, as I think they’d be inappropriate for me in a sacred setting. But the last couple of times I preached, I took the time to braid a full plait down the back. In hot times, I’ve been tempted to twist that into a chignon/bun, but haven’t done so publicly. My hair sin, according to a dear friend, is that I don’t use grease or other product to keep the hair from wisping all over when it’s in a ponytail.
As someone who has had long straight hair for oh, ever, I have a few tricks to share. First things: massage some gel thorough your hair before you try to put it up. This will take care of the flyaways, and the bumps. Sleek is good. Now, for style:
1) Start with a low ponytail. Wrap a twist of hair around the outside of the ponytail band, to cover it. Secure with a couple of bobby pins.
2) Start with a low ponytail. Pull your hair through the band halfway (with the ends of your hair pointing up). Twist the band around and secure it over the now chignon-y part of the bottom. arrange the ends in either a charmingly messy arrangement behind your head (great for curls) or tuck the ends into the chignon with bobby pins (best for straight).
3)Start with a low ponytail. 🙂 Twist hair until it doubles back on itself. This should be tight. Tuck the ends under the twist and fasten with a comb to the side of the twist, or with chopsticks. Secure with more bobby pins. (This is sort of a french twist, for those of us who don’t have the time in the morning to do an actual french twist that is good enough not to fall down by, say, 10:15. In a meeting. Ahem.)
Hope that helps. Good luck and practice. It gets easier.
Donna
Yep, I’ve got hair almost to the knees, here are my suggestions:
1.for super easy bun, put in ponytail, twist ponytail untill you cant twist anymore, spiral in in a circle bun around the ponytail holder, secure in place with a second ponytail holder and a couple of bobby pins, I like to add a simple black velvet scrunchie around the bun to hide the pins.
2.depends on skill, french braid the top of head into 2 french braids untill nape of the neck, twist remaining hair into low bun. (will never get in your eyes this way!)
3. I find that low ponytails hurt my neck (to much pressure or something) but if it doesn’t hurt yours they are simple and elegant, try using a side part instead of a center one for low ponies.
I have waist length thick black hair and have never been able to use ponytail holders to make buns. My current everyday upstyle is a infinity bun, sort of like a sideways figure 8. I use a 6″ metal spike for a hairstick (got it at a local craft market).
Here’s another photo tutorial for an infinity and also a figure 8
When my hair was a bit shorter I had success with amish hairpins from a Christian headcovering site.
This page from the same company has a bun making tutorial; I like to put my hair into a ponytail first.
I used to wear metal barrettes but stopped because they were breaking my hair so much. Metal barrette = evil!
One more thing — this month’s Real Simple has a spread on how to do some simple updos for long hair. They look simple, and neither too sloppy, nor too fussy-wedding-hair-y. Check it out.
Donna
Even though I have short hair now, I had long hair for years and my favorite do’s were what I called “tucks.” For really long hair, make a low and loose ponytail, reach up between your head and the band from underneath with your thumb and index finger and grab the tail and pull back through. It makes a lovely Victorian-looking roll with the ponytail beneath. For not as long (probably no longer than shoulder-length) hair, you can do the same, but instead of pulling the tail back through, you can tuck the ends up by dividing the tail in two and pinning the ends under the sides of the roll. You’ll have to be extra vigilant about tucking under the band and pinning it inside the roll to keep from showing, but it makes a lovely and easy and elegant Gibson Girl-style roll. I’ve also kept the sides in place with combs instead of pins. You can decorate with pretty combs, even a jeweled barrett at the center of the roll to help hold the band underneath for a more dressy look.
I’ve had long hair for a long time and was a professional and always looked it.
Several tricks:
1. braid hair in low braid before wrapping into chignon – it’s easier for the hairpins to latch onto.
2. I have thick hair, but I manage it by having my hairdresser thin it – NOT using the razor, but lifting hanks of hair and snipping underneath.
3. I make a French twist, but clip a barrette over it, tucking the ends under top with a few bobby pins or when my hair is shoulder length as now, letting the ends fall over the top in a pretty carefree way.
4. I have some big plastic hairpins – had ’em for years, so I can’t give advice on where to find some.
For the uncoordinated or extremely busy: a pony gathered at the nape of the neck, with a floppy bow. After fixing the pony in place with the appropriate wound elastic band (no plain elastic bands – they pull and break hair), use 30″ of 1″ wide ribbon to make a well proportioned floppy bow. A simple overhand knot just like tying shoelaces works very well. Double sided satin, or velvet for evenings, in black or midnight is nicely conservative. Gros grain also works well but frays at an alarming rate and needs to be trimmed after each use.
She is my hair sister.
If you do a low ponytail in the same place all the time it’s hard on the hair. BUT…she may have long enough hair to knot it up.
Pull hair back into a low-to-mid ponytail, slightly off to the left of center. Letting your left hand keep the twist next to your head, start twisting with your right hand, and let it coil into the start of a bun. Twist, twist. Hand off the twisting to your left hand, and let your right do the guiding of the twist into a bun. When you have to hand off the twisting to your right hand again, stick the finger and thumb of your left hand inside the loop of twisted hair, into what will be the center of the bun. Right hand hands the twisted rope of hair to left hand. Pull through, and pull tight-ish. You should have a tail of hair sticking out of a bun. Twist the tail again. Bring it down and pull it through the loop of the knot again. Do it a couple times, and stop when you run out of hair, hopefully in such a way that you can stuff the end under. Stabilize with pins if desired, but I don’t have to. It doesn’t make my scalp itch or pull the way a normal bun would, and it looks very nice and interesting. It WILL loosen if you lean on it a lot, but given that there’s not much to it, you can redo it in about two minutes or less in the bathroom.
I am a boy with long hair on a cheerleading squad and I usually have to be in full uniform like everyone else so I have to wear my hair up in a high ponytail with a ribbon tied around it in a bow. My mom likes to do my hair up as well. Its different but some people say it’s cute!
My 5 yr old son has long hair below his shoulders and always wants to wear it up. I do a high ponytail with a ribbon tied around it and it looks great and he loves it. There have been sever times I’ve curled his hair and left it down using barrettes or bobby pins to keep it off his face. He gets lots of positive comments about his curls and accessories.
Hi stephanie, I bet your son looks adorable with his hair like that. I love wearing my hair up in a high ponytail with a ribbon tied around it too. It’s my favorite style. Super cute!!!