Gwen's Nest

Recipes, remedies, and reflections from my neck of the woods.

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Kitchen Tips
  • Trim & Healthy
    • Trim Healthy Mama Index
    • THM Book Review
    • THM Quick Start Guide
    • Weight Loss Before & After Series
    • THM Amazon Store
    • THM Recipes by Type
    • THM Recipes by Meal
  • Remedies & Health
    • Natural Remedy Index
    • Digestive Bitters Series
    • High Blood Calcium Series
    • Magnesium Deficiency Series
    • Plantain Herb Series
    • Rabbit Tobacco Herb Series
    • Whooping Cough
  • Reflections
  • Creative Home
    • Creative Home Index
  • Shop
    • Trim Healthy Store
    • Natural Health Remedies Store

Messy Bun: 5 minutes=2 good hair days

April 14, 2011 By Gwen Brown 16 Comments

Can I tell you a secret?  I’ve never been a girl that fussed with her hair much.  I will not be providing photographic evidence of said bad hair, so unless you’re friends with my Mom on facebook, you’re out of luck.  Just trust me.  Hats, scarves, and ponytail holders and I have always gotten along great.

Even as a teenager, a sarcastic-jerky friend of my brother’s used to say

Full Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Disclosure Page

“Hey, Gwen.  What are you doing with your hair. Hahahahaha!”

OK.  That would be washing and brushing.  On a good day.

I was known for going to early morning classes with a wet ponytail.  Yeah.  Ick.  Sorry Mom.  I know that made you cringe.  I have major time management issues, OK?  You can imagine that this only become worse after I had kids.

Enter the Messy Bun…I saw a blog post on it a few months ago (which I can’t find, or I’d link you to it.)  The Messy Bun has revolutionized my bad hair day woes.  In literally 5 minutes or less, I can have great hair for 2 days!  It works best on shoulder length or longer hair.  Lemme show you how easy it is!

(I’m about to show you photos of my bathroom, me with wet hair, *and* me right after I wake up…so, consider yourself ‘family’)

First, grab a brush, a ponytail holder, and some bobby pins.   I like to do this when my hair is still damp…right after I towel dry it.  Brush through, starting at the lower ends, and then working your way up to get rid of tangles…

…and then I lean over and gather the hair into a ponytail at the crown of my head.  So far, so easy, right?  I’m essentially making a pony tail high up on my head.

Now, as you put in the ponytail holder, just tighten it up like normal, but instead of pulling you hair all the way through on the last twist, leave it in a ‘loop’.

You should have a nice big loop, that looks like this, and the ‘tail’ or ends of your hair sticking out from under the ponytail holder.

And here is what makes this method really work for 2nd day curls.  I make what my grandmother called a ‘pincurl’ with the leftover “tail” of hair. I just twist it around my finger until it spirals into a swirl, and pin.
Here is how it should look from on top:

Cross 2 bobby pins over/through this little mini-bun-swirl.  What this pincurl does is add wave to the tips of your hair tomorrow…nobody will see it today.  The rest of the bun will cover it.


Bobby Pinning tip: if bobby pins slide out of your hair easily, try
crossing them over one another.  They ‘lock’ together and stay in place
really well like this!

Now, you should just have loops of hair left .


This pic was before I started doing the pincurl thing, so ignore the wrapped around tail of hair.
Start pulling those loops together into a round tube or bun shape like this, bobby pinning as you go:

You want to form all those loops so that they look like a solid ring, or bun.  And don’t get too wrapped up in making it perfect…its *supposed* to be a “Messy Bun.”

I like to tuck in bobby pins in about 5-6 places, all the way around, so my bun isn’t flopping around at the back.  I just stick the bobby pin at the bottom of a loop to hold it in place.

This just takes a few minutes, and you can add in a pin or two to tame stray strands, or even add a little ribbon or decorative bobby or barette to hold back your bangs.  I will sometimes give it a spritz of hairspray if I have fly-aways, or use mousse if I want a smoother look.

Voila!

The first time I wore a messy bun out, someone asked me if I was going to be in a wedding.  Seriously?  Well, OK!  I’ll take ‘formal’ over ‘frumpy’.

It’s a super comfortable hairstyle, and keeps all my hair out of my
face.  Since it’s so high up on my head, it doesn’t bother me at all to
sleep in it.  Which I do.

That’s part of the magic of the Messy Bun…the day 2 hair.

I took this photo right after I hopped out of bed, and took out the bobby pins and ponytail holder…

For the first time in my life, my hair has body…and curls!  I love this ‘beach curl’ look, and it stays nice and wavy and pretty all day long!  Since my hair dried while pulled ‘up’, it gives it great body and lift.

