It’s happened to all of us. We (or for you dance parents out there, your daughters) have our first real dance performance, and your teacher tells you that your hair has to be in a real bun, with bobby pins and a hair net and everything. Unfortunately, you have no idea how to do this! So… here I am to teach you how. 
Hopefully this will help.
Get your supplies together. I use two ponytail holders (I’ll explain why later), large bobby pins, small bobby pins, a hairnet, hairspray, and of course, a brush.
Put your hair in a tight ponytail. The height of the ponytail depends on what sort of bun your teacher wants (high bun is near the top of the back of your head, low bun is at the nape of your neck, etc.). I usually use two ponytail holders to get a tight ponytail that won’t fall out. Hairspray your hair to get any wisps, and use bobby pins to secure long bangs or other hair that won’t stay in the ponytail.
Divide your ponytail into three sections.
Twist the first section clockwise, then wrap it clockwise around your bun, securing with bobby pins about every inch. Make sure the bobby pins catch both the hair you are trying to secure and hair close to your head.
Repeat this for the other two sections of hair.
Shake your head hard (but don’t hurt yourself!) to make sure the bun won’t fall out while you are dancing. Wrap a hair net around the bun 2-3 times, so it is tight around your bun. If needed, secure with bobby pins.
So there you have it! A performance-perfect bun.
So what do you do if your hair is really sleek and refuses to be styled?
Also, does this work for shorter hair?
For sleek hair, this should work just fine. Mine is pretty slippery and difficult to style, and this works well for me. I find that doing this right after a shower (you can see my hair is wet in the pictures) also helps, and makes it easier to get the hair into a bun.
For shorter hair… it depends. If your hair is long enough to get into a ponytail and you can wrap it around and get smaller bobby pins in, then this method will work just fine. If you can get your hair in a ponytail but can’t wrap it into a bun, try wrapping a hair net around it and then using small bobby pins to secure the hair net. If you can’t get your hair into a ponytail, then use hair gel, hairspray and bobby pins to slick your hair back and there are little *fake buns* you can buy from wig stores (maybe even drug stores?… I’m not sure) that you can stick on the back of your head where a bun would normally be and secure it with bobby pins. Hope that helps!
I have another hair related question:
When pulling your hair back into a sleek bun or ponytail, is there any way to secure really stubborn flyaways? No matter how I pin, clip, gel, mousse, or hairspray my hair, bits of it always end up falling out.
Any advice?
it’s been a while since i’ve had a haircut, i can aaaalmost do step one: pony tail! pictures possibly coming soon… wish me luck!
Kristen - Try using overlapping bobby pins facing opposite directions on particularly difficult sections of hair. If you catch the same section of hair in opposite directions, it makes it much harder for it to fall out.
Darren - Haha I’ll cut your hair… got a bowl I can use?