Perfecting the pony tail is no easy feat. Luckily, Cutler Brooklyn Stylist Jason Viera is sharing top tips on how to achieve the sleek, fashion-forward look.
- Prep the hair with Fatboy Boss Dog Styling Cream and blow-dry the product into the hair to create a foundation and add a little bit of grit to the strands. PRO TIP: The trick to all ponytails, especially really clean, fashion-forward ones, is the direction of the blow dry. If you blow dry the hair in the direction you want to ponytail to lay, when you brush the ponytail into place it will fall in the direction you want.
- Use a heat protectant and volumizing spray like Cutler Specialist Protectant Spray and Cutler Volumizing Spray on each section to prep and smooth the strands.
- Next, create the pony tail in at least two sections. A loose ponytail can be done in one section, but if you want it to be extremely tight, do two or three. Splitting the sections prevents you from having to hold all of the hair at once and allows you to make it as tight as possible. PRO TIP: Make sure your client’s head is stationary. A client's head typically moves in the direction that the brush moves. It's important that the client "fights" against the brush to prevent the ponytail from being too saggy.
- There are multiple ways to tie a ponytail. If you have an assistant, it is best to use a really long, stretchy bit of string. The stylist would hold the ponytail and the assistant would loop the band around the pony and tie it off to prevent losing any tension in the ponytail.
- If you don’t have an assistant use a bungy, or a hair elastic with two hooks on the end. If you don’t have a bungy, you can make one by looping two bobby pins at the ends of the elastic to act as two hooks.
- Once it is in the ponytail, you can add the hair extension on top of the ponytail. The trick is to loop the hair extension into a bobby pin and maneuver the hair into the bobby pin so acts as a hook. This way you can just pin it into the ponytail and wrap a few pieces around.
- To make the ponytail super smooth, dress the hairline and top of the pony with Fatboy Tough Guy Water Wax—it has lots of shine and hold without the stick.