Can This Tail Be Saved?!? Pics! UPDATE 4/29! Before & After!

[ValeofSpring]

UPDATE:  Scroll down to see the after pics!

Hello!  So I recently purchased a My Pretty Pony.  She is super cute and in great condition--nice, shiny, clean body with almost no marks, bright clean eyes, and she works!  When you pull the lever under her chin, her ears wiggle, she blinks an eye, and her tail swishes.  The main issue is her HAIR.  Thankfully it's uncut, and I'm determined to get it in good shape, but I need some advice.

Here is My Pretty Pony (if anyone has the brush or cowboy hat for sale, please PM me!!!):

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Here is a close-up of her mane.  The mane is decent enough but very dry at the ends.  My Pretty Pony hair seems to be a bit different from regular MLP hair.  It feels more like how I remember plush MLP hair feeling--a bit thicker and "stickier" if that makes sense. 

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The REAL problem is the tail.  As you can see, it descends into a rat's nest:

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So my main question is--how to start on the tail?  The hair is dry and fragile and incredibly tangled.  Forcibly pulling the hair only seems to break it or make it even more frizzy.  Should I try boiling it first?  I am anxious to get a flat iron on this hair w/ some conditioner, but detangling needs to happen first.

So far all I've done is wash the pony's hair and dried it.

Thanks for any advice!

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UPDATE 4/29 - Once again the straightening iron works wonders!  But only after hours of work on that tail.  It was such a tangled, knotted, horribly dry mess that it took at least five hours (perhaps more like 10) to comb it out. 

I used the straightening iron usually set on the lowest setting (of four), sometimes one up.  I think it the lowest temperature was 315 degrees on that iron.

She really turned out great!  And I will soon be putting her up for SALE, so if anyone is interested, please PM me.  I bought her to keep, but as is usual with me I compulsively keep my collection small. 

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[missbonbon]

What I do is wash the hair, put on conditioner and then use an iron to straighten out the hair. Most of the time it helps, but there are some times where that trick doesn't always work for me

Maybe someone has a better trick, otherwise I hope that helps

[babystarz]

I would recommend you slather the tail in conditioner (get it wet first) and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then divvy the tail up into tiny sections (which in itself will be difficult, as you don't want to break the ends off the hair). Use a fine comb to work on one section at a time, starting at the bottom and carefully working the comb through the ends, being careful not to yank too hard. You will probably end up with some knots of broken off ends even if you're very careful, as it looks like the nylon has frayed, and these you'll just have to comb out of the hair and throw away. The hair will still be frizzy after this, but at least you should be able to get a comb to go through the tail without it getting stuck.

[Talismarr]

I recently bought a Pretty Pony and the tail was in the same condition!! I had a really tough time with it too. I also washed it and let the conditioner sit for a while, then tried combing through it while the conditioner was still in. I don't think I actually made it all the way through (most of the top part, but I just couldn't comb out the entire bottom part), but it did look a bit better by the end. I ended up just tying a ribbon around it Applejack Style!

[Elisto]

You actually want to start with a wide-tooth comb to get the worst of the tangles out.

[babystarz]

You actually want to start with a wide-tooth comb to get the worst of the tangles out.

That won't work if she does tiny sections, they will be too small for a wide-tooth comb. If she does larger sections that would work, but I would worry about the ends of the hair snapping off.

[Bee-chan]

You actually want to start with a wide-tooth comb to get the worst of the tangles out.

That won't work if she does tiny sections, they will be too small for a wide-tooth comb. If she does larger sections that would work, but I would worry about the ends of the hair snapping off.

I'm kinda with babystarz on this.
I had the same problem with almost all of my G1 plushies when I got them.


Wash and condition the tail first, then get that tail coated in conditioner. Use a fine tooth comb to GENTLY work out the very bottom of that rats nest, and I do mean GENTLY. The tails on the My Pretty Pony are not totally anchored properly because of the mechanism, so be careful.

Once you're able to get through the rats nest, then use the wide tooth and more conitioner. Because the hair is SO much thicker than regular pony nylon hair, it's going to take a while to comb out.

Set your flat iron on low, slather more conditioner on the hair, and then run the flat iron through her hair in sections. Don't clamp don't to hard, you'll just pull the hair and risk melting it.

When you're done with the flat iron, if you're still not happy with the frizz that may still be there, pour yourself a bowl of liquid fabric softener. Enough to be able to dunk the tail in, and swish it around.

Pull tail out of the softener, gently brush with wide tooth comb, then let the softener sit in her hair for about 10 minutes.

After 10, rinse it out THOROUGHLY. Might take a few rinses.

This SHOULD help get rid of a lot of the frizz.

Then use your wide tooth comb and hair dryer to slowly dry the hair, from the tips to base. This will definetely take a while, considering how thick the hair is. Towards the end, you can use you fingers to help finish the drying with the hair dryer. Do what hair dresser do, and shake that hair around with your fingers.

I hope this helps!

I love seeing when others can rescue ponies and spruce them up! ^w^


~~Bee

[cody_sunday]

i think the most important thing will be to comb it through with it coated in conditioner, it lubricates and loosens any knots so you'll be less likely to get breakages
xx

[Eskara1862]

YES!  It can be saved!

I totally agree with Bee-Chan's method.  It's exactly what I would do myself.  Well, I might let the conditioner set a bit longer than 20 min.  I usually let it set for a couple of days!

Just to give you some hope, have a picture of a Grand Champion mare with a similar tail.  GC hair is very similar to Pretty Pony hair.

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Good luck!  Be sure to share the after pictures =)

[Lon-san]

Since I discovered the conditioner and curling iron straightening method, I've realised that almost ANY hair can be saved if you are determined enough.

[EmBee]

Mine's mane was pretty bad but I just used conditioner and a lot of patience.  It was filthy as well!

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-Em

[Elfpony]

I agree with Bee-chan's method too, it's what I used on my Pretty Pony and it worked well (I didn't have to go as far as the fabric softener, but I did leave the conditioner on for, I think a week.)

Elf

[ValeofSpring]

Thanks so much for the advice--especially to Bee-chan for the detailed how-to and EmBee for the gorgeous before-and-after photos!  I will be sure to post pics once I've gotten My Pretty Pony's hair ship-shape:)

[ValeofSpring]

Bump for update!

[Chi]

OH WOW...What stunning results!