The Seashell bun

Along with my trusty flipped bun, the seashell bun is one of my favourite routine updos. Once you get the hang of it, it's easier than it looks and it looks very nice, in my opinion. This bun ressembles a spiral seashell (hence the name) and it was invented by Long Hair Community forums member LoversLullaby. It's also called the 'inward spiral bun' and 'reverse cinnamon': http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=83039

Seashell bun from the back and front, held by a large ficcaré-style pin and a couple of small claw clips for additional support (those don't look that good, but my slippery hair needs the support, especially if I want the bun to last for the whole day.

            

• Steps (for very long hair):

-My video tutorial:

Here is my version of the steps, based on LoversLullaby's original instructions (found here). I've had to modify those steps a bit because my hair is longer than LoversLullaby's, so the number of times I coil the twisted hair and the number of fingers I use in each step to make the seashell shape are different (she mentions the alternative way for longer hair at the end, too, but I thought I would elaborate):

1. Put your hair in a high ponytail. The higher the ponytail, the higher the seashell bun will turn out to be. No elastic needed (although I've experimented with making a seashell bun out of a secured ponytail and it doesn't look that bad, even if the elastic shows. Way more secure, at least).

2. Twist and coil the hair up. To achieve the spiral seashell form, you are going to wrap it around your hand repeteadly, in this way:

3. First, wrap the twisted hair around your whole hand, thumb included. This makes the bigger part of the spiral. Keep twisting the hair.

4. Next, wrap it around your four fingers, leaving the thumb out. Keep twisting.

5. Then around three fingers, leaving the index and thumb out. Then around two (If your hair is shorter, just stop when your hair starts running out). When you reach the ends of your hair, continue wrapping it around the two fingers until you run out of hair.

6. Here comes the tricky part. You have to let all your fingers slide out of the hair more or less at once as you flip the bun to the left (or right, depending on the direction in which you twisted at first. I'm left-handed, and twist clockwise generally).

7. Hold the bun in place while you secure it. If your ends stick out, just tuck them inside the bun. I generally use a big ficcaré-style pin (as shown above), with the additional security of a couple small claw clips because my hair is very slippery. Also, just claw clips and some bobby pins to smooth the nape area, like in here:

                                          

Or just pins (spin pins or normal). This was my first go at the seashell bun, and I was already wearing a ribbon in an accent braid, so it looks a bit weird :). Also, the pins show way too much:

A hair stick or fork (two sticks instead of one for a safer hold) also works to secure this bun. Be sure to weave the stick or fork through hair from the top, middle, and bottom to avoid the seashell shape from falling or sticking out.

For a more polished look, I usually use some hair-friendly black bobby pins to smooth the hair at the nape (French twist style, in a way). The weight of the seashell usually makes the twisted hair at the nape begin to fall and stick out , which I don't like very much. So I use the bobby pins to fix that hair in place.

 SwordWomanRiona / rionashairblog.blogspot.com.es

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