FAQ Friday: Princess Leia Hairstyles – Bespin Leia Bun

Today I’m posting 3 separate FAQ Fridays – the ceremonial Leia hairstyle, slave Leia hairstyle, and Bespin Leia hairstyle! These 3 are all share a similar base, so I decided to post them all together.

My notes for all of these Leia tutorials:
-It’s been a long time since I actively studied these hairstyles – most of my Leia costumes I did 2005-2007ish. I don’t claim them to be 100% accurate then or now! These are just for showing the way I have personally done them.
-There are always other ways of doing these hairstyles, so as always I urge you to research and experiment to see what works best for you!
-My extensions no longer match! You’ll be able to easily see what is real hair vs extensions.

So anyway, onto the Bespin Leia bun!

What you need:
Sockbun
Bobbie Pins
Hairbands
3-4 short extensions (same ones I use for my ANH Leia buns)
Hairspray

First up, the basic bun:

Step 1
I put my hair in a ponytail, right at where I want the center base of my bun to be. I think I’ve got mine a tiny bit high for this one, but I didn’t want to redo the bun every time 🙂

Step 2
Sock bun time! As I mentioned in Method #2 for my regular Leia buns, I make my sock buns out of… well, socks. I took a pair of socks, cut the toe off, and rolled it up, stitching the edges to keep it from unrolling. For this I use a slightly thicker sock/bigger sock bun than I used for the ANH buns.
If you need a visual guide to making/putting your hair up in a sock bun, check out this video here.

I roll my hair up in the bun by putting the end of my ponytail through the center of the bun, tucking the edges of my hair around it, and then rolling. Again, refer back to that video above if you need a visual demonstration.

Step 3
Put a couple of pins in to secure it once it’s rolled all the way up.

The thing I like about using a sockbun for these hairstyles is that it makes a good sized, sturdy base for build the rest of the hairstyle off of, without you having to spend more time trying to build a base out of your own hair+extensions. I’ve done it that way before I discovered the sock bun, and the bun made things SO much easier. For a while, I used a clip-on ponytail that was braided – I either used it as the braided ponytail, or used it as the wrap around part on top of my head. But, that was very heavy and pulled – the sockbun is super lightweight and MUCH more comfortable than having that much hair piled on and pinned and clipped onto your head.

Step 4
Now I’m going to take a couple of my ANH Leia extensions and braid them. Once they’re braided, I’m going to loop the ends together, securing it with a hairband.

Step 5
Take those two braided extension, and pin each next to each other, at the base of your hair bun.

Step 6
If your natural hair bun was big enough, you could possibly skip this step! Even when my hair matched, though, I went ahead and wrapped the bun in an extension, just to help hide the base of the two braided pieces.
You may need only 1 more extension for this part, or maybe 2. Depends on the length of the extensions you are using. I take one extension, and pin one end underneath my base bun at the back. Lightly twist it as you wrap it around the base bun, pinning as you go. Secure the end, and you’re done! If that wasn’t quite enough, repeat with a second extension.

I used braided extensions at this part – I’ve personally done this as both braided and unbraided bun when wearing the costume. It should be unbraided, though. Honestly, most people are not going to come up to you and say, “hey your bun should be loose not braided,” especially when most of the people who come up to me at events don’t know the difference between Leia and Padme…