Parents how to make a neat ponytail

[mommyof1]

I am completely incompetent at hairstyling. Partly for this reason, I made my daughter wear her hair in a bob for as long as I possibly could. This year, however, she has insisted on growing it out so she can have a proper ponytail like a "real gymnast." (Oh, for the days of Mary Lou Retton and Kerri Strug!) Now I cannot figure out how to get her hair to lie smoothly in a ponytail. I have tried the Wet Brush, a boar-bristle brush, and a vented wire brush, and all of them leave ridges in her hair that get worse when I put the elastic in. Her hair is fine but thick, if that matters. This seems like the most basic of gym mom tasks, and I am failing miserably. If I can't even make a neat ponytail for practice, I don't know what I am going to do for meets (the only team requirements are that it is neat and doesn't flop in her face). Help?

 

[Clover]

Spray Gel work fabulously. It allows you to spray and then brush into a ponytail without the gloppy mess of regular gel or the stiffness of hairspray.

 

[Deleted member 17723]

How old is she?

I am old enough to do my own hair obviously, so if she could this might work. This did the trick for me! I lay on my bed, couch, etc with my head and hair off. Then keeping my head down I put it into the ponytail. Gravity is working in your favor and it helps me tremendously. Even is she lays down you might be able to do it. If this is confusing... let me know.

 

[sce]

I agree with gel of some sort (possibly damp hair too). Then after you brush the hair and use your hands to smooth the hair and pull it into the ponytail.

Also, dd uses the plain goody hair elastics. She usually uses at least 2 of them. Link Removed

Sometimes you need a couple barrettes to smooth out a few final bumps. Snap clips are best for this: Link Removed

 

[Sasha]

My daughter has similar hair - fine and silky, but a lot of it. She's 9.

Creating a smooth pony tail for practice is a bit challenging as I don't want to be using gel or anything in her hair during the week. For gym practice, it's never perfect, but it doesn't have to be for her. She will also re-adjust/take it out and put it back in as her hair is very 'slippery'. But even for a somewhat imperfect pony, I have to spend a few minutes trying to brush it and gather it into the best I can.

For meets, though, when I need a nice perfect-as-possible pony as a base to wrap the bun around, I do wet it with gel, and work patiently to brush it up from the back, gather, brush up from the side, gather, other side, gather, front, gather... takes what seems like forever for me to keep brushing to the place I get those "ridges" out.

I start with a detangler brush to get the hair mostly in the right place near the top of the head, then I change to a smoothing (soft bristle) brush as I get closer before putting on the elastic hair tie.

I basically follow this video, except I have't done the part at the end where they use that plastic topsy-tail thingy to "wrap" hair aroud the elastic. That's a cool trick though!

Basically, it takes me a long time! Longer than this video shows (but my daughter has more hair than this video subject). So don't feel bad!

 

[ROMfan]

As a stylist the best thing I can tell you is brush it, smooth it with your hands, then use a comb to get rid of all the bumps.

If your aren't coordinated to do this (comb smoothing) prior to putting the hair tie on, then brush and hand smooth, put hair tie in, smooth hair bumps with comb --fine teeth get rid of all bumps--and put a second hair tie over the first if necessary.

The brush is great for gathering. The fine teeth of the comb is a must for "de-bumping". Take it from someone who does many up-dos during prom season.

It is easy to do a smooth ponytail on yourself...harder on someone else lol
But try the comb to smooth. Also, there is a type of brush, I think it's a Goody with a thin plastic handle that is great for gathering. And the Wet brush is good for detangling. But unless it's the "wet brush with shine" (has thicker bristle close to the brush itself), it isn't good for smoothing. The shine one is though...

Hope I helped

 

[Pea'sMom]

I am by no means a hair person so take what i say with a grain of salt! Pea has baby fine hair and not a lot of it. What works for her is to spray her hair with hairspray before brushing. It coats the hair and gives it some volume. It also keeps the hairspray from forming that crunchy shell on her head. For competitions we use a sock bun (an actual baby sock since she has such little hair!) It creates a tiny little ballet bun and holds up well.

 

[mommyof1]

Thanks for all the tips and the video! I never thought to use a comb. I tried that and it helped, although it is going to take a lot of practice to get coordinated enough not to drop the rest of the hair while picking up the just-combed section. Spray gel is on the shopping list.

 

[NMNorskie]

I have no advice, but just wanted to say that I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only hair-incompetent mom. My mother did not allow long hair, so I never did hair as a kid. I've never had long hair in my life. My poor kid looks scraggly no matter which of us does her hair.

I had no idea that there was such a thing as "spray gel," so I'll be at Target looking for that ASAP.

 

[thefellowsmom]

Hi, my dd has thick fine wavy hair and insists on doing her own ponies now for gym days so they usually look a hot mess but when she does let me do it and also when I do my own pony (my hair is pretty close to same texture as hers, but a touch more curl) I swear by a porcupine brush. It has both bristles and regular pin cushion and works great for smooth. But, I agree, don't worry too much. It is going to get messy and redone about five times probably so just do your best. I also agree that clips are essential. My dd has taken to wearing a rubbery headband clipped in with above mentioned snap clips to keep the flyaway so out of her eyes and is happy with how that works for her. Oh and two ties in the pony helps keep it tight. It really is just trial and error. You got this!

Here I a link to a brush like I was talking about... Link Removed

 

[mumoftwogymnasts]

Use a brush to start, then the finest comb you can find - for practice I wouldn't worry to much, stick some snap type clips on any wayward pieces.
For competition - start with damp hair, brush, then a comb, spray some gel on and comb again. A tip I got from you tube is to use a clean toothbrush and gently smooth over the hair after doing the pony - gets ride of any lumps and smoothes the flyaways - then blast with the strongest hold hairspray you can find.