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How to Do a Messy Bun With Thin Hair

If you have fine hair, odds are that at some point you’ve questioned how to do a messy bun with thin hair.

Believe it or not, achieving volume with thin hair isn’t as impossible as it seems.

How to Do a Messy Bun With Thin Hair

Keep reading to not only find out how to do a messy bun with thin hair, but also even more thin hair tips and tricks to help you achieve your favorite easy updos for thin hair with less work.

How to Do a Messy Bun With Thin Hair (Products)

How to Do a Messy Bun With Thin Hair

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Best Products for Thin Hair

Before you even think about starting to style thin hair, you’ll want to make sure you’re stocked up on all the best products.

Not all hair products are created equally, and there are specific things you’ll need to have at your disposal when learning how to do a messy bun with thin hair.

Anti-Residue Shampoo

While a messy bun for thin hair can be a perfect solution when your hair is dirty, one thing that many people with thin hair struggle with is the accumulation of products in their hair.

These products weigh down the hair and can cause it to look and feel greasy — even if it’s just been washed.

A good anti-residue shampoo though can work wonders in keeping thin hair clean and in good styling shape.

When I was in college I had a really bad issue with product buildup, and this shampoo seriously saved my life!

I kept trying so many different shampoos and eliminated conditioner completely in an effort to figure out why my hair looked greasy even after I washed it, but nothing worked until I tried a good anti-residue shampoo.

Just trust me on this one.

You can generally stick to using an anti-residue shampoo about once a week, but it’s also a good idea to use this kind of shampoo after using products like dry shampoo, texturizing products, hairspray, etc.

Dry Shampoo

Dry shampoo is an absolute essential for thin hair.

Batiste even offers tinted dry shampoos to match your hair color, which I love!

This is a great product for boosting volume at the roots and giving thin hair a more full appearance.

Dry shampoo is also a great tool because it can help your hairstyle last longer in between washes.

Even if you have thin hair, experts recommend only washing your hair every other day.

That’s where the magic of dry shampoo comes in.

It’ll not only help your hair maintain volume, but the powdery formula will also hide any oil that’s accumulating in between washes.

Hairspray

Another product you’ll want to have at the ready for this tutorial on how to do a messy bun with thin hair is a good quality hairspray.

Opt for a product with a brush-able, yet strong hold since thin hair does not typically hold styles as well as thicker locks.

Shine Spray

Last but not least for hair products, you’ll want a shine spray to finish off your look.

Other Products

+ No crease hair ties

+ Barrettes or bobby pins

Easy Updos for Thin Hair

How to Do a Messy Bun With Thin Hair (Tutorial)

1. Get Some Volume

The first step in how to do a messy bun with thin hair is to get some volume.

Use your dry shampoo to create volume at your roots.

This will give you an appropriate base to work with, and ensure your hair doesn’t appear thin or slicked back when you pull it up.

Related: Easy Beach Waves Tutorial For Short Hair

How to Do a Messy Bun With Thin Hair

2. Pull Your Hair Into a Ponytail

Next, pull your hair back into a ponytail using one of your no crease hair ties, making sure to adjust the ponytail to the height that you’ll want your messy bun to sit.

How to Do a Messy Bun With Thin Hair

3. Wrap the Ponytail and Secure Using a Second Hair Tie

Using a second no crease hair tie, wrap your ponytail tightly around itself.

Secure with a second no crease hair tie.

It’ll look silly for a minute, but don’t worry! We’ll fix it.

Easy Updos for Thin Hair
No Crease Hair Ties

4. Deconstruct the Bun

Now to put the messy in messy bun!

Gently pull at the sides of bun, loosening the hair and adjusting it until you get that perfect messy shape you’re looking for.

Secure any loose pieces or flyaways with barrettes or bobby pins and a light round of hair spray, finishing with shine spray last.

5. Frame Your Face and Add Accessories (Optional)

While this tutorial for how to do a messy bun with thin hair could easily stop at step four, you can also put your own spin on it with this final piece of advice.

To take things a step further once you have your bun complete, pull small pieces of hair out from the front of your style to frame your face.

Now is also the time to add accessories, such as fun clips or colorful headbands!

Related: Why Your Hair is Greasy (+ How to Fix It!)

How to Do a Messy Bun With Thin Hair
How to Do a Messy Bun With Thin Hair

Overall, doing a messy bun with thin hair is actually a pretty hassle-free project.

Once you try it a few times, it’s sure to become one of those go to styles for when you’re in a pinch.

The best part is that you can even style this look up or down, for ultimate versatility.

What are your favorite easy updos for thin hair? Do you think you’ve mastered how to do a messy bun with thin hair?

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Holly Habeck

Holly is a millennial travel and lifestyle writer based in New York. With ten years of experience in digital publishing and photography starting with her work writing for College Fashionista and Her Campus at Ithaca College, Holly has been featured in publications such as Southern Living and Lonely Planet. She enjoys sharing her travel expertise as well as lifestyle inspiration in categories such as home décor, DIY beauty, and fashion. More importantly though, Holly is a true Hufflepuff, and her Starbucks order forever remains a grande Iced Sweet Cream Cold Brew. When she's not writing or editing photos for this site, you can find her reading anything in the Sarah J. Maas universe or cuddling with her chihuahua x pomeranian pup Pixie.