Bangs and "Meet Hair"?

[standsonherhands]

Help. My daughter has just joined team and veteran mom's were telling me how picky the coach is about "meet hair." First what is "meet hair," and second can you have bangs and still have meet hair? If not what do you do with bangs? Thanks.

 

[gymnastgets10]

Different gyms have different expectations as to how hair should look at a meet. For example, at my old gym we had to wear our hair in a bun. No braids, no ponytails, a bun. At my current gym there are no stated expectations but girls usually braid the front of their hair into a ponytail or do cornrows or something. Before the first meet I'm sure the coach will let you know how your dd's hair is expected to look at the meet. And bangs can either just be pinned back and hairsprayed down or left down if they're pretty short; it shouldn't be too big a deal. HTH!

 

[BetterGymnastThanU]

Removed by Bog

 

[gym law mom]

Usually coaches will have a meeting with the new parents to go over things like how they want the hair done for meets. Basically it is usually done in some type of ponytail or bun. Bangs are just fine. The big thing is to have the hair pulled back out of the face and done neatly. Some gyms get into a standard hair style for everyone----others just give you the guidelines.

You can go crazy doing hair or keep it pretty simple. What you want is a style where the hair will stay put for about 4-5 hours. Aqua Net hairspray works great---cheap and it holds hair like cement.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

your HC will probably let you know...especially if the standards at your gym are that picky. And if your dd has bangs and you need to put them back, catch them into little ponytails with those clear rubber bands and then catch the little ponies back into a bigger pony. We had to do this when my dd cut her own hair into bangs at 5 (yes, brilliant, I know) and then decided immediately afterward that she didn't want bangs...lol!

and using liquid spray gelor any kind of gel first while you are styling it and then finishing with hairspray works great on flyaway hair, esp if your dd has any curl to hers.

 

[3stars]

Gonna sound like a parrot here and say find out from your head coach what the expectation is. Those little clear rubberband and pulling them back in little clear ponys and then back into your main hairstyle works great. I think I did a row of 5 to keep my daughter's bangs back last year (she was in the process of growing them out). I also had good luck with french braids and being able to keep them out of the way. The thing that worked best for me was styling my daughter's hair wet and using a lot of spray gel. It was the easiest way to get it pulled back tight and to get it smooth and to stay. If there are any questionable areas those little triangle snap barrettes work great. And now they make them in most hair colors so they just kind of blend in.

 

[3stars]

I forgot to add see if one of the veteran moms will either style your daughter's hair for you so you can see or help you out. The moms on our team have done that. For state last season, we had a little hair party in one of the rooms and each mom did the part that they did best. For example, one mom braids really tight and another mom went through and sprayed all the flyaways down, etc. We got everyone done really quickly that way and it was a lot of fun.

 

[Flippers Mom]

Flipper has bangs. The gym she attends will not allow her to have them loose at meets. I part the hair in front of her ears into 3 strips going across her head horizontally. Then, section each strip into small squares. Tiny bands hold each section that is then divided and added to the section behind it - forming a lattice-like grid. The coaches love it and it stays out of her face. I will warn you - this is time consuming. I have posted the best pictures I have of her hair in the Flipper album in pictures. The first 2 photos show it best. I have suggested she might want to grow her hair out, but she likes her bangs, so I will keep weaving her hair!

 

[emandelsmom]

Flipper has bangs. The gym she attends will not allow her to have them loose at meets. I part the hair in front of her ears into 3 strips going across her head horizontally. Then, section each strip into small squares. Tiny bands hold each section that is then divided and added to the section behind it - forming a lattice-like grid. The coaches love it and it stays out of her face. I will warn you - this is time consuming. I have posted the best pictures I have of her hair in the Flipper album in pictures. The first 2 photos show it best. I have suggested she might want to grow her hair out, but she likes her bangs, so I will keep weaving her hair!

This is what I used to do to Em's hair and I have done bobby pinning the bangs back like Shawn Johnson's hair at the Olympics. I have decided that this year we will do the hair in buns. Neither girl has lots of rolls in routines, so the hair can be done in buns.

 

[mumoftwogymnasts]

At dd's gym "meet hair" means super slick, no flyaways and heaps of hairspray. The coach normally tells us the hair style for the meet, all the girls wear the same style.
I find it easiest to style dd's hair when it is wet, and add lots and lots of product. She has bangs but they are short and it has never been an issue for her to wear them out.

