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View Full Version : Ponytails: Protective Styling?



Kaya
March 15th, 2011, 05:35 PM
I'm curious about what ya'll think about ponytails. Can they be considered as a protective style? I was pondering this last night. I used to wear ponytails a lot, then pretty much left them behind in favor of buns and braids.
Now I realize that ponytails don't really have that protective element if they are left loose, but what about braided or roped tails? This is what I would like to start doing every so often, but I want to make sure my hair isn't going to get too abused swinging around. :hmm:

Cholera
March 15th, 2011, 05:41 PM
Regular loose ponytails aren't protective; but braided ponytails are going to be as protective as a normal braid. In both cases, though, if you do them every day you might get a halo of broken hairs where the original elastic is.

Jenn of Pence
March 15th, 2011, 05:43 PM
Well, on a certain level, it does protect the hair, keeping it out of the way of some harm. However, your ends are still loose and prone to tangle or catch on things. Plus, repeated use of elastics to hold it up in the same ponytail every day can be damaging as well. A braided or roped ponytail does up the protection from tangles; that's a big step up. However, you can still rub the braid against things like shoulder bags and seat backs. Plus, just like using elastics on the top of the ponytail, you may damage more fragile ends using elastics to hold the braid day in and day out.

Maybe braids are not the most 100% protective dos, but just about every style can have some threat of damage at least from the items you use to hold it up. I like the look of braids and ropes, so I enjoy wearing them as protective dos while still keeping the "risks" in mind. :)

Kathie
March 15th, 2011, 05:45 PM
I don’t think lose ponytail offer much protection... I guess they’re a step up from simply having your hair down because a pony is less likely to get caught in things. But I also think it depends on how you secure them... I use to always have a ponytail break line in my hair and I would use hair-ties without metal. In that regard they can actually be damaging :shrug: Thick soft hair-ties would get around that I think.

krissykins
March 15th, 2011, 07:07 PM
The ends and length are still susceptible to damage, so I don't think it is protective styling. It does minimize some damage by keeping hair somewhat contained.

Madora
March 16th, 2011, 08:36 AM
The major drawback to ponytails is that your hair is being kept at mostly the same position each time you pony. In time that will cause breakage and hair loss.

A ponytail once in a while isn't that harmful..but not every day.

It is better for your hair to divide the ponytail hair and coil it into a cinnamon bun, or make 2 braids and coil them together cocentrically.

Firefox7275
March 16th, 2011, 09:24 AM
I've damaged my hair from wearing a ponytail constantly, loads of breaks where the elastic sits and around my temples. Adnmittedly it wouldn't be half so bad if I didn't keep twirling, but you probably have more weight of hair pulling on the elastic than I do.

Anje
March 16th, 2011, 09:55 AM
Depends a lot on the length of your hair. If it's a windy day and your hair is short enough that a pony stub won't tangle, it's a protective style. But once you get to a length where the hair in a ponytail can tangle, I'd say it isn't protective any longer. Also, when you get to a length like that, the weight of the ponytail gets to be too much for the hairs from the top of the head to support, especially for us fine-haired folk. Those with more fragile hair get breakage where the elastic goes. I even ended up with a big broken-off chunk at the top from the weight of the pony.

tl;dr:
If your hair's long enough to bun, a bun is protective and a ponytail is not.