How can I easily put my hair up other than a pony tail?

[Decaffstilltastesweird]

I have fine, wavy, shoulder length hair and it just looks silly and a bit scruffy in a pony tail as I have a smallish tuft poking out of the hair tie. It looks nice from the front when it's up, so would like to be able to do it without it looking scruffy. Anything involving braids is a bit beyond me!

Any ideas?

Twist it and put it up in a clip.

Have you got enough hair to use a bun ring doughnut? That's my go to hairdo

I can only ponytail, simple plait (not French) and bun so following for tips!

I can twist it and put it in a clip, but all the clips I seem to see in the shops look a bit cheap?

I don't think I have enough hair for a donut. I used to use one when my hair was longer and even then I had to be careful to cover the whole donut without it showing through.

Maybe I could twist it and put loads of Kirby grips in it?

Try a topsy-tail ponytail. Regular ponytail, split the hair at the top above the bobble and flip the hair through.

You can flip it round a few times to get a sort of bun/chignon look (if your hair behaves ).

Try one of these? I used to have one and it was really great - i used to twist my hair like it was going in a claw grip and then stretch the beads over.

A French plait would work and once you know how to do it it's easy. A half ponytail is good too.

Okay - felt inspired so tried a French braid after watching a tutorial. I could do it(!) almost. Pic of first attempt attached. Wish I'd seen this thread before my holiday as I would've liked to have done it on the beach. Give it a go, Op.
Redsippy, how do the clips stay in? Do you style your hair first?

Placemarking

It's so hard, my hair is the same and I often just roll it up and secure with a "beak" type clip.

Dobut ring does not wirk, as I never know what to do with all the "surplus" hair after you put the donut in .... add 100 mini clips to contain it?

With the donut you need to lightly back comb you hair, the flatten it over the donut and wrap the ends around/under the donut. A few grips should secure it.

Placemarking

Tilt your head forward so hair falls towards floor in front of your face, and French braid from back of your head (starting at neck) and work your way towards your forehead.
When you run out of hair, pull and bread towards one side, fasten off with a bobble and then use lots of clips to clip braid behind ear.

After practice you will have one of those braids that goes across top of your head and all hair up with no end bit (try and tuck the bobble into braid at the back.)

I'm rubbish at explaining but recently discovered this and it has been life changing! Haha

I just roll mine and stick a few kirby grip in, but my hair is very thick and curly. I struggle with just kirby grips when i go to the effort of straightening it, so I am not sure that would be enough for you.

Jaimx that's great for a first go!

Half ponytail
Half ponytail tucked up
French plait
Pony tail and tucked through
Quiff at front
Kirby grip two sections to half ponytail, then plait all
High bun
Low bun
Half ponytail bun
High bun bunches (might be too much!)
If you get good at French plaits, two French plaits

Thanks all for suggestions.

Right, I have now tried the following (I tried to take pictures for your amusement, but I can't seem to reach around to the back of my head to get a decent picture):

1. a half pony tail: it looks weird, as my hair is heavy at the bottom, so it creates a sort of spaniel ears effect).
2. the first up do from the YouTube video kindly posted by BlueBanana: It is a chignon type affair and I look a bit matronly / Miss Trunchbull-esque in it.
3. the second up do in the video posted by BlueBanana: Its a horizontal chignon type thing and I don't have enough hair for it. There's a big gap between sections, so it looks weird.
4. a french braid. I lost patience when I got to the bottom of my head and just tied that part up. I think it might be ok, but I'm still going to try some more.

I think what I am yearning for is a big messy bun, but I don't think I have enough hair. I have found a video for a messy bun for short hair though, so about to try that.

Thanks, Blackthumb. DH actually came home from work and noticed I'd done it!

Sometimes with half ponytail you need to do it from either lower or higher up. So leave some hair over your ears, or take more from the back and make the left over hair not tied up less IYSWIM.

Jaimx86 it's two comb bits attached by elastic with beads threaded on, so you put the comb in one side, pull it tight, and put the other comb in the other side and the elastic pulls them towards each other holding them in. The easiest thing to do is twist your hair up the back of your head and then put the combs either side. You can do a normal pony tail then pull it through the bead strands after it's on your head and take the band off, that's quite nice too. I did once just bundle up my hair (curly and moussed) in a messy loose handful and stretch the beads over, so the curls were poking out all over, that was good too. I wish i hadn't lost that grip Your plait looks great by the way! My hair is very curly so it always pokes out of a plait in wisps and looks frizzy. How did you get on with keeping the three strands seperate? I always get them mixed up when i am bringing in the extra hair and end up in a right mess!

Do a quiff at the front, secure with Kirby grips then a ponytail.
Low side bun.
Clip the front sections to the side loosely.

I do two plaits then tie them together a couple of times and add a couple of grips to secure.