to wonder if a high ponytail sends a message I'm unaware of?

[AuntieWithAttitude]

I was watching a friend's kid after school and told her about a summer camp where I used to work. We often helped the kids put their hair in 'camper buns'—a messy bun right on top of their heads. She asked me to do it for her, but didn't like it, so we ended up with a super high ponytail instead. She loved it and had fun swishing it around.

When her mum saw it, she commented on how high it was and then lowered it.
I didn't really think too much of it, until today on TV a character wore a high ponytail, and other characters remarked on how high it was, saying things like 'erm, are you sure you want to wear your hair like that?'.

Am I missing something about the significance of high ponytails? I can be bad at this stuff, subtle cues and such, I'm wondering if I've caused offence to my friend somehow. She seemed really weird about it. Don't want to make the same mistake again if I've misunderstood the significance of something.

Before I started using this site, I thought using ‘common’ as an insult went out of fashion decades ago! How sad that some people seem to be stuck in the 1950s.

Well, you live and learn! There is nothing 'stuck in the fifties' about not like Croydon facelifts. They go along with big hoop earrings and tracksuits, it isn't a look most people on this site would want to go for.

“High ponytail” on the crown (like Barbie silhouette) is seen as healthy and either cheerleader or jolly hockey sticks depending on USA/U.K.

”High ponytail” right on top of the head (like a pineapple) is disparaged as low class or chav. Or, as my head of 6th form once said, “how very council house of you.”

I agree. High pony a la Barbie is quite stylish and elegant, with certain clothes it looks very classy. Pineapple style looks like Vicky Pollard.

I think that looks very neat and tidy.
Is neat now "chavvy"?

Aren't people weird? Looking tidy is somehow low status.

It is very young and bouncy. It feels to me like the preppy Varsity cheerleader.Middle class, sporty American college girl. I think a high ponytail looks energetic, like you get things done
The Croydon facelift is every strand of hair scraped tightly back on a lady of a certain age.

High ponytails piss me off, I hate it when people walk/run swinging their ponytail side to side, it looks so pretentious. It’s always a princessy, up their own arse person who does this.

Other than that they signify:
slapped back and greasy: Croydon facelift
messy bun: rough as fuck
scraped back with tidy bun: girl who thinks she’s a pretty ballerina type, generally a wanker
fashion pack type (also a wanker)

That's different, the preppy look is from the crown. The 'pineapple' look is what I assume the OP was talking about, and that looks common, which is why the other mum would have vetoed it.

🙄

I grew up in Berkshire & it was known as a Romford facelift there! Didn’t stop me from sporting one then, and still now occasionally!

Ffs stop calling people chavvy.
It really doesn't reflect well on you.

A bit chavvy

I fucking love a high pony tail and swing it about in an ironic manner à la Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion (where Lisa Kudrow or Mira Sorvino is in fancy dress as Madonna circa Gaultier era)

The only downside for me is tension headache risk/pulling of follicles

And for those saying chavvy...nay! I'm as RP as they come. It's a vibe.

We are saying chavvy because we aren't talking about the same thing that you are. We mean the Vicky Pollard look, nobody is swinging that ironically.

Except it looks more like a low ponytail on that picture.

I have to have my ponytail pretty high for yoga or the gym, as otherwise I am lying on the ponytail. It's quite a classic 1950s style (I have a fringe as well) and not chavvy.

Fucking hell.

its ‘chavvy’. I thought that was fairly universal

Nope.

Jess Cartner-Morley wrote about pony tail heights and all the implications. Basically, low is smart and high is fun. I'll see if I can find it.

I don't think the majority of people look good in a low pony. If I wear one, it gives "medieval monk".

@MsLuxLisbon - fair. I admit I hadn't RTFT.

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2022/oct/21/from-barbie-to-englands-lionesses-the-ponytail-celebrates-feminine-energy

I look a bit founding father in a low pony, they were all the rage in the 80s though.

😆 Almost as bad as the towel situation when you get back from the hair wash at the hairdresser.

If a high ponytail is good enough for the Princess of Wales, then I don’t think you need to worry about it looking ‘chavvy’.

https://www.instyle.com/kate-middleton-perky-ponytail-tennis-training-wimbledon-7553030

It’s exactly where you want to place the ponytail for a ballet bun, so I do worry about traction alopecia, so we try to alternate with a Giselle bar.