Princess Leia hairbuns

I'm doing a Princess Leia costume, but I don't have the long hair to do her ANH hairbuns. If I got a wig, what kind would be the best? Are the ones you can get at one of those online costume shops any good?

 

I'd say buy a longhaired wig to put your hair up like that...casue my friend bought a 50$ wig that already had it up and it fell all apart. The ones already up are junk, they put it up with hot glue or omething-but they fall apart.

-Zelda Zeppelin

 

If you decide to go with a wig, buy it in person so that you can put it on, see how it looks and part the back to see if it's a thick wig, or if they skimped a bit on the back. Very frequently the costume wigs will be a looser mesh in the back than in the front and it becomes very obvious that it's a wig.

 

So what about hair weaves? Do they work okay? How good are they at holding up (or styling)?

 

Do you have short hair, or at least shoulder length, that you could put into little buns on the sides of your head?

If you can do that, getting a 'braid' piece from a wig shop (lots online) makes the Leia buns very easy. You wrap the elastic holding the hank of fake hair together around your bun, then twist the hank like you would real hair, wrapping it around your bun, and pulling some over top of your own buns to hide them.

This pic is blurry, but shows the side, with the twisted/covering centre bit.

[image=http://sistersola.com/buns.jpg]

I get my hairpieces from Abantu, but I think kay_dee knows of another site that is also good for the same pieces.

 

I have really short hair and its cut in layers.

 

Doctored locks is where I get my hair. I've gotten the silky straight kind and attached the buns to my head with bobbypins. I'm just about to order the jumbo braid like Cassandra's for the days I can't get up early enough to deal with the slippery heavy silky hair. (I easliy spend an hour or more blow drying my hair, puttting my hair in buns, then wrapping my fake hair in hair nets and securing them to my head with all shapes and sizes of bobby pins and hair pins)


You may also want to scan through the Leia's First Gown thread



I know people have mentioned from time to time how they did their hair. Padawan's Guide also has info taken from that thread on how I did my buns, and I think wig suggestions too.

If your hair is long enough to put it in little pig tails at the sides you can then attach buns over them. If your hair is too sort to do that, then I know Padawan's guide has a link to a wig that looks pretty darn good in the photos.

- kay dee

 

Since I cut my hair recently, I've had to do just what Sister_Sola suggested. IT's actually fairly simple. I cut out circles of brown satin and after a bit of hemming, stitched and glued the buns to the fabric. Now they just pin on right over my own tiny little ponytails. It's a much faster process than it used to be with long hair. I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.

 

I prefer the jumbo braid like Sister_Sola mentioned. It's so light and doesn't tangle like the smooth stuff. I use the smooth hair for Ceremonial, and I hate it. It's heavy and tangles like crazy. The fact that I'm terribly impatient probably doesn't help when working with that hair.

My hair is long enough that I can put it into mini-buns and then either wrap the extra hair around my own bun, or over and around. The over and around method takes more time.

Oh, and Fenig's hair looks great the way she did it. I really need to take some time and work on that method.

 

Lavagrrl, I'm telling you, it was possibly the best idea I'd ever had. With the buns prewound, I didn't have to worry if they were the same size, or if one was wound better than the other...I just pinned and went. It was heaven. I only regret not wearing it longer.

 

I've thought about trying the jumbo-braid-to-mini-buns method someday, but for now I've stuck to using a long full wig since it's worked out so well for so long. Unless I'm at a con, I usually don't have more than half an hour to get ready for a costumed event, and even though my hair is past shoulder-length, it's layered and extremely fine. Ever since I was a kid, nothing has ever stayed in my hair for long without slipping out. I was afraid of having pinned-on buns fall off in the middle of an event.

My first long wig was the smoother variety of synthetic hair, and it wasn't that great. The sleeker hair made for smaller, cone-shaped buns and it tangled worse than tumbleweeds. It kept coming undone too. I'd bought a cheaper, coarser wig some time back but never used it. Well, I decided to try it, and it turned out to be a winner. It was just one of those cheap-o Halloween wigs I got from a costume store; the hair seems kind of Brillo-like in texture and looks quite nasty when loose. But when pulled into two long tails and wound up in buns, it works great--the rougher texture makes the hair strands grip each other and stay put. It also gives big volume; at last my buns were proportional to the movie versions. It took 3 hours of styling to get them even and level.

The hairnets are essential--they're what's kept me using this wig for months now without even needing to redo the buns at all. I just keep the finished wig on a foam head and pop it on like a helmet when occasion calls. I don't use a wig cap underneath because the back of the wig is indeed just an open mesh; my own brown hair shows through and blends in. I'm surprised that a lot of people actually ask me if it's all my own hair.

When using a full wig, just make sure you get one that doesn't have a ton of volume at the roots. It'll look fake when you wear it. The closer the crown is to the top of your head, the more realistic it'll be.

 

If I were to get the jumbo braid. Do I need to get two packages, or just one?

 

I'd say two, if you go with the doctored locks jumbo. It seems like more hair than it is since it's the yaki crimped texture. Once you start working with it for non-dreadlock hairpieces, it smooshes down and seems less bulky.
But, you may not want denser braids...
Either way, more is safer, so you don't have to worry about running out.

