PDA

View Full Version : ficcare question--troubleshooting



mamaherrera
November 22nd, 2014, 04:37 PM
I'm still under the guarantee of my ficcare where I can return it if I want to. I love it to do nautilus/lwbs, but if I skip with my daughter or run across the street, it instantly slips and starts pulling. Am I doing something wrong, or is this kind of clip not for me?? Since I'm so active, I need to have hair toys that will handle such bouncy movements throughout the day. Thanks

LongCurlyTress
November 22nd, 2014, 04:58 PM
Good question~ I tried a ficcare fakey at Ulta and it just seemed like my thick hair was falling out of the open end and it wouldn't stay put. They look so classy and perfect for dress. Nordstrom sells them so maybe I should go try a maximas there. I wonder if Nordstrom Rack sells them?

http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/ficcare-maximas-hair-clip/2941274

If you read the comments on this site, it says alot about the cllps, the lack of quality of the ones with enamel, no teeth, etc. So disappointing since they look so pretty when they do work for people. I think my hair is too thick. :(

lapushka
November 22nd, 2014, 05:00 PM
It might be a little too big. Normally these clips stay in really firm. I can't vouch for activity as I don't have any (disabled), but when I whip my head back and forth (haha) it normally stays put very well. The L can be a bit loose, but M have to stay in really well! I'd swap it out for a M and then see what that does. If it doesn't fit you, you can always save it for your daughter.

Quasiquixotic
November 22nd, 2014, 05:01 PM
so IMO, ficcare have a big learning curve. And thankfully the swap board if a good option if it is just not for you in the end. But it took me about 4 months, many of which I truly disliked ficcare, to make them work. But now they are one of my favorite toy type.

good luck!

mira-chan
November 22nd, 2014, 05:02 PM
For less movement it the ficcare should be under tension so the ends should be open and pressing on the hair. I can run with mine no problem most of the time. It can slip and pull a bit but most of the time it doesn't. If yours closes all the way on your updo, maybe try a smaller size?

As for some hair falling out, usually it needs a bit more twist or braiding. It is not a good match for loosely structured updos, I find.

Chromis
November 22nd, 2014, 05:27 PM
The centre-hold styles don't have as much thickness in the "working" part, so Ficcare might not have enough to grab onto yet. They will likely work later on though, when you outgrow other styles!

You aren't long enough for my personal favourite updo (log roll, I love thee!), but two styles that come to mind would be a cinnabun or a figure eight. That will give the clip more hair to glom onto. It might take a bit of practice figuring out placement, but I think it would work out based on your description :)

mamaherrera
November 22nd, 2014, 05:33 PM
Yes and I must have been doing it wrong, or right, but with the natilus/lazy wrap, I stick it in the first hole, push it out the second one right, I mean I don't grab onto the other "knob" to the left of the middle stuff (does this make any sense at all???) so you're right, there was nothing at the end of the clip. Now I went in the first hole made, and out the second one, but grabbing that "left side knob" of hair, and now it seems a bit better, wait, I need to jump around and try it. But as long as it doesn't pull/hurt/slip, there is no damaging or tugging on the hair, right?? I ask, because i know it is a heavy toy. I had the medium one, and I couldn't get it to hold my buns, I mean it didn't come out the other side . . . . with the cinnabun for example, do you put it in "Under" the bun or how?? I wish there were detailed tutorials, because pictures don't always show all the details.

Chromis
November 22nd, 2014, 06:01 PM
I've never even thought to try doing a LWB with my Ficcares! I know what you mean on proper tutorials versus photos, but I will try to show you what I mean with the best pictures I can glean. Prepare for the picturnating!!!

https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6235/6407293939_a85efca8f9.jpg
Okay, bad shot, but here was my attempt at a braided nautilus a while back. This held horribly for me even with knee length hair. Looks more like a Nauti-blob too. I just tried a regular nautilus right now but it is too dark in here for any semblance of helpful picture. I went right through the middle loop. It's holding, but I don't think I'd want to run with it. Rather unsatisfactory. I do love this style with forks and thick sticks, but I think for these clips it might only work out for the super thick iii+ folks as a bombproof thing.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4062/4373697659_07075fd4c4.jpg
Here's a cinnabun demo. My clip is eating up most of the hair but does not stick out completely on the other side. I have found this works best with a good well made cinnabun, not a cinnablob! Nice firm flat loops of hair snuggling up next to one another. These are a bit tricky for me at my length, so this might just be a case of two styles being at opposite ends. Others who are troubleshooting: Try a cinnabun if you are still growing into the size you have, try a nautilus if you are outgrowing it?

