Do you restore your ponies?

MLPmintchocolatechip

MLPmintchocolatechip

Teeny Tiny Baby Pony
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Messages
75
I've been slowly getting in to restoring some of my ponies and am wondering what people use to condition dry, frizzy pony hair. I've got one girl whose hair is a MESS. But she's so nice otherwise! Does anyone have a product/trick/tip they swear by? And do straighteners damage pony hair?
 
I've gotten 90% of my collection from thrift stores and flea markets, which means I have dealt with some NASTY hair. What I usually do is
-brush to the best of my ability
-wet hair with warm (not hot) water
-shampoo (I use Garnier for color-treated hair)
-comb shampoo through gently
-leave the shampoo for about 1 min
-rinse
-condition (again, Garnier for color-treated hair)
-comb conditioner through gently
-leave the conditioner for 5-20 mins (depends how bad)
-rinse very, very thoroughly... there should be no soapy bubbles left in the sink

That's worked for all of my girls so far... and I spent over 3 hours combing out the hair on my 9" Styling Cheerilee, now she has beautiful curls! I have never used any heating products (straighteners, hot rollers) on my ponies so I cannot say if that works- I am too chicken to try. I use sponge curlers, and for straightening hair I just let them dry with their hair laid out flat on the shower floor.
 
Straighteners will melt pony hair if you have them too hot, so be wary of that one! Saying that though some careful, gentle straightening can help to tame some of the frizz with extra care! As for other methods I personally have tried lots with not much success until a little while ago I got talking to someone who worked with synthetic hair and similar. I described the problem to her and she basically said when it goes really frizzy (the individual strands look all bent up and twisty and you get that matted feel to the hair) that you'll never get it back to how it was. I opt for either light straightening after lots of conditioner, or if its really bad I plait it and hide it as much as possible!
 
I'd say that the "directions" on the back of the shampoo/conditioner bottles about sum it up.... "Wash, rinse, repeat." :)

I have tried the straightener (on loooooooow setting) and it works. I think it all depends on the amount of frizz.
 
I use Giovanni organics shampoo and conditioner on my ponies--it doesn't have any sulfates, which are very bad for all hair--most shampoos and a lot of conditioners have them.

I don't have a straightener, but others here have said to keep the setting very low and make sure you slather a lot of conditioner on the hair before using the straightener. Definitely be very careful!

Spiral curls can help hide very frizzy pony hair. Which is why some eBay sellers will curl their pony's hair. :p
 
hubby threw out my 'pony straightener' it only heated intermittently and had a very low setting, which was great for pony hair! so now I use my flat iron, because my current straightener only has low and high and I simply don't trust that! I keep my iron on the lowest setting... you shouldn't be able to use the steam feature, and keep the hair wet while doing it!
 
A straightener works very well on pony hair if it's on the lowest setting.
 
I find rehairing works wonders on any mess.. But that's just me LOL
 
I have just done experiments with heat straightening. My sister's Moondancer was a horror and I had a plush Moondancer from the Sally Ann who looked like she'd gone through a washer and dryer! I heavily conditioned both of their hair in the past but didn't do it before I tried with an old curling iron to straighten. I figured I had nothing to lose.

I say go for it, practice on a baity pony so that you get a feel for the Hasbro hair. I'm not sure if different colour hair is of a different texture but I did find that plush Moondancer hair was different. Or, try on a small section of the tail to see how it goes. If it's as bad as you say, a piece in the middle of the tail won't really be noticed much if it doesn't work.

I used the My Little Pony Restoration Guide for tips on how to do this. Kerry's Moondancer turned out pretty darn good after straightening in very small sections while holding them taught so that the heat went over a 'straightened' bit of hair. I used an old curling iron and it didn't seem to be too hot. I went slow but steady over the hair. I then gave her a good wash and condition. I wrapped her tail around her leg to dry.

Before
bd3bee60_zps642b093f.jpg


After Straightening
b63d0ea8_zps60334db6.jpg


After a Wash and left to dry curled around her leg
202cf35c_zps31bb4b56.jpg


Plush Moondancer didn't fare so well. The curling iron that was great for Kerry's Moondancer melted the ends off of Plush Moondancer. I switched to my good curling iron on the lowest heat for her and, while not perfect (hair is still like straw) it's a vast improvement.

Before
ee5e76eb_zps93800822.jpg


After
9e8e9158_zps69603370.jpg
 
Thanks for the advice everyone :) My girl looks a lot like your Moondancer, emberfly; although I think mine is even worse haha. There may be no hope for her frizzy mane, but I too have yet to attempt re-hairing. I have a couple of girls in fact who are in really good shape, but happen to be missing just one hair plug and it makes me nuts. I have to set aside the time to actually attempt to fix them!

-Mints
 
If you're worried about straightening hair, I can do it for you. A decade or more of practice and no mishaps, lol! ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top