Parents Another hair gripe

[Along4theRide]

Wow! My dd's team member was warned about her hair in an earlier session of a meet a while back. She was on bars, so I thought it was a "bars thing". My dd (who is usually so composed at a meet) began frantically asking her coach to put her hair in a bun...during warm up! Her hair is long and very thick, so the bun was comically huge! :-\ It bounced all over the place when they were running!! I then went around to the back of the gym to redo it...but I'm horrible at putting up hair and dd was nervous. Luckily, it all worked out...but man! We've never been so unnerved by a hairdo. :-\ And this was a meet they were trying to score out of a level, too!

Now that I know that it should be shorter, we will try out some new options.

(She ended up scoring well, fyi.

 

[twinmomma]

The hair has been enforced more over the last two seasons. If the ponytail is long enough to go over their head and touch their face, it's too long and must secured in a loop or bun. It is easier to explain this to the parents by telling them their hair can't reach past their neck. I'm assuming that's why they pointed out it was down to her shoulder blades. If it was down to her shoulder blade when it flips over her head it reaches her face. If her ponytail is thin it might not obstruct her vision, but they just want to make sure it doesn't distract or obstruct the gymnast.

For bun issue, I hate bobby pins and they constantly come out or the kids complain about them. I WISH USAG would ban them because they are constantly being found on the floor and the kids step on them. When I was a gymnast for practice and even meets we just did a tight ponytail with one elastic then twisted tightly and covered tightly with another elastic. You need a stretchy, thick elastic, no thin ones. If you twist it tightly while the hair is wet, and then put an extra elastic plus a scrunchy, it should be able to last through a couple routines and is easy to fix. Make sure the hair is all the way wet them put gel or product. It will work best and be easiest to fix if it's all the way wet.

If you do the bun right, the bobby pins will not come out. Guarantee it. I spent 10 years working in colorguard and was the hair guru for every hairstyle (with EVERY type of hair from thin and wispy to SUPER thick and difficult to hold) my kids used on the team. Not once, ever, have I had a bobby pin come out. DD's hair is thin and wispy and I refuse to spend an hour "sewing" her bun to her head when I can do a perfectly good and solid bun with pins, then wrap her matching scrunchie around the bun and be done with it in less than 10 min. We were told no bobby pins by the parent group at our gym and I laughed when they tried to teach these other ways of doing buns. We had so many buns that drove me insane all season loose and falling out because everyone was trying to do these fancy ways of doing a simple bun.

We were told hair was not allowed to touch the shoulders as well, and that while it may not always be enforced, it COULD be. I tell my DD that her hair is the only deduction I can control so I will make sure she never has to worry about it.

Does it have to be a bun? Can you French braid it and weave the ends up through the bottom? Though I've always done this with pins I imagine it's easier to sew the bottom half of a braid than it is a full bun.

 

[MILgymFAM]

It does have to be a bun. As far as the pins, well I bow to you. I must be doing something wrong. Seriously (and I know the wavy part faces down). I have been doing buns on my girls for years, without much issue, until DD started T&T. Her hair would survive a whole 4 hour ballet practice, but twenty minutes on a trampoline and it's toast. I have seen pins fly out of girls hair in the middle of routines. It's funny almost, but not funny.

 

[MILgymFAM]

The only reason I was surprised about the length rule enforcement was that the HC had just told me at the meet prior that the rule no longer existed. Literally seven days before. I won't make that particular mistake again, though. Luckily that DDs hair stays easily in every style.

 

[twinmomma]

It does have to be a bun. As far as the pins, well I bow to you. I must be doing something wrong. Seriously (and I know the wavy part faces down). I have been doing buns on my girls for years, without much issue, until DD started T&T. Her hair would survive a whole 4 hour ballet practice, but twenty minutes on a trampoline and it's toast. I have seen pins fly out of girls hair in the middle of routines. It's funny almost, but not funny.

I didn't mean it that way, and I'm sorry if it came across that way. My advice with the pins, if they were allowed, is that you need a LOT of gel, and hairspray, and I always braid before I bun, even with thick hair. I can totally see why T&T would be an issue, having done flying trapeze. I think sewing may be your best bet in this case, if pins were totally banned for us (as in USAG banned, not gym banned) then I would go to sewing.

Have you tried doing a partial bun, securing the partial with hair ties, then bunning the rest and using hair ties again? I'm not sure that makes sense. But I've seen some girls do it in the gym, where they wrap it about half way, then use a thick hair tie around that, then continue bunning the rest and use another hair tie then a scrunchie.