Although, if you don't want to order it from Doc Locks', you should be able to find Kanekalon bulk hair in silky and yaky at your local ethnic hair shop, or on eBay. In Tennessee, we have Golden Mart Beauty Supply, and I always pick up my stuff there. It's about the same price as DocLocks, but I don't have to wait or pay shipping.

 

I got a Renaissance wig that was the same color as my hair at Target for $8. I divided it down the back and tied each side into a pigtail with a dark hair tie, then cut the pigtails from the wig right above the tie. I then had two long pigtails of fake hair, which I braided loosely and didn't bother to tie on the end (They're been sitting on my desk since Halloween and still haven't unbraided; the cheap hair has a good texture for this).

I pinned my own shoulder-length hair into two small braided buns. If you have fine, straight-as-a-pin hair like I do, I suggest braiding your hair and wetting it with hairspray the night before or a few hours prior to the event, and then rebraiding and pinning it. Gives it some texture. Then, I simply 'doubled' the top of the ponytail over to hide the tie, wrapped it around my little buns, and pinned it into place. Once it was pinned, I put a hairnet over each bun. I only had one fall off (probably because I lost track of time and had to do it in the dark car!) twice, but I was able to pin it back on without much difficulty (save hunting down hair pins -- ALWAYS bring extras!). People who see me every day at school (with my shoulder-length hair) were asking me if the buns were my actual hair.

I tried using bun forms but couldn't get the same effect. I'd like to glue the hair to the bun forms some day and just make them pin-on, though.

 

I do my hair in the way most others do - mini buns with my own hair, and then wrap my pny tails of fake hair over the top. I use spiral pins to keep it all in place, I find them much better than bobby pins as the hair is really quite thick. I've never had them fall out, though sometimes I have to push the pins back in place. Just make sure they're matched as close to your hair as possible. Mine were a little darker than my natural hair colour, so I went to my hairdresser and she matched them perfectly! I've had so many people ask if it's my natural hair!

It would probably be easier to have them permanenetly 'bunned', but I plan on using my hair for my other Leia hairstyles (Ceremonial, Bespin etc). But if this is the only Leia costume you'll be doing, that's prolly an easier way to go. Although, now that I've had to do the buns a few times, I can get them done in about 15-20 mins! The hardest part is making sure the mini bun base is in the right place, and making sure they're even.

 

Since the hair is not expensive (at least the non-silky variety), I just bought extra for each style. It makes it a lot easier for things like conventions where you might wear more than one costume a day or a different costume every day. I just dip into my bag of Leia hair and pull out the correct braided pieces or ponytail pieces. I keep them all in large baggies, so they won't get tangled or mixed with the wrong costume. I do have long hair, so at least the Bespin style can benefit from some of my hair in the bun.

 

For DarkSide Leia I use premade bun covers over my pig tailed and bunned actual hair. The style of my bun covers is not the cinnamon bun, but if I was doing a regular Leia costume, I would opt for making bun covers. I like to being able to pop on my hair buns and not spend an hour fussing with the hair.

When I add on hair extensions, bun covers, 1/2 wigs, hair rats, etc. for my various costumes, I have a method to make sure I'm not going to loose the stuff. After it's all pinned (using both U pins and extra long bobby pins) I bend at the waist and shake my head a few times. Then I comb any loose bits back into place. If something falls out in the shaking, then I didn't get enough pins. I do this for both my Sci-fi repro costumes and my historic dance costumes.

 

good ideas...

another option I use to keep my everyday wear 3/4 wigs in place (I have raging alopecia, so I've learned all sorts of useful info on hair replacement...), as well as other hairpieces are--- toupee clips.
[image=http://www.wigsbypierre.com/items/toupeeclips_l1.jpg]
Pretty much every hair-related online and brick and mortar store sells them. They may also refer to them as "wig clips" and come in about three different colours-- silver, black, tan.
These things are awesome if you have thin, fine hair, and eliminate the need for bobby pins and fussing.
If you do stitch your buns on to a surface to secure them, or have stitched or glued the layers of hair together, you can affix one of these to the top, and one to the bottom of the bun. Just make sure the comb part's facing the opposite of your hair growth's direction.
Like this, sort of:
[image=http://www.ultimatelooks.com/evagaborwigs/SOMESPECCAPeg125pix.jpg]

 

Lol, that's a good technique. It takes me about 15 minutes to do the buns. Parting my own hair and getting it to obey in little buns is the problem and it takes longer than adding the extensions.

 

It's definately I good idea, and I definately agree it would be easier. Especially when I wear Classic to a con, I generally wear it all day, just because I can't be bothered taking to hair out. Though at the moment, she's my easiest costume to wear (my only other finished one is fireside Padme, the rest are not yet wearable) to I tend to wear her everywhere if we're doing a SW event. My hair was expensive for me (around $50 AU for the 2 plus shipping) but there's not a lot of places here in Aust that sell loose hair pieces. But then I also try to stick to a budget But if you have any links to online places that will ship OS, I'd really appreciate them! At the moment I'm especially searching for a 3/4 wig for my Ewok Leia dress. All the ones I've found so far are both too expensive and no where near long enough for her hair. After 2 years of growing it out from a pixie cut, mine is still only just past my shoulders, so not quite long enough to pull it off.