What Actually Causes Hair to Frizz?

[Winter Bones]

Its more extreme temperatures or overexposure to extreme temperatures or overexposure to dry conditions you have to worry about. I wouldnt worry unless you are taking them polar exploring for a few weeks or leaving them baking and unprotected in the sun for a couple of months. And even then it will not necessarily dry and damage all nylon just some.

I think my ponies and I are in the clear then. I have been wanting to do a photo shoot of some ponies in the snow, but that doesn't come anywhere near an arctic expedition. I'll try not to leave them out for too long or get them too cold anyway just in case. Thanks for the help, Hathorcat!

For those of you worried about the temperature fluctuations in your rooms, how big are the differences? Are both extremes still comfortable for human habitation? If they are, your ponies should be fine. I think the problems start when they get cold cold, like in storage, and then heat up again, like in a bad storage unit. I have ponies that have been through that kind of torture, and their bodies have suffered, but they don't have any extra frizz to their hair from it.

As for the conditions at home, my room barely ever becomes unbearably hot or cold. Thanks for the warning about bad storage units, Aurora, sorry to hear yours were damaged. I'll keep that in mind if I ever have to look into storing my collection. My ponies may be new right now, but I want them to age as gracefully as possible in the years to come.

[bagheera86]

So, temperature changes frizz hair...
During daytime my room is room temperature. But during night, I can't sleep with my window closed, it gets very very cold. How can I sleep without ruining my ponies?

I have a similar problem. It's freezing out where I live, and I normally can't sleep comfortably without a dehumidifier in my room to warm the place up. I don't want my ponies to get too hot with the dehumidifier running,  but I don't want them to get too cold if I leave it off either. Will my ponies go frizzy either way, or will they be okay as long as the temperature change is gradual and not too dramatic?

Maybe I should invest in extra blankets and some pony sized hats and scarves.

Maybe put them under your bed? your own warmth that you emit from sleeping should keep them warm enough

[Shenanigans]

I was a brusher when I was little. I would brush and brush and brush my ponies hair! They all have frizzy hair now I had a Disney Jasmine doll and I brushed her hair so much that she was nearly bald!

[DoctorMowinckel]

Well, let's think about it. The hair on ponies is really narrow nylon, right? Over brushing is probably a cause, as when you brush it, you're pulling on the hair, stretching it out, causing it to expand and contract, which will weaken the fibers in the hair. I can imagine the structure of the hair losing integrity, and eventually losing it's 'straightness', if you will. Imagine a strip of wire coating, when it hasn't been stretched, it's pretty straight when you lay it down, but when you stretch it out, let it settle, and keep repeating this, it will eventually lose it's shape.

A lot of temperature change will probably do the same thing, causing the hair to expand and contract. Not much, but if you keep stretching something out, it will eventually lose shape.

As has been mentioned, the type of comb used for brushing will probably have an effect, too. If you're using an comparatively rough comb with lots of bristles, you're abrading the hair, which will probably make it less prone to settle down nicely.

Brushing carefully (being patient with tangles) with a wide toothed comb with as smooth a surface as possible is probably your best bet. However, this is all conjecture, I have no idea if I'm right.

That's probably why boiling the hair helps frizz. The plastic will melt ever so slightly, and it will reset all the kinks and abrasions it has.

I have some fakies kicking around in a box, I should totally do some experiments on them. I'd feel bad about it, but they're fakies, and it's for science. In Ohio, we hit them with baseball bats to see how far we can make them go. See?

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Despite all the gusto, it didn't go very far. I play hockey, dang it.

[gabumon]

Thanks Dr! and everypony who posted! 

I tried boiling hair, and it seemed to help, but it wasn't a complete success.  Are there steps out there on the best boiling hair procedures?  I boiled and then just immediately combed... it was "better" but, i dunno I couldn't tell that the strands were actually straightening out again.  I got worried about the "over brushing" thing being counter productive on the boiled hair. 

I wondered if a weighted clamp could be used to "pull" the frizz hair straight after boiling? 

Help!  I did try a forum search for "boiling" but didn't come up with much. :/

[Sugar]

@ DoctorMowinckel:  Fakie t-ball?  Srsly?   But you're right, hockey is best sport.

@ Gabumon:  I haven't boiled a pony yet (I know lots of you do, but I'm still halfway convinced I'm going to wind up with pony sludge in a pot), but I've had a lot of success with kissthethunder's technique of high-heat iron on just a few strands of hair at a time (though she uses a curling iron, I use a flattening iron due to my own personal hair frizz issues, but I still get the same results).  While I've never yet gotten hair as 100% smooth as a mint pony's hair, it's still a darned sight better than the freshly-dragged-backwards-through-nettles look that many of my thrift shop finds seem to boast.  Just a thought.

[hathorcat]

Thanks Dr! and everypony who posted! 

I tried boiling hair, and it seemed to help, but it wasn't a complete success.  Are there steps out there on the best boiling hair procedures?  I boiled and then just immediately combed... it was "better" but, i dunno I couldn't tell that the strands were actually straightening out again.  I got worried about the "over brushing" thing being counter productive on the boiled hair. 

I wondered if a weighted clamp could be used to "pull" the frizz hair straight after boiling? 

Help!  I did try a forum search for "boiling" but didn't come up with much. :/

Over brushing is counter productive unfortunately as you are simply causing more damage. Have you tried a flat iron on the frizz?