Lately I've been wearing my hair up in a bun with hairsticks durring the day to avoid tangles and the cat chewing on it(she likes my hair). I know I've heard that using an elastic to secure hair in the same place all the time can cause damage, but what about twisting my hair to get it up with the hairsticks? My hair tends to slide out unless the 'do is pretty firm, so I tend to make the twists a bit on the tight side. Would doing that daily cause any damage or should I go back to wearing it down/alternating styles for the every-day wear?

I really don't think tight hairstyles would be good for ones hair...Being that it puts tension on the strands and scalp. I would think pulling the hair taut would cause frizz and quite possibly breakage.  :-/

You could try a *braided* bun with hairsticks-I wear my hair like that almost every day,and I find that I don't have to twist the bun so tightly when the length is braided to get a very secure do.
When I just coil the hair up in a bun I have to twist rather tightly too,because my hair is fine and slippery.
I have also heard that too much tension on the scalp might cause a receeding hairline in later years,so I'm a bit careful about that :)

I have trouble with this giving me migraines too.  I find that tucking the tail all the way underneath on the last coil helps.  Then I anchor the sticks by sort of fig 8'ing - i.e., I put it through the coil next to the outside on, pull it over said outside one and anchor - on the other side I try to go through the next to outside one and anchor it over the outside.

Oy!  I just know that didn't make much sense - it's basically using the bulkier part for anchoring and using it to tuck the last coil underneath.

Also, more hairsticks in different locations to equalize stress can help.  Mostly, I think varying is good.

The braid is an excellent way to get better anchors...g

I put my hair into a ponytail before starting to twist. I haven't noticed any breakage from the ponytail, and I try to change its place every now and then so that my bun is either nearer the crown or low.

I don't twist my hair very tightly- just firmly. I also use a thin bun net, which keeps me free of worrying of occassional stray hairs or escaping ends.

If I want a very gentle yet secure bun, I make a scarf bun (instructions posted in Casual styles). For that, I fasten my hair with a very soft and wide toweling elastic make a loose bun fastened with just two or three hairpins. The scarf cover will keep it in place firmly all day.

I'm always worried about the stray hairs getting away from me, maybe I could try a bun net to see how that works. I'm really curious about trying the braided bun, however my braiding skills are rather poor at the moment.
My hair feels and looks a lot better if it's not let down all the time, so I'm in the proccess of finding something easy and quick to do most days.

Long hair almost dictates braiding skills (or acquiring a hair minion to do the braiding for you).  

Learning to braid when your hair is shorter is much easier than waiting until it gets longer.  It really isn't that hard, but practice will make it an easy, automatic skill.

The braiding itself isn't too difficult, I do a braid over my shoulder for bed and two braid for working outside or such, but one braid down the middle of the back gets me. It's difficult for me to do something if I can't see exactly what I'm doing. I need more practice at that.

Practice, practice, practice. If it helps, I knew I could braid other peoples' hair from doing all kinds of dorky summer craft projects as a kid. However, when it came to MY hair, that was a different story. I attempted braiding my hair at least a dozen or more times before it finally *clicked*.

I agree that not seeing what I was doing was the major cause for my frustration. I just acquired a book about various long hair styles and they recommend trying three times then stopping. In other words, try it out three times in a row, if the planets and circuit smurfs are not in alignment give it a rest before trying again. BUT! do try again, but only three times at a shot. I think this is excellent advice because, I know myself, I get frustrated, but if I attempt it again later, I might have some success.

When you do you get it. You'll know the joys.

I realise I'm a bit late in replying, but I find for me that I can twist up a bun on the back of my head and then just put an elastic somewhere across it: maybe this helps?
By the way, if this is done above the ears on each side of the head, it looks vaguely like Princess Leia's hair  ;D

I usually wear my hair in a single braid down my back, so I have over the years gotten quite good at it.  Of course, it probably helped that I was usually braiding my hair in the dark and couldn't have looked at a mirror if I wanted to. :)  I find that it's easy to do by starting the braid and then flipping it up over the top of my head as I go.  (You can look at it in the mirror while it's like this.)

I'm late in replying on this too, but I have some great advice I once read on another site.  I used to have trouble securing my hair in a bun without using hundreds of pins, twisting it tight, etc.  Now I can secure my hair using only three or four large hair pins thanks to this North-South-East-West advice.   Basically, as you coil your bun, you put a pin close to the scalp in at the bottom of the bun (North), then put another down (South). Then, still holding the coil, you put in East and West so that the pins interlock with North and South under the bun.  The interlocking pins allow you to coil your hair more loosely and still hold a nice bun.  I have very slippery, fine hair and it was hard to hold a bun without coiling it tightly, without feeling it pull on my head, etc. but when I read this advice, something just clicked and I was able to bun my hair using very few pins (sometimes I am able to put it up with only three pins) and I hardly feel anything at all.

Hope that made sense.

Kim

RedKim:  Do you put the pins in AS your coiling, during the bunning process, or do you coil the whole bun up first and THEN use the NSEW method?  I'm imagining that as you begin to twist and come back up is when you put N in, then as you've gone up around the top and start coming back down you put S in, then E, then W...would that be right?  I've got to try this, sounds like a good method.  Thanks for the idea!  ;)

Actually, I've done it both ways.  I should have explained it better.  When I first learned how to make the bun, I would put in the pins AS I wrapped the coils, so yes, you would use more than four pins--and in this case, you would pin them a little to the right or left of the first pins, or you could take out the initial pins and reposition them.  The key is to have them "link" under the bun.  

Alternatively, you can create the bun and holding it in place, put in the pins. I do this now that I am more adept at bunning my hair.

Oh, and today, I'm in love with how I did my hair.  I'll share.  I actually created a high pony tail, using a very soft scrunchy. Then, I wound hair around it very loosely and secured it with four of those smaller "butterly clips."  It's a very glamorous look (and balances out my sweats--ha), it adds even more volume to the bun, and the weight is fairly evenly distributed--no pulling, etc. I was just playing around this morning and it happened.  

I also wear my hair in a french braid, dutch braid (a "backwards" french braid) or a plain braid in the back.  

Kim

I apologize if you already have this posted somewhere (you probably do), but how long is your hair, kim?  Are you longer than BSL?

Hi, I'm sorry not to have responded sooner.

I am not sure how long my hair is--I haven't actually measured it.  I am pretty tall (5'8") and my hair is about 1" above my waist.  

When I get a moment, I will get someone to take a picture for me to post. I realize I'm about the only one on here with no pic of her hair.

Kim