Puffy "Fro-Hawky" Pony with Staying Power and Minimal Hairline Stress

The title says it all.

Daddy D loves the simplicity of a single ponytail. I like the idea too, but I worry about stress on JJ's hairline. I also really rely on styles that have staying power. I usually style JJ's hair in such a way that it can last the week, with only minimal maintenance required day-to-day. Our morning routine is hectic to say the least. I'm a working outside of the home mama, and the three kids are at two different schools. There's just me to get everyone out the door since D leaves for work while the rest of us are still sleeping.

This weekend I've experimented and come up with something that looks like a single ponytail but **hopefully** will cause minimal hairline stress and will last (oops! see re-do notes, below).

I started with clean, dry hair. (Full disclosure - this is a re-do from something that didn't work - you can read more about my adventures with rollers in this post). I spritzed with a combo of water, jojoba oil and leave-in conditioner, and parted the hair into five sections from the front to the back of the head.

I pulled each section together in the middle of JJ's head with a piece of cut-up black tights. I was careful not to pull too tightly. I tried to "ponytail" the hair (is that a verb?) such that the hair covered any part lines so these don't show. I've been shocked at how a flash camera makes part lines stand out so much, and I'm aiming for a smoother look here.

I ponytailed the five sections relatively close to each other, and then attached all five sections together with another piece of old tights (sort of vertically, like a banana clip - remember those?). I then spritzed the puffs and fluffed them out so that they looked like they were all one ponytail.

Voila!

Re-do notes:

JJ did sleep with a satin cap but between all the dressing and undressing this hasn't held up as well as I would have liked. The sides got very fuzzy very quickly.  The re-do has incorporated flat two-strand twists at the hair line. Maintenance has involved spritzing front/sides/back every day with my water/jojoba/leave-in combo, and spritzing and fluffing the puffs.

5 fairly loose pony tails,
loose hair at hairline

Flat two-strand twist at hairline

Ponytails pulled together with old tights
(like a banana clip) 

Wrapped the tights around twice for a smaller,
less "fro-hawky" pony tail 

Decided to go with the fro-hawk after all

All done!