WAG Need advice from experienced hair masters!

[COz]

I completely agree with you. You don't need the stress and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I don't think all people should do hair, be able to do hair or anything like that. I was just being pedantic about *potentially able* versus *insufficient desire* I'm annoying like that I also am not out there rallying to get people to do their kids hair. I can do the fancy stuff and am well aware that others can't and don't want to and I don't want the fancy stuff either. Mine likes buns and French plaits which awed plenty fancy enough ponytails don't work because her hair is too long. It's staying long because it's useful for ballet.

Mine has really long thin hair too. But mine will happily sit whilst I put so much gel through it that it gets glued to the comb and around my wrist and ties itself into gluey knots. She sits there and says ouch whilst I rip hair from her head (only occasionally, I promise), so having a child that will sit still and put up with all of this makes a HUMONGOUS difference!
I can do wriggly impatient kids hair too, but only because I've had sufficient practice on a nice patient compliant one that I can do it quickly enough

I'm sure licensed hairdressers would faint at the amount of gel I use to keep things in place. But then, I've done her hair and left it there for days at a time too. Fortunately she's young enough that she doesn't mind this and it saves time for the next few days ;-)

I think you've perfectly summed up exactly what I wanted @Aero to be aware of when asking Mums to do hair and figured he wouldn't 'get' that it was hard work without actually trying it himself.

 

[Flossyduck]

Another tip which might help is to make sure the hair isn't really clean. My dd's hair is straight and really silky when it's freshly washed and as a result it wont hold in any kid of style without a kg of metalwork and enough gell to cause an oil slick. The week leading up a comp we leave it unwashed and it holds much better.

And I have shown my husband many times how to do dd's hair. He takes her to gym fairly regularly, so it's not lack of practice, and he tries really hard and the plait looks great when she goes in and then it all falls out. I have no idea what he's doing wrong, but he is definitely not getting any better and dd would freak if he had to do her competition hair!

 

[Ali'sMom]

@Ali'sMom @seoulmama @twinmomma : Has anyone taken the time to really sit with you and show you how to do a braid or bun, watched you do it and helped with corrections etc. and done this over multiple sessions?
If not, then don't blame yourself. I wasn't trying to say that people just had to want to and they could, I didn't mean that at all, I hope I didn't offend anyone.

If someone has made a really decent attempt to help you, over multiple sessions and you still can't do hair, then that's great, it sounds like you have a lovely friend who will spend the time to do your child's hair for you

I suspect the people who are most comfortable with hair had long hair as teenagers and spent a lot of time practicing.

The funny part is that I did have long hair as a teenager, and I was the go-to girl for French braiding. If anyone looked at my daughter's French braids, you'd wonder just why she doesn't have them for meets, because to the naked eye, it would look great. To HER, if it's not perfect, she's stressed. So to be forced to do a hair style would cause much angst in my house. (Truth be told, I love to see everyone in cool, pretty, hairstyles. But I know my daughter's stress level. For States last year, all we could manage was a tight slick-backed high pony because she fell apart (she did, not her hair) with the two previous attempts at pretty).
And no you didn't offend me I was mostly just explaining that a mandatory style would not work well for us. Unless it was definitely something that DD loved.

Thank you all for sticking up for me!
Meets are stressful enough, at least for me. It's all my nerves can handle, and as she progesses thru the levels (now level 7, hoping to compete 8), the last thing I want to worry about at a meet is if she's worried about her hair. I'm always hoping for a a good safe meet, that she stays in one piece, and that she feels good about herself and her gymnastics at the end of the day.

See ^^^^^^^^

 

[twinmomma]

@Ali'sMom @seoulmama @twinmomma : Has anyone taken the time to really sit with you and show you how to do a braid or bun, watched you do it and helped with corrections etc. and done this over multiple sessions?
If not, then don't blame yourself. I wasn't trying to say that people just had to want to and they could, I didn't mean that at all, I hope I didn't offend anyone.

If someone has made a really decent attempt to help you, over multiple sessions and you still can't do hair, then that's great, it sounds like you have a lovely friend who will spend the time to do your child's hair for you

I suspect the people who are most comfortable with hair had long hair as teenagers and spent a lot of time practicing.

I am quite adept at hair. I'm not the problem, my wife is. I can do all sorts of fanciness to DD's hair, but trust me when I say there are PLENTY of moms who can't on DD's team.

 

[NutterButter]

LOL. I did not read this thread because of the title as I am NOT good with hair. I peeked though because I was surprised at the number of responses it had. My only thought is of thankfulness for my DD's gym because their only requirement is to wear a certain scrunchie with the hairstyle. I am challenged enough just doing my hair each day! I can't imagine having to learn a French braid or going to a session to learn how to do a hairstyle and then having to actually do the hairstyle on a meet day. It's stressful enough just getting DD and the rest of the family out the door on time.

 

[COz]

Heehee. Mine doesn't know how to use a mirror to look at the back of her head yet. I may be in trouble later. I've also from the start trained her with "there's a little bump here, but that's OK, it doesn't have to be perfect" I'll report back in a couple of years when it's all caught up to me

 

[Ali'sMom]

Heehee. Mine doesn't know how to use a mirror to look at the back of her head yet. I may be in trouble later. I've also from the start trained her with "there's a little bump here, but that's OK, it doesn't have to be perfect" I'll report back in a couple of years when it's all caught up to me.