Happy medium updos that I think should work in between these two states:

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2536/4017245722_652fd9b1ee.jpg
I used to long figure eight buns when my hair was shorter! They don't work out on me anymore, but they look nice and held well back in the day. You can try clipping them in the middle like this or...

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6432454695_df097dd927.jpg
If the middle is too much hair, try the top loop.

One that I forgot but really like:
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3483/3991321593_1163bfa43e.jpg
Cortese's folded braid (aka Ficcare braid). I learned this one from a tutorial, but even the Internet Wayback Machine can't find the page for me right now. There should be hits for it here though and I think someone (Hypnotica perhaps?) has done a YouTube video. This one holds amazingly and you can play with how far up or down you put the clip in to adjust how much hair you are grabbing.

Amapola
November 22nd, 2014, 08:14 PM
Quasi is right, there is a learning curve. Take a look at my avatar: that is a nautilus. I wear these all day long on the farm, and this includes hauling hay, milking goats, loading firewood etc. It never moves. You can see I inserted it starting at about 2:00 and going to 8:00 (if you think of the back of your head like a clock face) and that works better for me. I put it over the whole blob of hair. However these also work really, really well in a center-hold bun.

What I would advise is practice, practice, practice. If it does not sit right, re-insert until it feels right. Even when you know how to use them there are those days... But normally I get up and the hardest part is deciding which one to wear. Seconds later I'm out the door doing chores and like today, I can't even tell my hair is up and I have even gone to bed without taking it out! Of course I have to get back up and take it out!

Maybe there are people out there who just can't use them but what I've seen is that over time, suddenly someone who did not like them, "gets" it, and they are started out on a whole new hair toy addiction. Of course, if they honestly don't work for someone, that's OK too... because then they are on the swap board and every now and then I get lucky... :eyebrows:

Quasiquixotic
November 22nd, 2014, 08:18 PM
But normally I get up and the hardest part is deciding which one to wear. Seconds later I'm out the door doing chores and like today, I can't even tell my hair is up and I have even gone to bed without taking it out! Of course I have to get back up and take it out!

Truer words, have not been spoken...

mamaherrera
November 22nd, 2014, 10:00 PM
CHROMIS--I appreciate your photos, as they help me get the idea, but thanks to everyone for sharing, like you said, we aren't the densest hair people, even with thick strands, just not enough of them on my head. I tried the figure 8, but it was pulling right away. Do you stick them in from one side to the other?? YOu don't have to worry about getting bun hair and scalp hair right, just stick it straight through?? And those do seem to hold up through lots of activity??? I find, when I've tried ficcare going in at 2 and coming out at 8, that, because it doesn't come out the other side of the bun (like yours), it starts pulling towards one side. But I appreciate all the help. I hope I can come to love them, but I need something that will be safe and gentle as I do high impact aerobics.

mira-chan
November 22nd, 2014, 10:45 PM
I make sure it goes under the bun and grabs some scalp hair. So the bottom of the clip is against my scalp and the top is over the top of the bun. It is heavier to one side I change the angle. I find the ficcare need a different center of balance on my head than forks, and forks are different that sticks. This changes at certain lengths as well. Figuring out a new balance takes some practice. Try putting your buns higher or lower that usual in addition to putting more tension in the clip grip. I have about half inch to an inch opening between the clip ends when it's gripping well.

Verdandi
November 23rd, 2014, 03:00 AM
When I do stuff that involves a lot of moving around, I put a few u-pins or a spin pin to help the ficcare a little. Works well for me and keeps it from sagging and/or end up at 4 & 10 rather than 2 & 8 :)

Nini
November 23rd, 2014, 04:22 AM
You've got to start practicing with firm updo's. I find that if I want my Max'es to stay in and be rock solid the base need to be firm.

I can do somewhat looser and messier buns too, but those aren't for working out or moving about much.

I usually stick them in at an angle, at about 1 o'clock and they slide an hour or two throughout the day. But that doesn't matter.

