Thursday, January 2, 2014

Tales From the Roots: Protective Styling (part one)

Protective styling: High Bun with Kanekalon Weave


 Now that my hair is finally able to be put into a ponytail I have been trying different protective styles. For Christmas I wore a huge bun, very similar to the bun I wore before my haircut/Natural journey. I have also been doing a lot of research on hair cuts, protective styling and no-heat, low-maintenance styles, which I will talk about in my next Tales From the Roots post. Follow the link and read more about how I achieved this look.


Chic Doughnut Bun

First let's talk about my bun. It is a doughnut bun or sock bun, minus the doughnut/sock. I learned this method from a Youtuber a long time ago but I have no idea what her name is. I started using this technique when I was relaxed because without adding weave my sock bun was very small but when I rolled my hair I was able to achieve a considerably bigger bun. 
I only added weave this time because with my short hair and transition shedding, my pony tail needed some serious help! 

You will need a pack of braiding hair, doesn't matter which brand. I used one pack of Outre in the color 1B, which I got at the beauty supply store for $1.99. You will also need bobby pins, a hair tie and whatever gels pr products you normally use to put your hair into a ponytail/bun. I molded my hair with gel and setting foam, then set my edges with a scarf until it dried.
1. Put your hair into a ponytail. The higher the better, for both the visual look of the bun and it makes it easier to see what you are doing 
2. Take out your braiding hair. It will usually be split in half by a rubber band, keep the rubber band on the hair, you will need it to connect the hair to your ponytail. This hair was super long, which made it hard to work with so I measured it (roughly the length from my ponytail to the middle of my neck) and cut it. 
3. Connect the braiding hair to your head by wrapping the rubber band around your real ponytail until it is secure.
4. Wrap your real hair around the base of the ponytail so that it is out of the way and won't be visible through the braiding hair. You might want to tweak this step to better suit you, depending on how long or short your hair is. 
5. Next try to evenly distribute the braiding hair on all sides of the ponytail. This will make it easier when you start rolling your hair. 
6. Now you will start the bun rolling technique which makes this bun special. I start by taking a section of braiding hair (or real hair if you have long hair) from the front of the ponytail. Smooth it with your finger or a brush, then start rolling it from the tip as shown in picture 6. If you need help understanding what I mean by rolling here's a visual: You are rolling the hair similar to the way you would roll it on a sponge roller.

7. Continue to roll the hair until you reach the base of the ponytail. If you roll it loosely your bun will be bigger and fluffier so don't worry about making it too tight. Place your finger inside of the roll to keep it in place while you bobby pin it to your head. 
8. Continue to roll the hair by section. After rolling a section you will need to smooth and blend them together then bobby pin the hair in place. 
9. Your finished product should be a huge, fluffy bun :)

I finished the look with a little cat eye makeup and a red lip! With my molded hair I was able to keep the bun up for a few days but I took the weave out at night. I stored the braiding hair but simply braiding it to keep it free of tangles and I was able to re-use it about three times and it's still getting the job done. There are many other ways to create a bun with Kanekalon hair, if this is too difficult I'm sure you can find another way to do it on Youtube. This just happens to be my favorite way to create my bun.

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2 comments:

  1. These directions were very helpful and it achieves the look that you want thanks a lot.

    ReplyDelete