Drawstring Ponytails: Fitting and Blending

A drawstring piece fails in one of two ways: it works loose through the day, or it holds beautifully and gives you a headache by lunchtime. Both come down to how the base underneath is built and how the combs are seated, not to the piece itself. Ten minutes of setup is the difference between something you forget you are wearing and something you take out early.

Build the base before the piece goes near it

Your own hair needs to be gathered into a firm, smooth ponytail secured with an elastic, sitting where you want the finished style to sit. A loose or lumpy base is what lets a piece rock and slide. Leave the gathered hair long enough to anchor the combs. If your own length is short, twist it and pin it flat rather than leaving a stub for the combs to grip nothing.

Seating the combs

Most pieces have a comb at the front edge and sometimes a second at the back. Push the front comb down into the hair at the base of your own ponytail, teeth pointing toward the scalp, then rock it so it bites into hair instead of skimming over the surface. The back comb goes in facing the other direction, which is what stops the piece pivoting. A comb set into the elastic itself holds better than one set above it.

Tension without the headache

Pull the drawstrings until the base feels snug, then stop. The temptation is to keep pulling for security, and that is exactly what produces a tension headache now and thinning at the hairline over months. If a piece only feels secure when it hurts, the fault is in the base or the combs, not the tightness. Take it out at the end of the day rather than sleeping in it, and move the position between wears.

Weight and length

A long or very dense piece pulls harder on the same base, and that pull lands on the handful of strands holding the combs. If you want real length, accept that the base has to be firmer and you may want a pin either side. A shorter, lighter piece on a good base looks better than a dramatic one sagging by four o'clock. Check yourself in a mirror from the side, where sagging shows up first.

When it starts slipping

Freshly washed, slippery hair holds combs poorly, so a piece fitted on second-day hair or over a little gel at the base stays put better. If it loosens every few hours, retie the base tighter before blaming the piece. Hair pins crossed in an X through the comb and into the base hair will hold a heavy piece all day. A frayed drawstring can be knotted, but a comb with broken teeth needs replacing.