I'm having an issue with ponytails. Tips?

[Duchess Fuzzy Buns]

So, I can't seem to manage to get my hair up in a comfortable ponytail lately. It's not that I want to wear a regular ponytail anyways, but there are styles that I like, and would like to wear more, that involve starting with a ponytail (like the Chinese bun, etc.) and it's just not working lately. The problem I'm having is a few individual hairs will somehow end up tighter in the ponytail than the bulk of my hair, so it's pulling but just on a few individual hairs. It's really uncomfortable, and it feels like it's going to pull hairs out, which I don't want. I've tried doing my ponytails looser to begin with, and that actually seems to make the problem worse for some reason. I've also tried to just loosen up where it's pulling after the fact, but it's harder than it seems like it would be to find the hairs that are pulling and loosen them. I just end up messing the ponytail all up. I've also tried different sizes of ponytail holders, smaller, larger, thinner, thicker, it didn't make a difference. Also, I don't remember this being an issue when my hair was shorter. I wore ponytails all the time around APL and never had this problem, so I think it's somehow related to length...
Does anyone else know what I'm talking about or have this problem? If so, do you have any tips? TIA :flower:

[Anje]

It's not a big help, but I'd suggest just not doing them. Mind, I'm coming at this from the perspective of someone who had huge chunks of broken hair from wearing ponytails all the time, so I completely swore them off. I probably haven't worn my hair in a ponytail for more than about 6 hours total since I joined LHC 8 years ago. Anyway, a lot of it is just that ponies do NOT distribute the weight well, so anything other than just gathering the hair at the nape starts to feel like it's pulling after your hair gets to a certain point. It's absolutely related to the length and weight of your hair, though I'm sure thickness plays a role too.

Try starting a chinese bun with a braid. Seriously, give it about two crossovers, stick the stick through, and re-divide your hair. Or do a braided chinese bun. :)

ETA: If you really must do a pony, I've seen it suggested to use a ribbon or similar. If you wrap it around a bunch of times, you can at least get it to hold evenly. It's still going to put stress on your hairline and the sections that support most of the weight, but the tension should be better. Also, try parting your hair. That at least changes up what portions of your hair support the weight.

[missblueeyes]

Try Invisibobbles or Papanga hairties! I can't do a comfy ponytail with any other hairties since waistlength but they make it possible for me again. :) That being said, I only wear ponytails for 2 days a week maximum.

[Amapola]

Anje the Mad Scientist beat me to it: if it hurts to do a ponytail, don't do a ponytail. :thumbsup: See, that's what hair toys are for. :lol: Use a fork, use a stick, use a Ficcare... You can use any of those without doing a ponytail (except in the "gathering the hair into a ponytail" before you start, type of thing). Use a Nautilus bun. Or a Disc bun. And so on and so forth.

When you just gather up your hair into a ponytail before doing one of these buns you then let it go. Usually you do not have a hair or two or three that are tight and pull and hurt.

Now, I USED to do ponytails. But when they started to hurt I took all my "ponytail-making" stuff and pitched it. And hooray, it does not hurt anymore! This was one of the surprises on my long-hair journey: the longer my hair has gotten, the simpler and easier it is to take care of. One of the things I was really happy to ditch was making ponytails.

So good luck! Everybody's hair is different so of course your results may not match my own, but on the other hand, all I have is my own experience to give advice from. It worked for me, and I hope it works for you too! :D

[meteor]

I agree with all the advice above.

I just wanted to add that there are ways of bunning hair that kind of create an appearance of a ponytail, for example:
- the Lazy Wrap Ponytail (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=129368 (Sarahlabyrinth)) or, if the hair is long enough for it,
- the Prestige-inspired Victorian hairstyle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFTXQzIY-Ms (kmemuse)
- (shortened) the Knot Bun/Pony (Comet Bun): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5w2yMI0eEI (torrinpaige)
- (looped) the Suebian Knot: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=135729 (Sarahlabyrinth)


Anje, can you tell us more about how you secure the beginning of the Chinese bun by doing a few braid intersections? :pray: Does this work for slippery hair, too? Does a standard stick work, or do you have to get something twisty or a fork, so it doesn't slide out? With this bun, I'm having trouble even if I braid the whole thing and then try to keep a stick weaved in the first intersections, for some reason, it always slides out... :hmm:

[arr]

I rarely do ponytails myself, but something that makes it more comfortable for me is: divide your hair in half horizontally, you want a top half and a bottom half. I put slightly more hair in the bottom half. Ponytail the bottom half. Then take the top half and situate it comfortably, maybe even twist it a little to give some volume on top, and then use another elastic to add it to the first ponytail. This takes the weight/pressure off the top part of hair which is usually where it pulls when wearing a ponytail.

[Duchess Fuzzy Buns]

Anje and Amapola, yeah that's pretty much what I have been doing for a while- just avoiding ponytails altogether. I keep seeing hair tutorials on Youtube though where someone with longer thicker hair than me starts the style with a ponytail, and I'm over here thinking maybe I missed some kind of longhair ponytailing secrets because I just have such an issue with it, lol. :laugh: I do have sticks and such and know many styles that I can do without ponytails, so it's not a huge thing really. I figured if I could manage ponytails though I'd have even more variety work with. :) I like the tip about starting the Chinese Bun with a few turns of a braid, I'll definitely try that.
missblueeyes, I have seen those things before and thought they looked like they would be horribly uncomfortable, so I am surprised to hear they aren't! I may have to pick some up and try them out, thank you.
meteor, thanks for the links- that Lazy Wrap Ponytail is perfect and I hadn't seen that one before! I'm definitely going to try that. The LWB is by far the most comfortable bun for me right now so this will probably work really well.
Thank you all for your responses, they are very helpful. :flowers: I'm glad I'm not the only one that has ponytail issues.

[Anje]

Anje, can you tell us more about how you secure the beginning of the Chinese bun by doing a few braid intersections? :pray: Does this work for slippery hair, too? Does a standard stick work, or do you have to get something twisty or a fork, so it doesn't slide out? With this bun, I'm having trouble even if I braid the whole thing and then try to keep a stick weaved in the first intersections, for some reason, it always slides out... :hmm:

Honestly, it's not a bun that's been in my repertoire much, due to lack of ponytails. I'm repeating advice I read a few years back, where several people reported that this worked great. Chinese buns tend to unwind themselves for me!

[Duchess Fuzzy Buns]

I rarely do ponytails myself, but something that makes it more comfortable for me is: divide your hair in half horizontally, you want a top half and a bottom half. I put slightly more hair in the bottom half. Ponytail the bottom half. Then take the top half and situate it comfortably, maybe even twist it a little to give some volume on top, and then use another elastic to add it to the first ponytail. This takes the weight/pressure off the top part of hair which is usually where it pulls when wearing a ponytail.
Sorry, didn't see your post earlier :oops: but that sounds like a good idea, thank you for the tip! I will try this the next time I am really wanting to try one of these styles I find that requires a ponytail to start. :blossom: You're right it's usually the front/top of my head where I get the most pulling.

[cat11]

I use flexi 8s and they dont pull. Sometimes I have to do it twice. Everything else does. Except lwb ponies, of course. Also Doing the ony upside down can sometimes help.

Also there is a video by Haartraum called pony to leia hair to bun, in it she shows an interesting ponying technique using sections that I think could alleviate weight. I havent tried it yet but I'm storing it up my sleeve