Neither girl has lots of rolls in routines, so the hair can be done in buns.

If the coach doesn't give the team a standard style for the hair, check with your gymmie on the hairstyle. Rolls on the floor are hard to do with a single bun or a pony, so you may need to factor that in.
And be warned, meet hair can take a long time to do

 

[standsonherhands]

Thanks for all the great advice. I have seen the little ponies in a lattice, and I can do that. I had also thought of snap clips, which dd puts in on her own sometimes. She is only a L4, so she will have to roll, but these objects shouldn't bother her by the front of her head. For our meet hair, I think we can pick the exact style, but absolutely no flyaways and no brushing bangs off face while competing. My dd has bangs at her eyebrows, and tends to play with them if she gets sweaty. Come to think of it, HC has given her a pre-wrap headband to hold them back at practice. I better start practicing pulling those bangs back!

 

[bogwoppit]

Look in my photo gallery, I have a few styles there that work great with bangs, a bit fiddly but cute. Now the girls are older they prefer to make a pouf with their bangs to keep them off their faces.

 

[cher062]

Every gym is different as to what they "allow" for "Meet hair" our recently old gym's Meet hair was a bun and NO bangs. Every hair sprayed and clipped down to the max. Now my DD's hair until 2 weeks ago was down to her waist and thick. The vetran moms of girls with similar hair were quick to show me how to get all that hair up. And of course she has bangs so we found out purchase the cheapest generic super hold hair spray (the really cheap stuff) and spray it down and comb it back to the point that the bangs don't need clips to stay and her hair feels like is has a good plastic coating. Then add the clips to hold all the flyaways and your done. When I first started doing my DD's hair 8 years ago for meets it took me a good 2 hours to get it all up. now she is 13 and I can do the same hairdo in about 20 - 30 min.

Now her new gyms "meet" hair is it must be out of their eyes and not going to fall out - pony tails are fine but they don't want the loose sloppy ones and bangs are either above the eyebrow or clipped back. Oh and still sprayed down to control the flyaways. DD is going to get a bun still because that is what she is use to when she does her routines at meets.

 

[bribri514]

Our gym was always really laid back, as long as our hair was back they didn't care. When I was little sometimes my bangs were down, sometimes my mom braided them back. When we got older (middle and high school age), my gym friends and I would get together before meets and do our hair with a lot of little braids and twists and hair ties like bog has in some of her pictures.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Pickle's gym is really strict about hair too and they want a "hemet head bun". I used snap clips, and even as an L4, they worked.

Make sure the hair is wet when you pull it back and use lots of hair spray. As she grew her hair out, sometimes I twisted it a little before putting the clip in. Also, the ones shaped like an 8 worked a little better than the ones shaped like a triangle.

 

[Optionals United]

Some other clips that work great are the ones with the 3 things on the bottome instead of one. I can't find a picture of it. Maybe someone else can explain it better!

 

[momofthreegirls]

All the posts about strict rules for hairstyles has me wondering... what about girls with short hair? My DD will be moving to level 4 soon, and she has a short stacked bob with no bangs. There is no way we could do a bun, or even a ponytail.

 

[bogwoppit]

CHeck out my photos, there is one of my DD with a short bob with a cute style that she loved.

 

[cher062]

All the posts about strict rules for hairstyles has me wondering... what about girls with short hair? My DD will be moving to level 4 soon, and she has a short stacked bob with no bangs. There is no way we could do a bun, or even a ponytail.

if the hair can get into the eyes then they would have to pull up what they can. we had a girl with chin length bob and she pulled it up on each side and then pulled back and made a sort of pony tail then hairsprayed the rest in to the helmet head we all have come to know and love. Then her mom took one of those scrunchie with the hair attached wrapped it around the mini pony tail secured it with pins and put a bun cover over it to look like a bun and put the matching scrunchie around the mock bun. it really looked like a bun and It never fell out.

 

[Kiwi]

My DD tried out a bun in practice and didn't like it because of the backward rolls. She wore a high ponytail for her first two competitions and then decided she didn't like it because of the rolls, so we switched to plait rings at the sides for her remaining competitions. I find the liquid spray-on gel is very useful!