Did your daughter have hair that could be "done" starting young? We were still taping bows in her hair when she was 3. I think her first real looking ponytail she was 5. So she wasn't desentized to getting things done to her hair before she had an opinion. So many years of wanting NOTHING in hair. I used to try so hard to do pretty things. She'd have nothing to do with it. Now, at 12, she likes pretty hair, but she's also developed a perfectionist persona (which drives me nuts. Moreso because I know it's from ME), so if it can't be perfect, she'd rather not have it.
We have one tried and true style. We've tried others, but we keep coming back to the same one of braiding the front sections, pulling them back into a high pony, and braiding that. Done. But truth be told, I LOVE how she looks with her front hair pulled straight back. But then she's afraid that the front shorter flyaways will flyaway (even with gel and spray), and she thinks it's not pretty enough.

I think as long as it's not a loose pony that's falling out (i.e. my daughter at states last year, because she was too nervous to do ANYTHING), it's all good

 

[Iwannabemargo]

I have seen those poor children with velcro'ed head attachments - you bad mother @Ali'sMom , poor little Desdemona

We had the other problem, tonnes of fine hair. Big boy had his first hair cut at 10 months old and hated it, in the end the only way I could get it cut ( and it needs shearing every 6 weeks or less) was for my sister to take him with his big cousins. He would sit for Auntie, but not mummy.

 

[Ali'sMom]

I have seen those poor children with velcro'ed head attachments - you bad mother @Ali'sMom , poor little Desdemona

We had the other problem, tonnes of fine hair. Big boy had his first hair cut at 10 months old and hated it, in the end the only way I could get it cut ( and it needs shearing every 6 weeks or less) was for my sister to take him with his big cousins. He would sit for Auntie, but not mummy.

I did my best!!! LOL!!!

What's funny is that now she has majorly thick hair, and long. Not sure where it came from, as I have fine thin hair...

 

[twinmomma]

Ha!!! DD didn't even barely HAVE hair until she was 2. As soon as there were wisps of ANYTHING I was shoving hair ties into it!

 

[Mimiluv]

It's very cute. But it would never work on my DD hair, It's very fine and I can't do a french braid let alone an upside down one lol.

 

[reillysmom2]

Did your daughter have hair that could be "done" starting young? We were still taping bows in her hair when she was 3. I think her first real looking ponytail she was 5. So she wasn't desentized to getting things done to her hair before she had an opinion.

This was my DD. Bald as a cue ball until she was 3 and then it was white blonde, and baby fine. While I did not tape bows to her head, I used a trick from my days of working in the nursery at the hosptial....KY Jelly and ribbon bows work wonders ! LOL

 

[COz]

Did your daughter have hair that could be "done" starting young? We were still taping bows in her hair when she was 3. I think her first real looking ponytail she was 5. So she wasn't desentized to getting things done to her hair before she had an opinion.

Nope. Right before her 3rd birthday I trimmed a couple of centimeters off a section at the back of her hair because it was uneven and finally long enough that I could straighten it up. It was probably just down to her shoulders at that point. That was her first haircut and only one bit got cut. The rest wasn't all the same length or down to that length yet.
By 4 she had hair that was long enough to put up.

Hair needs to be up for ballet and gym = my daughter willing to sit still instead of casting off the couch or doing handstands on the steps.

I possibly, a little bit, maybe on occasion pulled her hair to demonstrate that it *hurts* if you don't sit still whilst mummy is doing hair... But I'm sure that that was just an accident, pretty sure

 

[COz]

First comp coming up in 3 days time with the new head coach. Coach sticks her head out of the door after training and says "Put their hair in a pony tail. If it's too long, do a pony tail then 3 plaits and loop them up. If their hair is hanging in their face then use gel. A fringe is OK if it's not in their eyes. Tie these (2) ribbons on with the red on the outside." Sounds like the most stressful part if making sure the ribbons are in the right order!

 

[Dr Maleficent]

Here is one possibility- it is easy to do but will take practice to ensure it will stay in and that the ribbons stay put. It's just a high ponytail then divide into 3, plait the three sections and finish with clear silicon elastics, loop up, secure with further elastic. Wrap stray ends around the elastic then pin the ends in place. Then add ribbons in team colours! :

 

[twinmomma]

I have to say a hairstyle like that would drive my DD NUTS in competition. Way too much movement in her hair. She would be way to concerned with it.

 

[Dr Maleficent]

I know what you mean - it is just tricky to come up with a really simple team style. The other easy style is a high sock bun with no braiding involved and a hair net (mesh) over it to keep it in place - this should be doable by all - not particularly fancy but if you have matching scrunchies around the bun it should achieve that neat uniform look.

 

[COz]

Interesting. Competition on the weekend. 3rd ever for this group. The first two times the previous coach put their hair up in buns with ribbons. This time, the parents were left to their own devices apart from the instructions above.

ONE child out of 10 had the 3 looped braids and nice neat hair. Another had a ponytail that was short enough that it was basically neat. ALL the others had long ponytails down past their shoulders. They slicked back fringes with gel and put on enough glitter spray that I'm still coughing up sparkles.
The long hair looked messy and the ribbons came undone and dangled around with the ponytails.

This was an afternoon competition, so no excuse time-wise, just skill-wise.

Just as well they weren't strict about it. Can't trust those pesky parents!
(I suspect next year I will be sitting around doing hair for 2 hours beforehand.)

 

[SignHere]

We have one tried and true style. )

We have 1 tried and true style, too. And believe me, I am NOT happy about it! I love to do hair! I taught myself using videos from the computer and both my DDs ( I refer to them as my " living Barbie style heads" ). Older DD was pretty flexible, and would let me try all kinds of crazy styles. Younger DD, has 1 style.

I get bored of doing the same style, so I stalk older DD and do her hair in the evenings, while we are watching TV. Pretty lame.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

Tight hair, tight gymnastics. Super slick, some sort of bun. I don't do a true ballet bun but dds hair is always up. I loved doing a squiggle bun but usually now do many braids wrapped around and secured.

We don't do hair ribbons here, scrunchie that comes with the comp suit goes around the bun.