How I Style My Hair, Part Two: Ballet Bun

Song Challenge Day 06 - A Song that Reminds You of Somewhere
This might sound a little weird, but maybe not. When I was studying abroad, I bought Sara Bareilles's new CD on Cyber Monday for like $2. I first really listened to it on the train to Liverpool. So whenever I listen to this CD - and especially this song, because it kind-of related to the unknown of living in a foreign country - I think of Liverpool.

How I Style My Hair, Part Two: Ballet Bun


This was a NECESSITY for skating and ballet (I took ballet to help with my skating). So I'm not just doing this style for fun... I bet there are a lot of you out there need to be able to put your hair in a bun.


For this style, you need: two ponytail holders, bobby pins/hair grips, WATER, brush


You'll want to start with a high ponytail from the last lesson.

First, start twisting your hair to one side. Get it WET!! The layers complicate the bun because they go all over the place. Water will help your hair stay put.

Like I said, I live in a really dry climate... so my hair is usually extra messy. That's okay, you'll fix it later.


After your hair is twisted in a column like the above picture, start twisting it back on itself to form the bun shape.

Twist your hair all the way around to complete the bun. It may look messy. You'll fix it in the next step.

Okay, now the next part is just slightly tricky. You want to cup one hand (your non-dominant hand) around the entire bun. With your other hand, start dipping your finger in water and smoothing down ALL the fly-aways. Tuck the fly-aways between the hand holding the bun and the main part of the bun.

It looks a lot better already, no? The next step has two parts. 1. Using the hand that's not holding the bun, pin the ends of your hair in place - the end of the big column that you wrapped around the ponytail holder. You can move your thumb, but the point is to keep holding onto the rest of the bun. 2. Slip the other ponytail holder around the bun in place of your hand. This will help hold a lot of the fly-aways down.

I used a bobby pin with a unicorn on it, so you could see where I placed it. I usually use very few bobby pins. Why? Because I can never find more than like two at a time. It would probably stay in better if you used three or four, though.

It is not going to look PERFECT - even people with non-layered hair won't have buns that look perfect without using a product. But, it looks pretty close. To get all the fly-aways to lie flatter, I think you could try braid spray (but I haven't tried this yet).

Me using this style in a performance:

Variation: Don't bother with trying to tame fly-aways for a messy bun - a fun, casual style.

Next lesson - low ponytail and pull-through ponytail