How to make pony hair do what you want?

[katrine2309]

So I have two babies with hair that is not being how I want it to be - in other words, it is behaving badly

I always was a fan of pony hair that was neatly following the pony's neck - but as you can see from the pictures Baby Glory and Baby Cuddles (especially the latter...) has manes that are insisting on sticking out behind them. These are both childhoods and I have tried to do my best, both as a child and as a grown-up to make their manes more well-behaved. All my attempts - with boiling water and long hours drying their manes in the "right" direction has led to absolutely no change what so ever... I've managed to successfully curl and re-curl all my ponies with curly hair, but for some reason these two have decided to stay impossible... 

I have found many tutorials on curling pony hair, but what to do when you want no curls, but just making pony hair do what you want? In the direction you want it? I would love any tips you guys have. The only thing I haven't tried yet is putting something like hair spray or similiar substances in their hair, and that is something I'm not really excited about either...

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Baby Glory by KatWoods, on Flickr

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Cuddles by KatWoods, on Flickr

[Ivy]

since the hair is straight in their case it's easy - get it wet - with warm/hot water comb around neck wrap tissue tightly around hair and let dry. Preferably overnight - unwrap and run a comb through it and wallah beautiful hair!

[Alipes]

Yeah, personally I would hesitate to use anything like hairspray in ponies.  For people, it's good as a temporary measure, but it's really meant to be washed out after a few hours so I don't know what that would do for a more permanent basis!

I'm a big fan of using hot or boiling water to style pony hair though!  When the hair is wet, you can gently comb it out to make sure it's tangle free, then wrap it around the neck while it dries.  You can use things like a bit of paper towel with a rubber band to keep it in place and hold its shape.  Once it's dried, it's very good about staying in that shape!

Good luck!

[katrine2309]

Thank you both so much for your answers! I truly appreciate that 

Only problem is that this is what I have been doing... many, many times over... The problem is that it always go back looking like this. Immediately. 

I've been able to style all my other ponies with the boiling water method except these two and it annoys me to no end! Especially since these two are the ones I wanted to fix the most - after all, I've been annoyed with their manes for almost 30 years now!

[LeighAnnApanites]

This is a complete speculation, but have you tried wetting the pony's hair, wrapping it around their neck with tissue and everything, and THEN pouring boiling water over it? I don't know that it would work any differently than putting just putting the water on it first, but it occurred to me that it might help. Or, I could just be babbling nonsense. That's probably more likely. Good luck figuring it out!

[katrine2309]

This is a complete speculation, but have you tried wetting the pony's hair, wrapping it around their neck with tissue and everything, and THEN pouring boiling water over it? I don't know that it would work any differently than putting just putting the water on it first, but it occurred to me that it might help. Or, I could just be babbling nonsense. That's probably more likely. Good luck figuring it out!

Hmm, maybe this will actually work. I'll try this next time I'm home at my parents house (where these two currently lives). Thanks so much!!

K

[hathorcat]

Yes I agree dont put any kind of long term chemical agent on it as it is not good for the hair and will likely cause it to become brittle or even break down.

LeighAnns suggestion is what I do. You need to "set" the hair in position. So wrap the hair into position [making sure the body is protected from the hair due to some colours potentially staining the plastic] and then pour boiling water over the hair. You need to repeat this several times. Let the hair dry in wrapped position, pour on water, let the hair dry, pour on water and so on a few times.

After the last time give the pony a significant time to dry out - it wont work if the underside of the hair remains wet when  you release it. Sometimes sitting it in a hot dry location it a good idea.

This method should ensure the hair stays in place. Although with time there is the possibility you may need to reset.

Unfortunately some ponies were simply haired in a certain way that slightly wild hair is standard.