Tips on taming crazy pony hair?

[Pheasant]

My collection is finally coming out of storage!

*tosses confetti*

EDIT: Decided to put my rambling under a spoiler.

Spoiler

To put a long story short, most of my ponies spent the past seven years or so in a plastic Sterilite bin under my bed. My family and I moved to a much smaller house and I no longer have the options for display that I did before. (Arguably I still don't, but I've gotten rid of enough stuff that they can sit on the shelves in my cabinet and no longer have to be crammed in a box.) My room is about 144 sq. feet, so it took some serious Kon'mari'ing to bring things to a manageable level.

Honestly, it was a little embarrassing. I'm very proud of the results, though!

Only problem is, most of the ponies have mussed hair / slightly bent legs as a result of being stored for so long. I've boiled hair in the past (trying to tame frizz and whatnot) but the results have been... disappointing. Don't know why. Frizzy hair hardly evens out, tinsel continues to go everywhere and curls won't stay in at all. I tried several different guides with no luck.

Kind of at a loss here; obviously I'm doing something wrong but I don't know what. Maybe I'm not leaving the hair in long enough? Any help would be greatly appreciated; I'm tired of having scruffy ponies lol.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

I've found much more success with a straightening iron over everything. I coat the hair in lotion, and then turn up the heat until the lotion sizzles JUST a bit. I would advise going less ham on the hair to start. I've used this on tinsel successfully as well, but try on a small section of hair.

[Safflower]

Honestly, styling pony hair is one of my favorite parts of collecting. I've yet to be courageous and straighten hair, but here's what I do for styling:

Curls - I use straws (both regular and large boba sized ones) and bobby pins. To get nice, bouncy and full curls, I wet the hair, then wrap it around the straw - you have to be careful not to twist while you're doing so. Imagine trying to wrap a strip of paper around the straw, and do that with the hair. If you twist it, the curl will look very weird and blegh. I make sure to put a bobby pin at the end of the hair to secure it, and then at the base, to make sure the whole thing doesn't unravel. Depending on the pony, I'll do the mane in 3 to 4 sections, and the tail in 2 to 4 sections. I've found they set after I leave them for a couple weeks. I'll take them out after, and then push them around to my liking. Splitting curls sometimes makes them look better. You can always wet the base of the hair to reposition them if you would like with bobby pins. Some ponies even look good with brushed out curls, kinda wavy.

The default G1 style - Wrap the mane around the head and secure with a paper towel. Same with the tail, around a leg. The key to getting it to set is leaving it in for a while. You can brush the mane to make it look more natural, but I wouldn't recommend brushing the tail.

Waves - More straws and bobby pins... lying a pony on her side, you can also lay some straws down, and weave the hair through them - I'm not sure how to describe it. Make sure the last little weave goes inwards. You can secure these with bobby pins, and of course, make sure the hair is wet and leave it for a while.

You can also "crimp" hair by braiding it and leaving it in for a while.

[SpacePinto]

I've found much more success with a straightening iron over everything. I coat the hair in lotion, and then turn up the heat until the lotion sizzles JUST a bit.

I heard that too much heat straightening can actually cause some colors to fade quicker?

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Huh, which colors? I thought they only faded from UV light. I know you can screw up the tinsel real easily but I haven't heard that.

[Shaiyeh]

I also have never heard of hair fading from straightening, and I’ve been straightening pony hair since 2006 if it changes colours, it’s because you’ve melted it, and you should never have your iron hot enough (or on the hair for long enough) to do that ^^’
What I do is I wet the hair, coat it with liberal amounts of conditioner and run the straighteners over one small section (about 2-3 plugs) at a time, really quickly, several times (making sure it’s still wet before every run with the iron). This works with tinsel, and will get rid of stubborn frizz. Like Tailrust said, just got enough for a little sizzle to happen, but not super hot, and you have to be quick.

Tailrust, I’ve never tried lotion - what kind of lotion do you use.? I’m intrigued :3

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Tailrust, I’ve never tried lotion - what kind of lotion do you use.? I’m intrigued :3

My mom ordered a ton of some Christmas lotion from Bath & Body Works. Wayy too much to make sense. I figured she won't mind if a bottle runs out quickly. It smells nice! And I don't think the hair is too dry afterwards.

[Shaiyeh]

Oh so just regular skin lotion? Cool! O: I never tried that, I might have to at some point. ^^’ your ponies always look so nice on IG

[Pheasant]

Thanks for all of the responses!

I've only been letting the curls set for about three days, so maybe I'll try leaving them in for a week and see what happens. For more stubborn cases... well, it's probably time to consider investing in an iron anyway. Thanks guys!

[tailrustedtealeaf]

What method were you trying to get curls? I've had nice success with letting them dry overnight. That's without hot water, even, just wetting and wrapping with straws...

[Pheasant]

What method were you trying to get curls? I've had nice success with letting them dry overnight. That's without hot water, even, just wetting and wrapping with straws...

The method Safflower was describing - wet hair, wrap around straw and set with a bobby pin. I successfully did it as a kid; my Rosedust had killer locks! No idea why it's so hit-and-miss now.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Have you tried using a hair dryer to heat-set the hair while it's in curls? I've had some success with that.