Hair Rats: Creating Voluminous, Perfect Buns

When you think of the words hair rat, something pretty gross probably comes to mind, but hair rats have been around a very long time. Back before the days of the Bumpits and hair extensions women were collecting their hair in jars called Hair Receivers. These jars had holes in the top so that when you brushed your hair and some of it fell out, you could put it in the jar and use it at a later date to make fuller hair styles. When enough hair was collected, they would wad it up or wrap a hair net around it and stuff it in bangs, victory rolls or on the crown of their heads to create volume. This reduced the amount of backcombing that had to be done.

Antique Hair Receiver

Well, today you don't have to keep a creepy little jar of your own hair to create volume.  You can buy a new form of hair rat made out of foam that comes in a variety of colors and sizes.  I have a long one that has snaps on the ends to either create bumper bangs or the perfect bun.

Hair Rat/Bun Form, Long in Blonde with snaps

One warning, if you are going to wear the large bun on the top of your head, unless you are Pentecostal, I suggest avoiding wearing long denim skirts with this look. (:

To create the perfect bun on top of your head, put your hair in a high pony, then stretch your hair out above your head until it's straight and place the long hair rat at the end of your hair.  Roll it down and roll your hair around it until you get to your head.  Snap the ends together to form a ring and then carefully distribute the hair around the form to hide it.  Bobby pin in a few spots to secure and your done. A perfectly full bun in no time.

If you want to go the cheaper route and create your own form, you can always use a sock.  No kidding, it's called a sock bun and here is a great tutorial.

The Final Look

Other styles you can create with the hair rat include bumper bangs, which I mentioned before. Here is a great tutorial using the rat by Cherry Dollface.