Straightening tinsel-hair on G4 ponies?

[prancingstag]

So, I've been wanting to put straw curls on some of my G4 tinsel ponies - in particular, four of the Shine Brights. Unfortunately, the Canterlot iridescent tinsel wants nothing to do with it! The Crystal Empire coloured tinsel is thinner and more malleable, I've had no trouble straightening it out just by pouring hot water over it, combing and then drying with it held straight. But the thicker Canterlot tinsel just doesn't respond to hot water, it stays tangled wild and curly, and bounces back from combing the moment I reach the ends. And it's in the mane and the tail, unlike CE tinsel, which is mane-only.

Has anybody had luck straightening or otherwise styling Canterlot tinsel? I know a lot of people have got around the problem by de-tinseling their G4s, but I love the look of the iridescent tinsel, just not its wild curliness. I've heard about using hair straighteners and flat irons on G3s, but has anybody tried it on G4s in particular? And on the subject of "flat iron", does that mean the same iron you would use to press clothing? Sorry, not up on the terms quite yet...

[An-Gel Sakura]

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I for one hate tinsel and remove it when ever possible.

[egophiliac]

I'm not sure about curl-styling, but the tinsel-straightening method for older gens works pretty well for the Shine Bright G4s too! Take hold of a strand of tinsel and pull on it GENTLY -- not hard enough to pull it out! -- you should feel it kind of stretch a little, and then it will lay flat. Makes it MUCH more manageable!

[brighteyes]

I really hate tinsel of any kind in any of the ponies hair.  I'm always tempted to remove it but I'm just not that proactive.  It's a simmering kind of a hate- not strong enough to make me run for tweezers.... yet.

I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone has any suggestions for dealing with tinsel beyond removing it.  I've had good luck putting G3 tinsel into straw curls but I haven't tried it with G4s.

[Wardah]

Some people replace it with sulky tinsel thread which supposedly has no problem with styling.

[Epona]

My rarity tinsel holds a curl really well. Mostly I put tinsel hair into "rope" braids. It looks really pretty that way and totally tames the tinsel.

[hathorcat]

The flat iron thing is a UK/Aus/NZ v US translation thing A flat iron [that you will see people refer to around the Arena] is in reality hair straighteners to us in the UK, Australia and NZ.

Straighteners should work fine with the tinsel - as long as you have them at a nice low heat and ensure the tinsel is wet and swiped minimally. However, with tinsel hair ponies I do actually use a regular old clothes iron. I sandwich the wet hair between two damp pieces of cotton [a pillow case works perfectly] and then iron the hair through the cotton. I just like to be extra cautious with the tinsel because sometimes it does not like direct heat.

You can also swipe the hair with dryer sheets as sometimes the problem is simply static electricity rather than poor condition tinsel.   

[scrub-adub]

I used this tutorial on my luna and it worked fine......she wasn't shine bright though...http://www.mlppreservationproject.com/hair.html#Tinsel
hope this helped!

[prancingstag]

Thanks so much to everyone for the advice. Hathorcat, thanks for telling me about flat irons! Funny how parts of the world can have different names for the same thing. And scrub-adub, that tutorial is really helpful! I think I'll grab a couple of my royal ball tinsel-haired ponies to test on before I go attacking the Shine Brights.

[DancingPhoenix]

Also for those who don't have a flat iron/straightener, curling irons work as well (just don't do the curl motion). I have straight hair so don't have a flat iron, but if I gently pull along the hair with my curling iron then it works the same

[scrub-adub]

Thanks so much to everyone for the advice. Hathorcat, thanks for telling me about flat irons! Funny how parts of the world can have different names for the same thing. And scrub-adub, that tutorial is really helpful! I think I'll grab a couple of my royal ball tinsel-haired ponies to test on before I go attacking the Shine Brights.

hey you're welcome glad I could help!