Bun (hairstyle)

A bun made from a braid twisted and pinned in place

A bun (also known as a bobtail) is a type of hairstyle, typically worn by women, where the hair is pulled back from the face, twisted or plaited, and wrapped in a circular coil around itself, typically on the back of the head or neck. A bun can be secured with a hairnet, barrette, hair stick, pencil and/or or bobby pins. Buns may be tightly gathered or slightly messier and more informal.

In India, it's common for female college professors^[1] to wear their hair in a bun, in order to identify with their profession.

Man bun

The term man bun refers to men with long, full-length hair done up in the back. Generally found on men who donate their hair to childrens wig charities such as locks of love after passing the shoulder length mark.^[2] This style has seen a surge in popularity in recent years.^[3][4]

Double bun

On the left is the "ox horns" hairstyle, and on the right is the "odango with pigtails" hairstyle.

Double or pigtail buns are often called odango (お団子, odango), which is also a type of Japanese dumpling (usually called dango; the o- is honorific).

The term was popularized by the anime and manga series Sailor Moon, whose eponymous heroine, her mother during the Ancient Silver Millennium, Queen Serenity, and her future daughter from the 30th Century Silver Millennium, Chibiusa (although Chibiusa's are more conical than spherical), all wear their hair in this style. They also wear two pigtails of hair that hang down from the two spherical buns, but this is not universal to the term's usage within Japan, itself. The term odango in Japanese can refer to any variety of bun hairstyle.

In China, the hairstyle is known as "ox horns" . It was a commonly used hairstyle up until the early 20th century, and can still be seen today when traditional attire is used. This hairstyle differs from the odango slightly in that it is gender neutral; Chinese paintings of children have frequently depicted girls as having matching ox horns, while boys have a single bun in the back.

References

See also

• Chignon (hairstyle)

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