WAG Need advice from experienced hair masters!

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Hello everyone! I've finally settled on a hairstyle for my team girls. It's an upside down french braid going up the back of the head and finishing in a normal, non-braided ballet style bun. This is a video tutorial of the style from Cute Girl Hairstyles on YouTube: . I like the idea of a ballet bun, because it's clean and simple, yet I wanted to make it a little more unique since so many gyms do that style.

For those of you who watched the whole video or have done this style before, I would like to know an exact process for which to make this an effective style for a meet. It has to stay tight and solid for the entire day of competition, and also has to look slick and clean with no flyaways. Any suggestions or step-by-steps on how to style it, how much gel or hairspray to use, etc.? I intend on sharing this thread in an email with the parents, so they can learn the ways of effective gym hair management! They are all first time team parents, and I have no idea what I'm doing with hair. I'm just a lowly gym coach! :D

Any help is appreciated! :)
 
Just a suggestion, but since you have new parents, perhaps just letting them do their own thing with their hair, at least at first? Just require that they have it back with no fly aways. As a parent, it is very stressful just getting your kid to the meet and figuring out all the ins and outs of the gym world. And, if your kid has one of the 8 am sessions that you have to drive an hour to get to…well…enough stress without getting up at the crack of dawn to do hair. And, do any of your girls have a backward or forward roll in their routine or handstand roll? Keep it simple….
 
While I admire your attention to detail and wanting the girls to all look the same... I have to agree that letting the parents do hair on their own, of their own choosing, is probably the best way to go for now. One of the problems with "the same" hair is that not all gymnasts have the same hair. A style that is easy to do and keep tidy on one gymnast will be a nightmare for someone else. You will have moms that can whip up a fantastic, intricate braided do in a matter of minutes and you'll have moms (or dads) that can manage a tight, sleek pony and that's it.
Our gym requires tight, slicked back and off the face but other than that us parents are left to our own devices. I assure you, our team looks no less professional than the team who walks out in (what is supposed to be) identical buns. ;) in fact, last season we competed against a team who clearly were all told sock buns.... The variety of looks of their sock buns was astounding, lol!

Best of luck, but as both a parent and a coach... I would suggest individual hairdos if you can live with that. Much easier for you and the parents. :)
 
Thank you for the responses so far! I do totally understand the point of view that many of you have about letting them compete in a hairstyle their parents choose, rather than a mandated one. It would certainly make things a little easier. I do want them to at least try it out, though, and experiment. Some of the moms have been keen to do that already. I even had one of the girls come into practice recently with her hair in this style, and the girls really liked it! My purpose for posting this thread was to see how other experienced parents would go about doing this hairstyle. We may very well end up doing an "anything goes" hair rule if it proves to be too difficult or starts creating stress. It's really not the end of the world if it doesn't work out, it's just something I'd like for my team and I want to see if it will work out. I do thank you for your opinions, though.

So, if anyone would be able to tell me how they would personally tackle this hair do, I'd be very grateful. Also, one of the moms came up to me recently and gave me a hair suggestion of her own that seems nice, too. I'll probably get a picture soon and post it here to see which style is favored more or which one is thought to be an easier style.

@JBS | I've entertained the idea of ribbons or bows. What do you use and how are they received by the gymnasts/parents/other gyms?
 
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What if their hair isn't long enough? It will be easy enough to do if you can French braid and then secure it in a pony and make a bun from there. But if they don't have long hair or their hair is really thick or long, it's not gonna work.
 
NOOoooooooo! It's lovely, but I could not do the braid, or the bun. Video tutorials always make everything look so easy. Some moms are great with hair, others are not. Truly, slicking DD's hair into a high pony, perhaps with a simple braid is all I can manage, and I'm not the only one! I would stick with fun matching scrunchies or bows.
 
@JBS | I've entertained the idea of ribbons or bows. What do you use and how are they received by the gymnasts/parents/other gyms?

We just use team colored ribbons from the craft store. They are just part of their uniform...the ribbons look good.

Poor quality pic...but this is them.

ImageUploadedByChalkBucket1411966400.363772.jpg
 
hmm, very pretty hairstyle. I might try it out on my own hair in a minute here and see how it goes!

My tips would be:
1. Start with wet or damp hair and spray hairspray on it before you start.
2. you need to be able to french braid well
3. pull the braid tight and make sure it is smooth as you put each piece in
4. you probably can't use too much gel
5. if you don't have a "Wrap up," it's pretty simple to do a bun if you just twist all the hair, then wrap it around, use a hair tie and then just about a whole package of bobby pins (ignore the child's tears as you push them in…)

We have really cute hair ribbons for the ponytail. I bought pretty ribbons from a craft store in our colors and tied them around a hair tie. I had to use a lighter on the ends so they wouldn't fray. They are adorable though.

Okay I'm off to see if I can manage this hairstyle...
 
Hair length and texture and skill of the parent vary widely. Use caution and flexibility here....this could cause great stress and anxiety for both gymnast and parent.

I am good with hair. I don't think that style would work for my daughter. I could easily do the bun and I doubt anyone would notice she didn't have a braid. Her hair is way too long, too thick and very slippery and I fear the braid would not hold as well as a standard bun. I like it, but unless we cut her hair, I don't think we could mange to make this stay. That brings up another thing....most gymnasts (nearly all I would assume) could not do this hairstyle on their own. Not sure of the age of your team, but older girls don't always want mom doing their hair.
 
