Breakage from elastics and how to minimise it?

[akka naeda]

I need to have my hair in a plait to keep it out of the way and all under control, and then I can bun the plait to keep the hair further out of the way. I've discovered since looking at DD's hair (I've insisted for the past 6 months that she wears her hair in a plait because otherwise she gets dreadful static from her school uniform jumper and her hair dreads) that her ends are now looking like mine. I used to think that my ends were thin just because of the length, but it appears that both of us have thinning caused by the elastics we use.

When she's home DD also wears fleeces, they cause just as much static in her hair as her uniform jumper. She doesn't want her hair cut (it's about hip length now), and wearing it up with sticks or pins is just not her style. I can't wear my hair in a non-plaited bun as an everyday style because it isn't so secure and tends to come down at inopportune moments.

Does anyone have any advice as to what we can do? We both use terry elastics, so they're about as hair-friendly as you can get. I don't seem to be able to plait my hair to the end and then bun it as some people do either, I've always had about a 3-6" tail left

[*Aoife*]

Have you every put ribbon under the elastic? It would look really cute in your daughters hair. Can you use a Ficcare to put up a bun? I've seen some pics on here with people doing it. I could at my length, but I'd imagine you could. I think it looks really nice.

[Theobroma]

You could try braiding a ribbon into the last few inches of the braid (fold the ribbon in half, place underneath the braid, and just treat the two halves of the ribbon as part of the two outside strands that you're braiding), then winding the ends around and tying a bow. My mom did that with my braids for years when I was a child. It's very hair safe, looks pretty, and if you knot the bow after you tie it, it will NOT come undone all day no matter how active the child is.

[GoddesJourney]

I used some old silk and some really strong elastic from the fabric store and made some mini scrunchies in various sizes. By mini scrunchies, I mean that there's only enough fabric to cover the elastic. I just hate the bulk of regular scrunchies and the look is definately not my style anyway. I use the store bought elastic because it's much stronger and will never break because I secure it myself. I get no damage at all from these and they really don't take long to make.

[akka naeda]

Thanks for your ideas:)

Ficcares won't hold my hair by themselves. The most secure way for me to do my hair is in a plait, and then bunned, I'm outdoors a lot and it needs to be out of the way.

DD is 12, I don't think she'll agree to having ribbons on her hair, although it would look cute :) I know it seems that at 12 she should be able to deal with her hair, but the school jumper is 100% acrylic and she'd need to be combing her hair every 15 minutes or so to stop it dreading. I've tried oil and everything on her hair to stop the static, nothing seems to work.She's not the most girly girl, otherwise I'd try something like a tucked French plait, but I can just see her leaving a trail of pins behind her as she goes round the school:rolleyes:

I'll try the scrunchy idea on both of us and see what happens.

[Speckla]

I use ponytail holders that are made out of tshirt material. They're thick and easier to get off and do not cause damage.