Polished ponytail?

[TronaldDump]

A friend of mine is always posting amazing pics on Facebook of herself with her kids. She doesn't wear much makeup but her clothes always look good and her hair is always great - even in a ponytail there's something special about it, never just flat and scraped back.

Ive got a hair pulling 10 month old and not much time for myself, plus I'm growing out a bob so more often than not my hair is scraped back with bits escaping, it looks pretty shit!

I'd love any advice on how to make a ponytail a bit more special - how does she make it look so good? Does it take tons of time and effort?

I LOVE ponytails and done correctly they are so polished and elegant. For me I blow dry my hair with mousse and a round brush and then pull all the hair back from my face and tie back with a thin elastic the same colour as my hair. I think use a barrel tong to " style" he ponytail as a separate entity, so I take the ponytail and tong the whole thing, by curling the ends under. A bit of hairspray at the front keeps stray strands from going a bit messy. You'll need to experiment with ponytail height and volume at the top.

Oh Lucy I bet you look amazing! But that's so much bloody work, more than just wearing it down. Fuck. Is there no lazy cheat for this?

See if I go to all the trouble of straightening it it ain't going in a pony tail

I find pulling my hair a bit looser at the side helps a ponytail look a bit less scraped back.
Other than that, I haven't got a bloody clue.

There are lots of youtube videos on how to style pony tails.

Agreed pisssssedoff if I'm making an effort I might as well wear it down. But I suspect a good pony tail requires blow drying and straightening and products, not just looking in the mirror, thinking 'I can just about get another day out of this' and scraping it back.

leccy will try loosening at the sides - good tip thanks!

burnished can you recommend any videos in particular? I've had a quick look and there seem to be a lot of 'fancy' ponytails. What I really want is a kind of posh-girl-effortlessly-voluminous 'oh I just tied back my Titan hair' type look, and YouTube seems to be very full of polished ladies who look very high maintenance!

Place marking as I'm in the same boat OP, good thread.

I wonder if your friend could help? I bet she'd be happy to if you say you like how she does her own hair. I love a ponytail, especially with a bit of height at the front of the hair, a bit of a bump. I do attempt this but it's not as polished as some mange it.

ilove that would be a sensible thing to do but we're not so close any more really and I don't think I could bring myself to look pathetic!

A bit of YouTube research last night has come up with a few things to try:

Tie up the bottom half of the hair first with a separate band so it doesn't drag the whole thing south

Back comb the top a bit before tying back

Try using a hair bungee (?) rather than a band for better hold

I think I need some kind of root lifting/Volumising product - mousse maybe? Anyone got any hero products?

My tips for a ponytail are:

Section off the top layer and the hair around your face and tie this up first like a top knot ponytail. Then gather the rest of your hair up and join it to the top knot with a band over the top. It will look like a normal ponytail, but with more height at the top.

A bit of dry shampoo will give your hair some oomph at the roots.

Use a clear band or one matched to your hair colour.

For a more polished look, take a small section of hair from the ponytail and wrap it around the base, fixing underneath with a grip.

I like a bit of V05 Smoothly does it spray (pink can) to keep any fly away bits in place.

I agree with ilost those are good tips. Then if you can spare time it's still worth styling the ponytail itself just a little, with straighteners or tongs. It takes way less time than if you were going to straighten a whole head of hair to wear it down.

Tip your head upside down, part your hair half way across the top of your head, spray hairspray and massage into the roots. Do this in a few spots and it should add volume.

Pull hair back into high ponytail if you can and once secured you can tug gently near the band to loosen the hair a bit.

If your hair is still relatively short, do two ponytails, start with a half up half down style, this will pull the sides up rather than back, then do another ponytail at the back of your head including the top one in.

My hair is relatively thin so I find this helps. I also mastered the "messy" bun the other week!

Bumble and Bumble's volumiser is cracking for high ponytails, and a spray of hairspray around the hairline at the front gets rid of all the fluffy bits.

Thanks to pregnancy hair loss, I'm now left with a comedy ring of new baby hair around the perimeter of my head, I can get a lovely pony tail, but with this halo of fluff that cannot be tamed!