I've done this to my hair a few times for meets I suggest that you have wet hair when doing it and use a lot of hair muse, and bring in little sections when French braiding it makes it look nicer
 
Okay I hope everyone is ready for a good laugh…

First picture is the hair I started with (around shoulder length, layers). Second picture is of my braid. Third picture is the best I could get of the finished product.

I did this is less than 10 minutes on myself, and did not try to fix any flyways. But it was really difficult to do upside down on myself, which is why it looks so loose (and I would consider myself pretty good at hair in general). The layers are already falling out, too. I bet if I did it on someone else I could make it look better. If you can't french braid well, though, you'll end up with meet hair that looks like my final pic! Eek!
 

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It's definitely a cute style, but I'd say you do have to be quite practiced at French-braiding to get the back looking smooth and tight. If you're going to go with this, I would recommend having at least one "Hair Practice session" that the parents and gymnasts attend, with hopefully some of the parents who are good at French Braiding being able to offer tips and help the new parents. I don't think a gymnast (if they are teens) will be able to do her own hair if this is the style. Very tricky to do yourself. Perhaps a couple parents could learn and be teachers for the other parents, and even actually do the other gymnasts' hair for the first few meets or so? If they are willing? This really is tricky for someone not practiced at braiding.

That said, some tips...
You can't use too much gel or hairspray when doing the braid part or the hair will be too sticky to section cleanly. I recommend misting the hair with water, or using a light oil, paste, conditioner, or cream in the hair that doesn't have too firm of a hold while french braiding. Different hair types may work better with different products. Anything that will help define the sections and make them easier to hold onto (not too slippery) without over-stickiness. After the braid is complete, then use a firm hold hairspray and your hands to smooth down any flyaways and hold it all together.

For the bun, I've never used that tool in the video, so I don't know how that would hold up in gymnastics. It looks promising, though. Assuming not everyone has that tool, then doing the bun is pretty simple with some good hair pins, or even strong bobby pins. Same principle - some light holding cream/wax/paste/gel when twisting into the bun, then use a hairnet over the bun to hold it all in (pinning either before or after hairnet will work), then finish with super-firm hold hairspray.

Personally, I'm not a fan of ribbons for gymnastics (looks to cutesy like a Cheer team to me), but that's just me ;)
 
You may want to hold a hair tutorial if you are going with a mandated 'do. I would start by teaching french braiding. I, personally, can't follow tutorial videos. It's just not how I learn. I cannot french braid, but do a sort of cheated version that ends up looking much the same. I often braid my one DDs hair up from the bottom, and then back from the top, and meet in the middle in a ponytail, braided. I think your style I could make work on her, but she has layers, so buns are tough- I would suggest a ballet bun net for girls with layers, and lots of mousse on damp hair to start. My other DDs hair is waist length and thick-ish, so there is absolutely no way I could get hers into this style.
 
I consider myself very good at hair styles and have done variations on this style on DD as recently as last week, however she isn't keen on me doing the upside down french braid as she can't find a comfortable position to allow her hair to be in a good position for me to braid. The style is also unlikely to stay put for gym even though she has one length hair below her shoulders.
 
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Oh gosh, I remember trying this do on myself when that video came out. Probably the trickiest thing about it is getting the hair to fall up instead of down, because it's rather unnatural. So if I was doing this on someone else, I'd have them lie down at the end of the coach or bed and let their head hang off the end before starting the braiding process. (Makes it a little easier to braid, but eh, blood will be rushing into their head anyway. Not very comfortable. That's also why I've never done it again, lol.)

Agree with the suggestions of having a tutorial-type session with the parents beforehand if you decide on this style. It's definitely one that's a little tricky, especially for newbie braiders!
 
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It's very pretty, but no way would it work on my dd's hair. Her hair is just too long and thick.

The main problem is that she doesn't have flyaways at the back - her hair is too long for those, she has flyaways around the front, which this style does nothing to deal with :confused:

I'd have to use a tonne of gell on wet hair and then spray it. I could probably get it to look like that and for the back to stay like that, but guarantee that within five minutes of warm up the front would be a hot mess and she'd have hair flopping all over her face :rolleyes:
 
My DD has very thick, very fine hair. I'm pretty good at French braiding, but trying to do that style on her would make us both crazy and probably wouldn't come out looking very good. Unfortunately, I think if you want a uniform look, you either need to have a couple of expert designated hairdressers for the team or you need to pick something fairly simple that works for all different hair types.
 
ah, no

for all the reasons stated here.

Has to be done upside down
Against natural hair growth
Flyaways are at the front
Layers are from the top of the head
Not suitable for very long or short hair
Need a really good french plait with very thin sections

But it does look pretty.............
 
Beautiful, but meets are stressful enough without having to worry about if I can get DD's hair up in a style that the coach wants. Plus when you have an 8:00 start time, it's hard enough to get them up and going without me bumbling around for hours trying to get her hair fixed. Would be great if you have girls with the identical hair length and thickness, otherwise everyone's is going to look different anyway. I think as long as its off the shoulders and off the face and neat, that's fine. So glad DD's coaches don't mandate a hairstyle.
 

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