When out of all possible ideas or I'm having an utterly terrible hair day, I usually go with the ponytail. For school I like to put half up with a barette or experiment with hairsticks. I do like looking for new ideas, casual and formal, so if anyone has any I'm sure we'd all like to hear them  :) especially since my 'dos usually fall out by the end of the day!

My favorite casual style is the knotted ponytail.  It shortens my waist length hair to a more typical ponytail length that does not interfere with my activities.

I can tie my hair in a knot, put a hairstick in the knot to hold it in place, and let the remaining hair swing.

Ooh, I am loving this, I must try it.  Do you use just one hairstick?  I'll use two 'cause I like the look, but I find it interesting that one would hold that style.

One stick will usually hold my hair.  If I am going to be particularly active, I might stick two in.  I also have some hairsticks that I just like to have the pair in at the same time (like my lollypop sticks).  A hairfork also works very well in holding the knot in place.

Ooohooohoooh!  I just came up with an idea!  I wonder if I made another knot halfway down and stuck a fuzzy or pretty hairtie underneath if it would hold.  Too kewl!  Sort of the same effect as two scrunchies, but using my own hair!  This would also serve to shorten my hip-length hair a good bit more.  I gotta try this when I take my side braid out tonight.

I *love* the look of big hair knots, I just wish they would stay in when you tied them!  They fall immediately out of my smooth hair :/

I would post a picture, but I can't seem to get it to post.  Is there a special trick? ( I selected the image options and put the URL in but all I see is the 'red x' in a box where the picture should be). Are there size limits?  Are there any restrictions?

http://www.longlocks.com/knottail.jpg

I fixed it for you, thanks for posting!

Thanks for fixing it.  What had I done wrong?  (In case I have another picture to post).

wrote on May 1^st, 2003 at 7:30pm:

I can tie my hair in a knot, put a hairstick in the knot to hold it in place, and let the remaining hair swing.

How exactly do you tie your hair in a knot?

To tie the knot, your grab your hair into a ponytail at the location where you will want the knot.  Start twisting your hair as when you are putting it into a bun.  Twist the hair fairly tight.  Make one round as for a bun, then pull the remaining hair up through the center of bun and tighten as best you can.  Then put one or two hair sticks into the knot/bun to hold in place.

wrote on May 1^st, 2003 at 8:32pm:

I would post a picture, but I can't seem to get it to post.  ( I selected the image options and put the URL in but all I see is the 'red x' in a box where the picture should be).

I still only see a red box.

Bikerbraid, would you please send me the URL of your picture via private message so I can try to make it show up again?  It was there before, I don't understand why it disappeared, unless you took it down.

I emailed you the file  - I'll let you decide if it is worth putting up.

All fixed!  Permanently this time ;)

Ooh that picture is great! I can't believe the knotted ponytail shortens your hair *so* much - it would be really helpful for school! I haven't tried this style yet, I'm waiting for my hair to get longer because I doubt it would work at the moment.

That looks wonderful-what a terrific picture!!!

THANKS everyone!  :D

Great pix bikerbraid. I would love to try that in my hair. How long does
it have to be. I have had so much fun and success with the rag curls (shocker, even my anti-long hair mom likes it !)that I am anxious to keep trying more, more, more. My hair is about waist length. Do you use a soft elastic to make the pony tail first? Thanks, Jenna

Your waist length hair should be a good length for the knotted ponytail.  I don't use anything to hold the initial ponytail, but if you were going to be active or wanted it to hold all day, using a hair friendly elastic would help hold the style.  My hair is very slippery and fine, so it does tend to fall out of this style if I don't get the bun anchored well.  >:(  Using 2 hairsticks helps alot.  I also use a spiral screw hairstick to hold the bun, which does a pretty good job.  Give this a try and let us know how it works for you.

Glad to hear the rag curls were a hit!   :D

Am I the only one whose hair hates rag curls? My hair ends up in a knotted mess, which is needless to say NOT CURLY! Lol! Very annoying  >:(

It sounds to me like you are wrapping the cloth around the hair and not the hair around the cloth, Leia.  I don't think it would be possible to make rag curls right and not have curls.  I have the most anti-curl hair in the world and even I get curls with rag curls.

I tried the sock curls last weekend... Friday night I washed my hair and curled it in two sock curls.  SUNDAY evening I took them down.  They were still wet :(

This must be because I tried sock curls rather than rag curls. My hair was also not quite dry enough when I took them down. I guess you have to put them in when your hair is almost almost dried.

I'll have to try real rag curls... my mother did it on me when I was young and had wonderful results. I'll have to get her to help me with the parts I can't quite reach in the back!  :D

When I do my sock curls, my hair is just damp, not wet.  The longer your hair is, the more bulk there is and the longer it would take to dry.  I think if you tried to roll wet hair on the socks you would need a hair dryer to get the hair to dry in a more reasonable time.  (Bonnet style dryer would work well).

But aren't blow driers and heated appliances bad for the hair?

If the temp is set on cool, it should not damage the hair.

Back to the knotted ponytail...

I *love* this style! Like I mention in one of my earlier posts, I was waiting for my hair to grow longer before I tried this style. I tried it today and it's great! It shortens my ponytail SO much, although it's not *quite* as long as the pic bikerbraid posted!

Also, bikerbraid mentioned that she makes one round and then pulls the remaining hair through, but I find that it only works if I make two rounds, and this shortens my ponytail a lot more. I can also hold this style with one stick.

Has anyone tried/had success with the braided knotted ponytail?

I have braided my hair, then knotted it, but I have found that I have to put a hair tie at the end of the braid or it will unbraid itself ( the ponytail is not braided).  If I braid the whole length then knot, it seems very heavy to me.

Is your hair still waist length bikerbraid?

Yes, it is slowly growing past waist length.  I have not had a significant trim in over a year.  I had a micro trim in April that took off less than 1/2".  I'm hoping that once summer temps rise a bit here, that my hair will start growing a bit faster (hope, hope  ::)).

;D I hope so too! The heat wave has already hit us over here, though it's monsoon season as well... so it's a nice mix (standing outside grumbling about the heat and a nice cool shower of rain falls on your head :P). I wonder how come hair grows faster in the summer.

How long are you planning to grow your hair, bikerbraid?

I will grow my hair until I no longer enjoy its length.

Speaking of rain during the summer - this past week while on vacation, we were biking a wonderful trail in northern Wisconsin.  The temps were in the upper 80's and very humid.  When we were about 20 miles out, we looked back and saw black clouds, so we turned around to head back.  It started to to rain - a light shower at first, then a downpour.  It felt so wonderful (at first) as it cooled us down.  However, we were  on a crushed rock trail and I ended up with mud and grit in my braid - yeck.  We were camping and the "shower" at the campground would barely produce a mist, so a good rinsing was next to impossible.  I ended up leaving my hair in the wet braid and waiting until I could collect enough rain water in a bucket to rinse my hair the next day.

But wasn't the rainwater rinse wonderful?  I used to collect rainwater to rinse my hair when I was a teenager, it always left it so soft.  

Ooh I've never tried rinsing my hair with rainwater! Though I don't think I'll try that here... the rainwater is probably as polluted as the country  :-/

Yes, I love rainwater rinses!  I don't collect the rainwater in town anymore - it seems too polluted, but when camping in the northern areas, the water is so clean and soft, I hope for rain at night so I can wash and rinse my hair in the morning with the collected water and enjoy my clean, soft hair all day!