Bah, the Dr. Strangelong allusion sounded much better in my head. That aside, I began a multi-year mission back in Oct 2005. It was both daring and unheard of for me: I decided to grow my hair out. Well, here I am, almost a year and a half later, and I find myself amidst the “awkward stage.” The stage where it’s not quite long enough to pull all of it back completely, but pretty much looks ridiculous otherwise due to my quite curly hair.
Now, I’m a guy, I’ve been toughing it out. Generally, I just throw some goop on there and part it down the middle to make it look decent. However, the hair on the back of my head is almost impossible to restrain. It pretty much goes wherever and can sometimes look a bit crazy. But I’ve lived with this.
Okay, okay, so what’s my point? I want to join a gym soon to lose some weight I’ve packed on thanks to a new desk job, but I’m pretty confident that hair on the back of my head is going to look ridiculous bobbing up and down while I’m working out, on say, a treadmill.
Is there anything I can do with the hair in the back to make it look decent? I’m totally ignorant when it comes to men hairstyles - is it acceptable to just pull back the hair in the rear of my head, while leaving the rest of the hair untouched (like a really short ponytail)? How do I pull back hair anyway (my first thought was a rubber band, but some quick google-fu shows this is bad for hair).
I think a short ponytail at the back of the head is perfectly acceptable, as long as the front is kept clean and neat. Go easy on the goop, try a light mousse to keep it tame rather than completely restrained.
A good ponytail holder is one that is made of elastic covered in fabric with no metal join. General rule of thumb; if your hair gets broken or pulled out when you remove the ponytail holder, it’s going to damage your hair over a longer period of time and make it harder for you to grow your hair. Go to your local supermarket, they’ll have a huge supply of everything in the hair section. Go for black ones during the week.
Another tip for growing hair out - have it trimmed every eight weeks. Go to local Supercuts and ask for a slight trim. This will help get rid of dead ends and allow your hair to put more energy into growing rather than trying to get nourishment to dead ends.
Now that’s the kind of answer I’m talking about, thanks!
Just a quick clarification - is there a distinction between male and female pony-tail holders? I know long hair is already crossing some lines, but I’d like to stay as masculine as possible
I don’t know that they market ponytail holders for men, though the certainly market them for every concievable age group of females, from newborn to adult.
Stay away from cutesy pastels, those decorated with bows or hearts, or other decorative stuff that draws one’s attention to the holder and you should be fine.
Try the “Stay Put” ponytail holders for when you’re at the gym. They have more grip than plain fabric-covered ones. Regular ones tend to slide out of my hair while I’m running on the treadmill.
My gym sells plain brown and black ones. They have a huge jare of them behind the counter in the gym lobby, for sale. They’re mandatory for people with long hair, so it makes sense to sell them there. Maybe your gym does something similar?
Okay, I’m totally clueless about this (being a dude and all). I got some black, circular, fabric-covered (sans metal) roundish, hair band things, which I presume to be said “Ponytail holders.” But I can’t figure out how to get the damn thing around my head.
I presume I bunch up the hair with one hand, while putting the ponytail thing on with the other. I can get that far, but I take it I have to double back on itself right (just once?)? Well, I can’t seem to do that without totally screwing up the mass of hair I’ve compiled for the pony-tail.
Perfect choice on the ponytailers/bands/hair doobobbies. (Those are official terms.) Pretty doobobbies are for girls, manly men want to restrain the mane without anyone noticing the ponytailer.
Here’s a how-to guide, but I’d think it might be easier to watch someone else do it and actually see the positioning of their fingers and such. Bit of a hike to get to Detroit, but you’re welcome to come watch me do one.
There is nothing you could possibly do which would induce your hair to get nourishment to dead ends. Nor is there even anything you could do which would induce it to even try. Maybe the ends will get a little frizzy if you don’t trim them, but the scalp end of the hair (where it’s actually growing) would have no way whatsoever to know or care about that.
Red, if you’re right handed: put the ponytail holder over your right hand, between the place where your fingers and thumb meet the palm and the first joint. You can then use the fingers of both hands to scrape your hair back into a ponytail. When you’ve got it all scraped back there, your hands are close enough together that you can use your left hand to pull the ponytail holder off your right hand and around the ponytail. Meanwhile, your right hand should continue to hold the ponytail. You pass the ponytail holder between hands as you wrap it around the ponytail, and the hand that isn’t holding the ponytail holder holds the ponytail, until you’ve wrapped the ponytail holder enough times around that it holds the hair.
If that hasn’t totally confused you, I hope it helps.
I think you’ve got the perfect length to wear a bandana while working out.
Also, this might sound a little bit obvious, but have you visited an hairdresser? People come in to hairdressers all the time saying: “I want to grow out my hair but I want to look as good as possible in between”. They’ve probably know what to do then.
A guy at my gym wears a kind of skullcap thing when he works out. It’s Under Armour brand, but the link to it wasn’t working at their site. I don’t know how well it would do at holding back hair, though.
(What language is that little girl in the video speaking? From all the “kch” sounds, I’m guessing Hebrew?)
If you can make a ponytail in the back, but you have lots of floppy-yet-not-long-enough stuff in the front, you can pull back the front stuff with bobby pins, but I think a bandanna is your best bet.
