Ahhhhh! A bad bun day. It is so frustrating when your hair decides that it has a mind of it's own right as your are trying to do it for class. Don't you just hate it when there seem to be a million loose hairs flying out of your bun? Do you ever have days where your bun looks like a doorknob? Or days when your bun is completely lopsided?
Having tidy hair not only makes you feel better in class but it shows your teachers that you are respectful of the art form. Making your hair look nice takes practise and experience, but there are a few tricks that I learnt along the way. Here I will walk you through the basic steps in achieving a perfect bun and a couple of different looks.
What you will need:
- Hair spray: the aerosol type works best for performances, but the spritzing kind is good for daily use, some people even get by by just using water if their hair does not have the tendency to fly away like mine does)
One last thing before we start, make sure that you have a good supply of hairnets and pins. Hairnets often get holes in them and hairpins have the tendency to disappear everywhere. You know you are a dancer when you leave a trail of hairpins wherever you go.
The hardest part is now over! Make sure that your ponytail is very secure and that there are no kinks in your hair or parts that you might have missed. Now onto the bun.
9. Flatten your bun by pushing it down and pulling it slightly counterclockwise. You can secure a hairnet around the bun at this point if you would like.
11. Check to make sure that your bun is uniform and then slide pins in at 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 & 11 o'clock. You may need more or less pins depending on how much hair you have!
Please remember that a bun without a hairnet is not the most secure type of bun. Try it out a couple of times before wearing it to class to make sure that it is not likely to start unravelling in petit allegro. Also I would recommend using a hairnet for performances e.t.c where you might be having to change your hairpieces a bunch of times. It is much less stressful!
Additionally some people prefer to make smaller buns because they make your head look smaller. The one necessity is that it is decently flat. It should not look like a doorknob sticking to your head =). For performances remember to hairspray, hairspray, hairspray! <3
Having tidy hair not only makes you feel better in class but it shows your teachers that you are respectful of the art form. Making your hair look nice takes practise and experience, but there are a few tricks that I learnt along the way. Here I will walk you through the basic steps in achieving a perfect bun and a couple of different looks.
What you will need:
- Hair spray: the aerosol type works best for performances, but the spritzing kind is good for daily use, some people even get by by just using water if their hair does not have the tendency to fly away like mine does)
- A normal hairbrush
- A smoothie hairbrush / a boar bristle hairbrush: these are absolutely essential if you want your hair to look super smooth
- Water
- Thick hair elastics, you want something that will give you maximum hold, some people like to double up their hair elastics
- U-shaped hair pins, these are best purchased through Bunheads. They come in a variety of sizes and colours. Pick the colour that best matches your own hair colour. If you have long, thick hair buy longer pins and if you have thin, or shorter hair pick shorter pins.
- Flat bobby pins, these can be purchased at any drugstore, pick ones that match your hair colour. You can bend your hair pins like this to make them wrap around the contour of your head better when you slide them in.
- Hair nets, I will teach you how to do your hair without a net, but they are essential for performances and nice to use if your hair does not like behaving. Once again Bunheads make the best hairnets as they are durable and the right size for buns. If you cannot buy Bunheads hairnets look around at you local drugstore, you do not want to buy the thick knitted hair nets made of wool. You want hairnets that will blend in with your hair.
-Patience!!!
High Bun, Straight Back
This type of bun is very common for all sorts of performances as it looks very uniform and is very simple.
1. I like to wet my hair before I begin because it gives me a little more control, a smoothing cream also helps.
2. Using your normal hairbrush gather all of your hair towards where you would like your bun to be.
3. Then using hairspray and your smoothie brush get rid of any kinks and smooth all of the hair back towards your pony tail. Do this by using a little bit of hairspray, brushing the hair back, using a little bit of hairspray brushing another section back e.t.c.
4. Secure with a hair elastic
5. Hair spray once again
6. Rebrush a little with the smoothie brush if needed
7. Flatten out the hair equally in a circle
8. Then starting at the bottom, pull the hair around clockwise, tucking in loosely as you go, when you get to the end, tuck the bottom part under.
9. Flatten your bun by pushing it down and pulling it slightly counterclockwise. You can secure a hairnet around the bun at this point if you would like.
10. Start sticking pins in at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock. Slide the pins in flush with your head.
12. Touch up with a little bit of hairspray and secure any wispies with a flat pin or two.
Please remember that a bun without a hairnet is not the most secure type of bun. Try it out a couple of times before wearing it to class to make sure that it is not likely to start unravelling in petit allegro. Also I would recommend using a hairnet for performances e.t.c where you might be having to change your hairpieces a bunch of times. It is much less stressful!
Additionally some people prefer to make smaller buns because they make your head look smaller. The one necessity is that it is decently flat. It should not look like a doorknob sticking to your head =). For performances remember to hairspray, hairspray, hairspray! <3
*This post is dedicated to Ms. Melissa Johnston! Thank you for teaching me how to do my hair way back when we were both in PB*
I just discovered your blog, and you give me hope. Thank you. I am I ballet dancer in my teens and have been dancing since I was 3. You have inspired me to keep working and yes, I know too, that ballet is Love and ballet is Beautiful, but recently I discovered that ballet is Tears and ballet is Blood. I don't know what I would do without ballet, but it can make you crazy. You've inspired me to keep practicing my fouette turn prep. combination in the kitchen even when my dad tells me to stop because I am making him dizzy:). But thank you. And BTW, thanks for the bun tips too. I needed a bun that would hold up when I have 6 hours of classes and rehearsals on Saturdays:)
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