Hi Tisha,

When I do a bun up-do, I use a mesh bun mold that I bought at a drug store years ago, actually, I've been looking to buy more, but they seem harder to find than they used to be.

Anyway, these molds look sort of like mesh doughnuts. You put your hair in a pony tail, the pony tail goes through the center of the mesh "doughnut" and then you fold sections of the hair back and tuck and pin. Sometimes, as a variation, I leave some of my hair untucked. I think I did for my performance at Tribal Quest, there are some pictures in my profile, but I don't know how well you can see the bun. But using these molds makes the buns look really thick and they're really sturdy and they easily support flowers and other hair accesorries.

I've also seen some other bun-makers at Claire's Boutique, you're supposed to wrap your hair around a twisty-thing or something, but I've never used them.

Good luck.

Hey- I did a google search and found a sock bun tutorial with photos:

smg.photobucket.com/albums/v...ck%20bun/

There's also an old victorian technique that friends in college used. I forget the term for it, so I just call it a hair ball. Every time you brush or comb your hair, take the hair that's caught on the brush and put it in a bag. Just keep adding until you end up with a hair ball (Pull it out every now and then and rolls it around so it all mats up). When doing an updo, pin that to your head and then wrap your hair over it to get added thickness. It looks kinda grosh just sitting there in a bag, but it's obviously an absolute perfect match for your real hair so you don't have to be so careful about making sure you cover every last bit of it, is all natural, free, and recycling to boot.

Thanks for the tutorial on the donut bun thing. That is awesome.

Something I like is the Hairdini clip. You can do really cool fast updos. The big thing I like about it is that I can quickly change from tribal to cabaret for performances with it and very little effort. www.hairdini.com/ClipDini.html

My hair is bottom of bra length and REALLY thick. I use the mega clipdini and have some room to go. I am sure for longer hair you can do more braids or flip it back through. I would just play with it.

I make two really messy 'dewdrop' buns on the top of my head (not at the back, but on top--think cheerleader). The messier the better b/c it gives more volume. i do two rather than one because that gives more volume and more area to attach stuff to. Then I add some fake dreads to the ordeal--same color as my hair--with lots of hairpins to add even MORE volume. only then do i start to attach the jewels and flowers and whatnot.

Have you ever tried hairsticks? It's a traditonal asian way of putting long hair up I have thick, mid-bum length asian-esque hair and it's the only thing that works. When you see an asian bun with stick like chopsticks through it, the sticks should be holding the hair up (rather than doing a bun and pushing the sticks through it, as I've seen it done waaay too many times). It's extremely stable if you do it properly, much better than having lots of little pins stuck in and worrying they're gonna hold, and once you've mastered it, it only takes and 30 seconds each time. You can use sticks with decorated, dangly ends which looks fabulous or you can use shorter sticks that may be invisible. You can do two buns too, or just the top of your hair - it's all good.

It's hard to explain how to do them without some sort of visual aid. One way to do them is to pull back your hair as if you were doing a ponytail (you don't need an elastic). Coil it up and curl it round as if you were coiling it unto a bun. Once it's all coiled you can tuck the ends under the coil. Take a hairstick (I personally just buy children's chopsticks witout the 'grips' at the end, they're the perfect length) and poke it just in the edge of the bun, towards your scalp, thread it completely under the bun and then thread it through the last 1/2 inch of the bun on the other side. the trick is to get the tension *just* right so the bun stays in place and isn't so tight it hurts but isn't so loose it comes out.

If your hair is very long you find that the bun coil sticks out very far from your head, a bit like a beehive. If your hair is long enough where there's one coil sitting on top of another coil you can also do a 'figure 8' bun with sticks. All you do is take the top coil and fold/pull it out. You end up with two coils side by side (you can have them side by side vertically or horizontally - I prefer it horizontally because my hair is very heavy and I find I have less strain on my neck. Having them vertical looks very much like a chignon). Take the stick, poke it through the centre of one of the coils, thread it under and take it back out the centre of the other coil. You'll need to secure it with two sticks to ensure that it stays flat against your head.

Here's one link:
www.dressytresses.com/hair/ga...air-bun/

My very favorite find: the mini Scunci hair claws! I like the ones with the clear gripper surface inside. I have at least fifteen in my hair when I updo! They also hold in my flowers as well. Luv'em!

One, thanks for posting this, as I had a very similar question.

Two: I about squee'd when I saw your name - my name is Tisha too! It's very rare to see someone with our name, I'm always happy when I do! :)

I have long waist length very straight hair. I too wanted some height on top yet be able to wear my hair down. I recently bought a clip on hair piece. I plan to bring two sections of the sides of my hair up to the crown and then clip it with the hair piece. This gives the height and a layered look in the back. They come on those big banana clips. I got mine at one of those kiosks in the mall that sells hair clips, etc.

I do use the hair sticks when I put mine in a bun. I too have Asian hair. Mom's Korean. It is the best thing for me. Another that helps is I put it up in a bun while it is still damp. Makes it easier to have everything hold together.

wheres the girly classes for us tomboys all grown up. I have lower back length hair now as apposed to 4 years ago I had a shaved head. I have no clue on what to do with it.

i guess my issue is that i naturally have a lot of height, and i'm just not sure how to make it something more interesting than just a poof
like i have the way of doing it by pulling it back an dputting it into two sections, so that i have space to fit a headband, but i'm not sure what to do with it besides that
my hair really lends itself to sticking stuf fin it, like alot of my hair flowers are just the flowers on stems with floral tape so i don't cut my scalp =p
i'd like to get some cool scarves and make some hair falls so that i could change my hair up. it would probalby make a good base for a huuge hairdo or headpiece, i'm just kind of at a loss as to where to go.