Messy Buns

Messy buns are a really quick, effortlessly cool way to style your hair when you’re in a rush, having a bad hair day, or need your hair up and out of your face all day. While the messy bun is incredibly easy, it seems like just about everyone has their own different technique when it comes to styling one. In this tutorial, I’ll be outlining three different techniques to achieving a messy bun.

Technique One

This is my own technique, so obviously, it’s the one I like the best. It works really well if you have longer hair or hair that has texture.

1. Flip your head over and gather your hair as if you were going to pull your hair back into a ponytail.
2. Twist the “ponytail” in one direction.
3. Continue twisting the ponytail until it begins to coil around itself. If you’d like a tighter bun, you’ll want to twist the bun more tightly around itself. I usually prefer a looser, messier bun, so when the ponytail begins to coil around itself, I wrap it more loosely.
4. If you’d like a more secure bun, use bobby pins to secure the end of the ponytail to your head before wrapping a hair elastic around the bun. If you’re going for a more casual look and would like the bun to loosen up and drop a little throughout the day, you can just secure it with an elastic, but make sure the end of the ponytail is wrapped with the elastic so that the bun does not unravel.
5. If you have bangs like I do, you may want to pull them back with bobby pins. I like to twist the ends of my bangs as I pull them back so that it forms a little bump at the front of my head then secure the twist with bobby pins.
6. Finish off with a light mist of hairspray. Here's what the finished product should look like.

Technique Two

This is a technique I got from one of my girlfriends who has much shorter hair than I do. This messy bun works better for girls with shorter hair, but if you have longer hair like me, it’s going to look a little crazy.

1. Repeat step one from the last bun.
2. Instead of twisting the ponytail you’ve gathered, bunch it into a quick bun on top of your head and secure with an elastic. Make sure to leave a little bit of the ends of the ponytail out so that you can wrap it around the elastic.
3. Using the little tail of your bun, wrap that hair around the elastic and secure it with a bobby pin.
4. You may want to tug gently at the bun and play around with it until you get the desired look, then finish off with hairspray. Here's what the finished bun should look like.

Technique Three

This is a method I found on Pinterest, and while I’m not a huge fan of the way the bun looks, it’s something different to do with your hair.

1. Gather hair into a ponytail on top of your head and secure the ponytail with an elastic.
2. Separate the ponytail into halves.
3. Loosely braid each half of the ponytail and secure the braids with a clear hair elastic.
4. Gently tug at one of the braids until it is looser, then twist the braid until it begins to coil around itself.
5. Secure that braid with bobby pins.
6. Now using the other braid, wrap this braid around the base of the bun you’ve formed. Secure this braid with bobby pins.
7. Once again, you may want to loosely tug at the braids and play around with it until you’re satisfied, then mist with some hairspray. Here's the finished bun.