 

[tooootsie]

I do a braid and then roll into a bun for my ODD, she has long THICK hair. I gel before braiding and secure with pins, they do not come out, in fact she has kept the same style for days after a meet and lost 0 pins

 

[gymdog]

If you do the bun right, the bobby pins will not come out. Guarantee it. I spent 10 years working in colorguard and was the hair guru for every hairstyle (with EVERY type of hair from thin and wispy to SUPER thick and difficult to hold) my kids used on the team. Not once, ever, have I had a bobby pin come out. DD's hair is thin and wispy and I refuse to spend an hour "sewing" her bun to her head when I can do a perfectly good and solid bun with pins, then wrap her matching scrunchie around the bun and be done with it in less than 10 min. We were told no bobby pins by the parent group at our gym and I laughed when they tried to teach these other ways of doing buns. We had so many buns that drove me insane all season loose and falling out because everyone was trying to do these fancy ways of doing a simple bun.

We were told hair was not allowed to touch the shoulders as well, and that while it may not always be enforced, it COULD be. I tell my DD that her hair is the only deduction I can control so I will make sure she never has to worry about it.

Does it have to be a bun? Can you French braid it and weave the ends up through the bottom? Though I've always done this with pins I imagine it's easier to sew the bottom half of a braid than it is a full bun.

That may be but the problem is everyone is not you and the bobby pins come out all the time and are all over the place. I would think this would be a bigger issue on tramp with all the routine happening in one small area (they are literally supposed to stay in the same spot) so it would be very difficult to avoid an item that fell out on the tramp. I can totally see why tramp coaches would not want to risk this.

Every meet there are bobby pins all over the place in compulsory sessions. Optionals usually have less of a problem managing their hair and don't use pins. I'm amazed USAG hasn't done anything about this issue, but in artistic at least it's more possible to avoid them since we don't have to do the routine in such a restricted area. Bobby pins aren't really the worst kind, it's those more open hair pins that are skinnier metal and more pointed that concern me, at least those are less common.

 

[twinmomma]

Every meet there are bobby pins all over the place in compulsory sessions. Optionals usually have less of a problem managing their hair and don't use pins. I'm amazed USAG hasn't done anything about this issue, but in artistic at least it's more possible to avoid them since we don't have to do the routine in such a restricted area. Bobby pins aren't really the worst kind, it's those more open hair pins that are skinnier metal and more pointed that concern me, at least those are less common.

It's funny, with all the meets we've been to the last two years (I realize that's not a ton, but still), I have yet to see bobby pins anywhere on the floor or hear our girls or coaches complain. I could totally see why it may be a bigger issue in trampoline for sure. I will say the only hair issues our team has had have been scrunchies flying off mid routine.

The elite girls on tv are always using those clip barrettes. Seems those would be even more dangerous if they fell out than bobby pins.

 

[gymdog]

It's funny, with all the meets we've been to the last two years (I realize that's not a ton, but still), I have yet to see bobby pins anywhere on the floor or hear our girls or coaches complain. I could totally see why it may be a bigger issue in trampoline for sure. I will say the only hair issues our team has had have been scrunchies flying off mid routine.

The elite girls on tv are always using those clip barrettes. Seems those would be even more dangerous if they fell out than bobby pins.

With all due respect, I'm not sure you would be able see something that small in every area of the gym from the audience? But maybe it isn't a problem in your state.

 

[gymdog]

Snap clips don't fall out. Those are what gymnasts use. Again the whole 200 bobby pins in the hair is kind of a compulsory phenomenon.

 

[twinmomma]

Snap clips don't fall out. Those are what gymnasts use. Again the whole 200 bobby pins in the hair is kind of a compulsory phenomenon.

I beg to differ. Snap clips absolutely do fall out - I have the kid to prove it. And I hear what you're saying, that it can be an issue, but here's my question. I've seen multiple threads on this board about required hairstyles and how hard it is to teach parents how to do fancy braids and such for competition. If it's so important, why can't we spend time teaching parents how to do a simple bun with 10 pins or less (200? Love the hyperbole).

 

[twinmomma]

And to be clear, I'm not saying "I'm so great why can't you do it" (Please reread my post apologizing for sounding that way.) What I AM saying is that there are ways to do a bun with 8-10 pins without them falling out. I am saying that SO FAR it hasn't been an issue that I've seen or heard from our coaches. I am saying that I get why it is an issue if they are falling out all over the place. But I'm also saying the alternatives that are offered are not anywhere near as secure or clean. I don't think there's an easy fix like USAG banning bobby pins. How are you going to enforce that? Only if they fall out? Because no judge would know my DD's hair has pins in it when she's on the floor. You can see them, they don't fall out. How do you enforce that? I do think all the bun products out there are crap and there's a great captive market here for someone to come up with a good invention!

 

[gymdog]

Okay, great.

 

[MILgymFAM]

To close this up, I wanted to update that I sewed buns into both my DDs heads last night, for their practices, and it worked out well. Because it was just practice and not a meet, I didn't use hairnets or gel/hairspray. Both buns held up fantastically and were pain free to the girls' heads. It also only took about 20 mins to do both. Win.

 

[Quadqueen]

I always used bobby bins in DD's bun. No one knew - they never fell out.