The tight, secure bun ballerinas sport for performances is not necessarily the same bun they wear for classes and rehearsals. Depending on the strictness of the ballet school policy, many dancers wear their hair in loose or braided buns outside of performances. Both buns use a pony tail as the base. For a loose bun, twist the long end of the pony tail around the base and secure with another hair elastic. For a braided bun, braid the ponytail and close off the end with another elastic, then wrap it around the base like the loose bun. Secure the braid against your head with hair bins.
The base of any bun -- formal or casual -- is sturdy hair elastics. Small translucent or colored plastic hair ties often stretch or break, so dancers prefer the thick rubber ones wrapped with string to prevent snags. Ballerinas with short hair use hair pins or metal flip clips to keep in place shorter pieces of hair that don't fit in the bun. Classical ballet buns -- the neat ones used for performances -- also require gel or hairspray to keep hair flat and a hair net and pins to keep the bun in place.
A classical ballet bun begins the same way as their less formal counterparts -- with a pony tail. Ballerinas first add gel to their hair, then brush it back into place for the pony tail, which should be placed a little higher than the middle of the back of the head. Like a loose bun, ballerinas wrap the long end of the pony tail around the base, but take care to carefully twist the long end so the hair remains together as much as possible. Instead of securing the ponytail with a hair elastic, ballerinas place hair pins at regular intervals around the base of the bun and wrap a hair net over the top.
Though the classical bun can be adapted to a variety of costumes with the addition of headpieces, some rare roles -- typically for lead dancers -- require other hairstyles to enhance the ballerina's character. Even when the role calls for the ballerina's hair to be down in some fashion, she still must keep it securely arranged and off her face. Romantic leads and peasants often wear their hair with only the top third or half pulled back with an elastic in a formal, half-ponytail style. This updo can be specialized with a French braid framing the face, beginning several inches to one side of the dancer's part, crossing the part and continuing down to the other ear. Since complicated styles like this can make it difficult for the ballerina to do quick changes, she may simple pull her hair off her face with criss-crossed hair clips over the top of her head, like a headband.