Look at that big hair!

Sometimes, I scrunch in a little hairspray if it’s a damp day.

So, there you have it…my life changing Messy Bun hair secret.

Filed Under: Reflections Tagged With: beauty tips, hair

« Painted Chair Cushions
Exercise with Mr. Darcy »

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Doreen Menu says

    January 26, 2013 at 8:51 PM

    Whoa! Love it!

    Reply
  2. LOZER4EVA says

    May 22, 2013 at 7:42 AM

    It looks so nice! I wore it to school yesterday and the curls are awesome. YOU are awesome

    Reply
    • Its_Gwen says

      May 22, 2013 at 10:13 PM

      Yay! Glad you looked good!

      Reply
  3. Julie says

    November 3, 2013 at 10:57 PM

    Just found this and I will definitely try it! I am in a total hair rut and my second-day hair is always a pony tail (BOR-ing!). I have straight, volume-less hair and always wanted waves so I’m excited to try this!

    Reply
    • Its_Gwen says

      November 9, 2013 at 11:04 PM

      I’m so addicted to the messy bun. Hope you get great results!

      Reply
  4. Penny Raine says

    December 21, 2013 at 1:41 PM

    love it, I live in this style all summer

    Reply
  5. Janiece Hartmann says

    April 26, 2014 at 7:38 PM

    You are a JOY Gwen. 🙂

    Reply
  6. Cindy Glover says

    April 17, 2015 at 8:36 AM

    wud u think of doing a video of this?

    Reply
    • Gwen Brown says

      April 17, 2015 at 1:22 PM

      Sure! Great idea!

      Reply
  7. Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage says

    June 20, 2015 at 4:23 PM

    It looks pretty.

    Reply
  8. Jamie says

    June 24, 2015 at 12:30 PM

    Dear Gwen,

    You make me smile! So glad I found your page

    Reply
  9. Jacqueline Eden says

    March 9, 2017 at 2:15 PM

    Thank you, Gwen. I’ve been wanting to figure out how to do that. I’m with you in the “no fuss” hair department 😉

    Reply
  10. Pri says

    July 18, 2020 at 9:42 PM

    Thank you. Your blog/site is kind, authentic and inspirational.

    Reply
    • Gwen Brown says

      July 21, 2020 at 1:52 PM

      Thank you so much! This made my day. 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. I’m Not More Better | Gwens Nest says:
    January 17, 2013 at 1:28 PM

    […] cleaning cabinet, and did the best she could with her sticky-wicket hair.  Thank goodness for the messy bun big curls is all I’m […]

    Reply
  2. By Way of Updates | says:
    February 22, 2015 at 4:48 PM

    […] Way of Hair: Ok, this is interesting, see? So, two days ago, I did my hair in Gwen’s Messy Bun (which is huge for me. I never EVER do my hair.), and I followed all the instructions to a […]

    Reply

follow Gwen’s Nest

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Favorite Posts

I can't believe how simple this recipe is, and it looks AMAZING! Must try this one.
Get your fix of chocolate covered cherries with this amazing sugar free milkshake!
What is Trim Healthy Mama all about? I'll give you the run down and show you photos of my food and weight loss journey.
MyTHM weight loss before and after photos and journey
My favorite THM recipes sorted by type: S, E, FP, & Crossover.
Try this delicious all natural cough remedy...I have the ingredients in my cabinet!
Oh my word...this is not only delicious, but it's been amazing for knocking out colds & flu symptoms!
This household remedy is probably already in your pantry, and is the classic ear pain remedy.
How I get my kids to fight over who gets to mop the floor...
An EASY and fun DIY gift for the Catan player in your life...
This impressive makeover was done with craft paint in one afternoon...it looks great & lasts!
The true story of a gift that wasn't deserved, and the most passionate and personal giver.
My 5 minute solution to 2 good hair days.
True tales of my son...a modern day Viking child.
I ♥ PINTEREST & FACEBOOK...come follow along there too!
This site and its contents are © Gwen's Nest, 2015

I blog here because I love to help others, so please feel free to use anything here for your own home and family.
I love for you to share links from my site! But if you want to use a specific photo, recipe, or other content, please check out the terms of use below.
All the legal jazz is here:
TERMS OF USE • PRIVACY POLICY • FULL DISCLOSURE • DISCLAIMER • MEDIA KIT
CONTACT GWEN • I ♥ MY REDESIGN TEAM • FOODIE PRO THEME
We use cookies to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our analytics partners. Your continued use of our site implies you agree to this.