I’ve been wearing ponytails for years, so I have an almost permanent “ponytail bump” when I take my hair out. Lady Jayne’s Style Guards are nifty ponytail holders made of a phone cord-like plastic spiral (“Flexi-Coil technology”), that promises to eliminate the ponytail bump. It didn’t quite get rid of the bump in my hair, but it’s definitely better!
The Style Guards have a bunch of other advantages too:
- They hold your hair in place really, really well, if you loop it around your hair a few times. Especially the clear ones – I can do a dance class and re-tie my hair maybe twice, compared to every few minutes with my usual cotton-covered bands. I found that the clear ones hold my hair in place much better than the black ones.
- They stay on quite well even if loosely tied. After I wash my hair, I like to have something to pull my hair back, without putting my fragile wet hair through the trauma of a proper ponytail. These stay on reasonably well without any loops!
- Style Guards don’t tug on your hair as much as a rubbery hair tie. There’s still a little bit of tugging at first, which is inevitable with a grippy hair tie, but if you wiggle it a bit, it shifts a little and releases your hair.
- They’re completely waterproof and won’t go mouldy.
The cons:
- The Style Guards are quite chunky (the spiral has a 1 cm diameter) and look a little strange in your hair, especially since they catch on themselves and it’s hard to stretch the coils evenly over your hair (I think it actually works better that way). They’re definitely not special-occasion hair ties.
- The place where the band’s stuck together feels a little flimsy, though I’ve yet to have one break on me, so maybe I’m just paranoid.
- They’re too bulky to sleep on comfortably.
Since I was sent these Style Guards to review, I’ve been using them almost exclusively over my usual hair ties, which is pretty impressive, since it’s been about 10 years since I last changed up my hair ties. They’re a bit pricier than your usual hair ties at about $1 each, but because they’re bigger they’re a bit harder to lose. I’m a convert!
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I’ve used a similar style product about a year ago from my hairdresser. I didn’t really like them much as one broke on me during one of the earlier tries and they don’t go on tight enough for my hair. I have used them a few times since then when I wanted a loose ponytail but don’t like the bulkiness when I put them on my wrist.
I find them super uncomfortable on my wrist too! I found them tighter than my normal hair ties actually – so much less re-tying during the day 🙂
This type of hair tie has been really popular in Asia for a couple years now! My Chinese housemate introduced me to it, and it’s been a favourite ever since. Nice to have one easily available in Australia now.
I need to go back to Asia and stock up on things like this!
I have a couple of these as well, but mine has stretched so wide that it is no longer of any use for me. Almost tempting to cut them and fuse together..
I have a bunch of similar ones too, and I have found that putting the streched ones in boiling water for half a minute makes them spring back in shape again.
They stretch out a little bit faster each time, so I guess at some point they will need to be retired, but it still prolongs the use you get out of them significantly.
Great tip! Thank you for sharing 🙂
A couple of mine have stretched as well – in addition to Lis’s tip, maybe a quick whoosh with the hairdryer could work too?