15 Easy Hailey Bieber Bun Looks I Recreated
Fifteen bun looks recreated over a few months, and the thing I got wrong for most of them — the bun is not the point. What you actually see is the smooth surface from part to nape, and the knot should be small.
In this article · 22
- How I Picked These
- The 15 I Recreated
- 1. Small Slicked Low Bun
- 2. Low Bun with a Centre Part
- 3. Low Bun with a Deep Side Part
- 4. Slicked High Bun
- 5. Twisted Low Knot
- 6. Bun on a Bob
- 7. Bun on Long Hair, Wrapped Tight
- 8. Bun with the Band Wrapped in Hair
- 9. Bun with Two Face-Framing Pieces
- 10. Bun with No Pieces Out
- 11. Second-Day Slicked Bun
- 12. Bun on Freshly Washed Hair
- 13. Bun with a Single Pin
- 14. Bun with Crown Volume
- 15. A Large Loose Bun
- What Worked Best
- What I Would Do Differently
- Mistakes to Avoid
- FAQ
- Final Thoughts
I spent a few months recreating these and got the proportion wrong on most of them before working out why.
The bun is not the point. What you actually look at is the smooth, unbroken surface running from the part down over the crown to the nape. The knot is where that surface ends — it is punctuation, not the sentence.
Every version I made that failed had too big a knot.
How I Picked These
I recreated fifteen over about three months and photographed each one from behind, which turned out to be the useful angle. From the front they all looked broadly similar; from behind the difference between the ones that worked and the ones that did not was immediate.
The ones that worked had small knots and unbroken surfaces. The ones that did not had volume somewhere — at the crown, at the sides, or in the bun itself.
The 15 I Recreated
1. Small Slicked Low Bun
The benchmark. Tiny knot, glass-smooth surface. The knot is the smallest part of the look and the surface running into it is the largest, which took me a while to accept.
2. Low Bun with a Centre Part
The part clean and visible, the knot minimal. With the hair pulled back, the part is on show for its whole length, so I comb it against an edge rather than by eye.
3. Low Bun with a Deep Side Part
The one asymmetric version, and it worked well. A deep part gives the surface a direction to travel, which makes it easier to get genuinely smooth.
4. Slicked High Bun
Higher, more severe, same small knot. The height changed the register completely without changing anything about the technique.
5. Twisted Low Knot
One twist, two pins. Softer, and quicker than anything else here. I use this on mornings when I have two minutes rather than five, and nobody has ever noticed the difference.
6. Bun on a Bob
Short hair, and it gave the best proportion of the fifteen. A bob produces a small knot without any effort, which is exactly the proportion the look wants.
7. Bun on Long Hair, Wrapped Tight
Length wound tighter to keep the knot small. Long hair has to be wound much tighter to reach the same size, which is the extra work the length costs.
8. Bun with the Band Wrapped in Hair
One section wound around to hide the tie. Two seconds, and it removed the one detail that was making mine look like an everyday bun.
9. Bun with Two Face-Framing Pieces
Two only. Four looked unfinished rather than soft. Two reads as a decision and four reads as a bun coming down, which is a narrower margin than I expected.
10. Bun with No Pieces Out
The cleanest version, and my favourite of the fifteen. Nothing left out at all, which puts the whole weight of the look on the surface being genuinely smooth.
11. Second-Day Slicked Bun
Unwashed hair, a third of the product, held all day. Natural oil at the perimeter does part of the slicking, so day two was consistently my best result.
12. Bun on Freshly Washed Hair
Slipped constantly and needed three times the gel. Wash day is the one day this look actively fights you, and no amount of product fixed it properly.
13. Bun with a Single Pin
One piece of jewellery placed at the base. One piece only — anything more competes with the severity the rest of the style depends on.
14. Bun with Crown Volume
Volume at the top. Wrong, and obviously so from behind. I could not see it in the mirror and it was unmistakable in a photograph, which is how I found out.
15. A Large Loose Bun
The knot competing with the surface. The version to avoid. A large knot draws the eye away from the smooth run that is actually the point of the whole look.
What Worked Best
Keeping the knot small. The single change that fixed most of my attempts, and it took me longer to notice than it should have.
Starting on unwashed hair. Second-day hair grips itself. Clean hair slips and needs so much product that the result looks heavy.
Photographing from behind. The front view hid every problem. The back view showed all of them. I now take one photograph from behind before I leave.
Leaving nothing out, or leaving exactly two pieces. Anything between those two options read as unfinished. Three pieces was the worst version I tried.
A bob. Short hair produced the right proportion with no effort at all, which surprised me. Length is what makes the knot hard to keep small.
What I Would Do Differently
I would stop adding volume at the crown. I did it out of habit for the first month. It undoes the smooth surface entirely.
I would use less gel, sooner. Most of my early attempts were over-producted rather than under-styled. Start with half what you think you need and add only if the perimeter is still moving.
I would have tried it on unwashed hair from the start. I was washing my hair specially, which made everything harder.
I would keep a small comb rather than more product. Smoothing works; reapplying does not.
I would judge from behind every time. It is the only view that tells you the truth.
Mistakes to Avoid
A large knot. It competes with the surface that is doing the work.
Volume at the crown. It breaks the line from part to nape.
Freshly washed hair. It slips and triples the product needed.
Three or four face-framing pieces. Two, or none.
Judging it only from the front. Everything hides there.
FAQ
Why small? The knot is punctuation — the smooth surface is the style.
Do you need long hair? No. A bob gives the right proportion effortlessly.
What holds it? Unwashed hair and a little strong gel, not a lot of gel on clean hair.
Final Thoughts
Make the knot smaller than feels right and photograph the back before you leave. Those two habits fixed more of my attempts than any product did — and the second one is how I finally worked out that the bun was never what I was looking at.
For the half-up version see 20 cute hailey bieber half up hair ideas, and for the everyday repertoire see 25 hailey bieber hairstyles for every day. More in Celebrity Hair.