Chromis
November 23rd, 2014, 06:58 AM
I always insert all the hairtoys from the right. I use them either straight across (figure eight and log rolls) or with the top at a 30-45 degree angle. Bottom should definitely be against the scalp as others mention.

If it's hard to work with normal cinnabuns or figure eights, try braiding first! That usually helps corral everything :) Also braided updos are nice for some workouts because then if you want to do any floorwork, you can just let it down without any hassle.

MsBubbles
November 23rd, 2014, 07:09 AM
Depending on the model of Ficcare I am wearing (I have some from a few years ago, now discontinued, and some new ones from the past year), I have to play around with WHERE on my head to wear it. For example, I can wear my medium Lotus a bit further down on the back of my head, but I have to wear my newer onyx up higher, due to the curve and size of the Ficcare, otherwise I can't get them in tight enough and they pull. Not sure if you can tell from these photos. Also, I have to try to cram the bulk of my hair/bun in there, otherwise it just slips out. I have hip-length, fine (ii) thickness hair. So not a lot of it.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3907/14888767280_aa7572a6cb_z.jpg

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2863/10716777795_1682c7a917_z.jpg

bumblebums
November 23rd, 2014, 07:11 AM
Mamaherrera--how long is your hair, and what size Ficcare do you have? They really won't work if they are too big for you. Try making a tight bun and put the clip in so that the thickest part of the bun sits right in the deepest part of the clip's grasp, close to the hinge. The open tips of the clip should not be holding on to anything when it is positioned correctly. It took me a while before I figured mine out, so like everyone says, there is a bit of a trick to them, or you might need to grow into yours--you could try braiding some parandi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORTatPrRWGk) into your hair to lengthen it and make your braided bun bigger.

mamaherrera
November 23rd, 2014, 07:58 AM
My longest layer is "almost" waist, the other layer is about three inches up. So should the open tips, "yes" have hair in them or be open?? I"m a bit confused, but so glad this conversation is happening. And with the angle, one side heavier than the other, it doesn't cause pulling? I originally ordered a medium, but . . . . I couldn't get it around my bun, which is why I got a large. Plus my hair was getting caught in the hinge, which it doesn't with this one. and yes, I am guilty of trying lots of loose updos for exercising, as I always am paranoid about getting traction alopecia or something. Plus when I do my lwb loose, but when I put in the ficcare, it always makes things tight, and often times, pulls my "side hairs" too much to the other side, which hurts.

bumblebums
November 23rd, 2014, 08:51 AM
My longest layer is "almost" waist, the other layer is about three inches up. So should the open tips, "yes" have hair in them or be open?? I"m a bit confused, but so glad this conversation is happening. And with the angle, one side heavier than the other, it doesn't cause pulling? I originally ordered a medium, but . . . . I couldn't get it around my bun, which is why I got a large. Plus my hair was getting caught in the hinge, which it doesn't with this one. and yes, I am guilty of trying lots of loose updos for exercising, as I always am paranoid about getting traction alopecia or something. Plus when I do my lwb loose, but when I put in the ficcare, it always makes things tight, and often times, pulls my "side hairs" too much to the other side, which hurts.

I would say that a Large is too big for your current length, given your hair type. I am a 2c/ii with about waist-length hair, too, and I wear a medium. It will not cause pulling to have the Ficcare around one end of your bun, and the clip is not really supposed to clasp the hair with the tips. If you look closely at the pics that people posted here, the ends of the clips just hover over the hair. You can see it pretty well in Chromis's picture of the Cortese folded braid. Some people with lots of hair use two clips, one on each side, to hold the buns, but that should not be necessary at your current length.

Try it that way, and you'll see why the clips are so popular--they have a sturdy, painless hold once you figure out how to use them.

KittyBird
November 23rd, 2014, 08:54 AM
Maybe it's too big for you, or maybe you're between sizes. It's normal for the clip to not cover the entire bun.
I have too much hair for my clips now, but I can use them for figure 8 buns and logrolls. In figure 8 buns, I clip it over the top coil, and then add a few crinckly u-pins here and there for extra stability. I may also add another Ficcare clip to keep the bottom coil from escaping. Pretty much the same principle in logrolls. I find that the clips are more comfortable when placed at an angle high up on my head. Twisted buns also hold much better.

