How do you straighten tinsel?

[mopthebunny]

I have a couple of ponies with very frizzy tinsel and would like to know how to smooth it out a little bit (they are g2's). I've seen some people say they use hair straighteners, but I don't have any.

Any tips would be helpful.

Thanks! 

[Baby Sugarberry]

Depends on what kind of tinsel you're dealing with.
For the clear iridescent plastic kind, there's not much that can be done.  The stuff is horrible to work with and fries if exposed to heat.  I've had some limited success in smoothing it out by carefully stretching it, but the process is time consuming and rarely worth the trouble given that the "evil" tinsel shows up on G3/G4, which aren't exactly hard to get in minty shape.

For G1's, they actually have metallic tinsel that responds decently to flat ironing.  Never tried it myself but others have had success with it in the past.

[mopthebunny]

Depends on what kind of tinsel you're dealing with.
For the clear iridescent plastic kind, there's not much that can be done.  The stuff is horrible to work with and fries if exposed to heat.  I've had some limited success in smoothing it out by carefully stretching it, but the process is time consuming and rarely worth the trouble given that the "evil" tinsel shows up on G3/G4, which aren't exactly hard to get in minty shape.

For G1's, they actually have metallic tinsel that responds decently to flat ironing.  Never tried it myself but others have had success with it in the past.

What about G2 tinsel? the one that I have with the worst tinsel is Princess Crystal .

Thanks!

[Rika_of_Thunder]

I think I've heard some people boiling the pony's hair and then setting it out flat to dry, never tried it myself so I don't know if it works D:

I always use a flat iron for the thicker, colored tinsel. You should browse your local dollar store and see if you can pick one up cheap, they do wonders for pony hair, tinsel or not!

[Skeen]

I don't know why people always say you can't straighten clear tinsel.  I've done it for years.  O.o  You just have to use a boatload of conditioner, as you'd do for any normal straightening project anyway.  Straighten it WITH the hair, don't separate it out.  Reapply conditioner as needed. 

[Baby Sugarberry]

Most of the comments about people attempting to heat treat clear tinsel have ended in less than desirable results, just from my casual observation?  Perhaps your iron is just the perfect temperature or something.  Or perhaps there are various batches, some fry worse than others?   Or it could be the conditioner.  Afraid I don't know what kind of tinsel G2's have. 

[balletpot]

I've only dealt with G1s so I don't know about G2s but as said earlier, if it's clear tinsel (e.g. Princess Royal Purple) nothing works. I don't use heat, instead I stretch messy tinsel by using a pair of pliers. I place the pony between my knees, separate the tinsel from the hair (the hair has been washed and conditioned) and pull with a pair of small pliers while holding the tinsel by the base with my other hand. I got the idea from this guide: http://www.mylittleimposterpony.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=offtopic&thread=362&page=1

[Anitas_Mom]

I just cleaned up some hair on a couple of G2's (with tinsel).  All I did was wash the hair and use conditioner, then "set" it in small rollers to dry.  I let it dry for about a week, then removed the rollers.  The tinsel curled nicely along with the hair. 

[Binny]

I take each piece between my fingers pinching tightly and run them down, stretching it out to the end (Note that it CAN break this way, you have to be very careful) this should leave you with straight tinsel right up to the ends, which are now a little bit longer than the rest of the hair and can be cut off carefully (again, piece by piece) to match in length.

[tulagirl]

I have always used conditioner and a curling iron on a very low number. I have not had any problems with clear myself.

[hathorcat]

If you dont have a flat iron then you can use a normal clothes iron but it doesn't work quite as well. You need to saturate the hair with water and conditioner and you need to ensure you have a layer of material [I use a pillow case] between the hair and the bottom of the iron. Also ensure that the material you use is damp. Use a couple of different pieces of material as after a few swipes of each section of hair, the material will get too hot - you want to swap it out for another damp piece of material throughout the process to ensure the hair and tinsel do not heat too much.

[mopthebunny]

Thanks for all the tips everyone!