Serious Hair Help!!
So, you have a tangled mess, or frizz-ball pony and you want to
make her look as close as possible to her original, beautiful self?
Maybe your pony has had a dreadful hair cut? This page should give you
some great tips on what is fixable and what's not!
Lets start with the easiest thing
to fix:
How
to Cure the Tangled Mess:
1) First determine if you
are dealing with just tangles, or tangled
frizzy hair. If you can carefully comb out a small portion of
the
tangled hair and it stays untangled, whether curly or not, you won't
have much trouble. If it incessantly re-tangles itself you are dealing
with frizz.
2) So the hair is just dry
and a general disaster. Now, you need to
start by following the General Care instructions and make sure you stop
once you have put conditioner in the hair. Comb it out carefully,
starting at the bottom, and work your way up, combing the conditioner
through the hair. Set the pony aside for a few minutes and then rinse
it out really well with COLD water. If it is still a little dry, but
not frizzy, you can try rubbing a small amount of conditioner into the
hair again and use a curling iron on a low setting following the same
method of small bunches as shown below. Rinse with cold water again and
that's as good as it will get!
3) If your pony's hair feels
pretty silky now then you can just
set it in the original style if it is supposed to be
straight or
just has a slight curl to the tips. If your pony is supposed to have a
few soft curls, see the Curling Pony Hair section below. BUT if your
pony has dry frizzy tips to the hair, you will need to continue on with
the following;
How
to Improve Frizzy Hair:
Our guinea pony is Molassas, and she is a total frizzy disaster:
We will "un-nappify" (thanks, Michelle for the great new word) her
here
by wetting her hair and taking it in very small bunches through a
curling iron on a low setting. I keep messing up the curling iron pics,
but I use a Conair that had temp settings from 1-20 and I put it on 2.
Here is an example of the size bunches I am talking about:
See the 3 little locks of hair? For each bunch I took a comb and
dipped
it in water and carefully combed it before pulling it through the
curling iron. It does take a little practice to get the hang of just
the right tension and whatnot but you will eventually work all the way
through. Like this:
Already hugely better, and don't sweat the curls, we'll redo them
too!
So, now attack the rest with that wet comb and curling iron. It
will
take about 30 minutes to work through the hair on a pony this bad, but
most are much quicker. I usually line up a few frizzys and put on a
movie to entertain me while I straighten... Now you should have stiff
fingers and a pony that looks more like this:
Looks more like a pony now, huh?
Congradulations, you can now de-frizz! Next let's work on restoring
those curls!
Curling
Pony Hair
So she's lost some or all of her original curl? You can fiz that!
First, you need to decide if you just want loose curls that will slowly
drop or if you want tight curls that will last through all kinds of
play.
To temporarily set curls, simply wet the hair, and roll it onto the
appropriate size perm rod. You can see the kind I use in the pics
below, but they have a band that keeps them rolled up, and they are
really cheap! I also have used a bobby pin on the forelock, but beware
because some will leave rust on your pony's hair!! Leave your pony in
her curlers overnight and then remove the perm rod to see what you
have. Try and resist the urge to comb it if you want to display your
pony, and simply use your finger and twist the hair until she has the
desired look.
In this picture I have used the smallest diameter rods, though if I
did
it again, I would use one or two sizes up since she came out with curls
just a bit too tight, but practice makes perfect, right?
If you are looking to permanently (or as close as possible) re-curl
the
hair, set the curls as before then go turn on your tea kettle full of
water. I have a nifty one that has a plug-in base and I can use it in
the Pony Parlor (ie. the spare bathroom). So once the water reaches
boiling you can simply pour it over your pony, hair and all. *WARNING*
boiling water will cause flocking to come off a So Soft pony so please
hold any SSs upside-down and pour carefully if using this method!! Now
just let her sit on the counter overnight and in the morning:
Now, I forgot to roll the curlers at a better angle so she wouldn't
get
the funny bump at the top, but I will let you do it better than me and
at least this gives you the general idea! Four months now and those
curls haven't budged!! My daughter plays with her and everything! The
boiling water will also curl the hair you get for customs, even the
really stubbornly straight kind! I have never used papers with my perm
rods, but I know some people swear it makes it easier to get the hair
to stay put in the curler.
It should be noted that while a curling iron can make lovely curls,
they will fall out again in short order.
Good Luck and please email me any suggestions
or comments!