It takes a while to get a hang of Ficcares, and you may end up putting them away for a while. I did that with my clips. At first they were the most amazing clips ever, then suddenly they just didn't work for me. Several months later I tried again, and now they're doing a great job at holding my hair. I usually have to do several attempts before getting the clip to hold well without pulling, and some days I just can't get them in properly. Today I'm wearing a figure 8 bun with two Ficcares, and it took 3-4 tries with each clip before they were sitting just right. The clips slide out if they're clipped over too much hair and pull if clipped over too little hair, so I have to get just the right amount.

I've included a few pictures to show how I usually wear them. The first is a figure 8 bun, and the second is a logroll.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5604/15558121532_755725deb7.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pGPruG)[/url] by kittehbird (https://flic.kr/p/pGPruG)

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2950/15171010749_b8f574e883.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/p7BoWR) by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/124729000@N07/]kittehbird (https://flic.kr/p/p7BoWR)

mamaherrera
November 23rd, 2014, 10:24 AM
so many people do them different, because op here said that the ends should be open .5-1'' with hair to provide tension, and others say the ends should close, no hair. Like I said, the only reason I got the large (exchanged) was because my hairs were getting in the hinge, as I was trying to shove all my hair in the medium, so it would come out the other end of the bun and it would get tangled in the hinge, I called customer service, and they told me there was a different in the enamel and acetate I believe, that one was a bit more open near hinge and the other a bit more narrow. So they told me in "that one" i had, I should get a large. But I see what you all are saying. Like I said, when I start jumping, it doesn't pull initially, but rather it slides down and then of course, it starts pulling. I do need to play, but you all have given some really good tips so I have things to try and play with. Thanks

mamaherrera
November 23rd, 2014, 10:37 AM
so many people do them different, because op here said that the ends should be open .5-1'' with hair to provide tension, and others say the ends should close, no hair. Like I said, the only reason I got the large (exchanged) was because my hairs were getting in the hinge, as I was trying to shove all my hair in the medium, so it would come out the other end of the bun and it would get tangled in the hinge, I called customer service, and they told me there was a different in the enamel and acetate I believe, that one was a bit more open near hinge and the other a bit more narrow. So they told me in "that one" i had, I should get a large. But I see what you all are saying. Like I said, when I start jumping, it doesn't pull initially, but rather it slides down and then of course, it starts pulling. I do need to play, but you all have given some really good tips so I have things to try and play with. Thanks

spidermom
November 23rd, 2014, 11:33 AM
My hair was always wandering into the exposed spring and then getting pulled out, so Ficcare turned out to be not for me. I traded it here on the swap board for a fork and 2 sticks.

MsBubbles
November 23rd, 2014, 03:07 PM
so many people do them different, because op here said that the ends should be open .5-1'' with hair to provide tension, and others say the ends should close, no hair.

Who is saying the ends should close? :hmm: I've only ever heard people say here that it really needs to be open to stay in. If the tips are touching it's likely too loose.

lapushka
November 23rd, 2014, 04:16 PM
Yes, my ends don't close either. It's the only way to wear them securely. If it closes, there's no tension, and that's why it pulls (too big). If I may be so blunt, but I very much doubt with ii hair at your length that you'd need a L, so I'd try and trade it for a M on the swap board. :)

Islandgrrl
November 23rd, 2014, 04:23 PM
The ends need to be open to maintain tension on the spring. It holds best that way. The only time my Ficcare don't hold is if the ends close completely or if I only wear one.

Kaelee
November 23rd, 2014, 04:27 PM
When I do a LWB, I go in at the center where you're supposed to, and out THROUGH the other side, instead of going out through the center. I do this with sticks as well as ficcares and flexis. It's more comfortable and holds better.

Like this: http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag402/klmcjilton/Mobile%20Uploads/20140910_102526_zpsi1bsnitz.jpg (http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/klmcjilton/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20140910_102526_zpsi1bsnitz.jpg.html)

mamaherrera
November 23rd, 2014, 04:47 PM
gotcha, everyone, and I hear ya kaelee, on not bringing it back out on the center, but going all the way through. I might have to check the swap board, of I can always exchange yet, like I said, I have the 30 day guarantee.