Baby Steps: looser ponytails

I'm a bun girl.  I have been wearing my hair in a bun since I learned how to create the style when I was 14. According to these hair blogs, that's a good thing...a protective style.  Right? Wrong.  While it's helpful to get your ends off your shoulders, so they don't rub against damaging, drying clothing...it doesn't really serve much purpose if your bun is soooo tight, you're breaking your hair of at the elastic.  That's what I've been doing.  I think that's the real problem behind my breakage issues. For years now.  I keep getting a decent length going...but I wanna hack the heck out of my hair because I have these short hairs at the back that look terrible, when I actually want to wear my hair down.

So, I went to the dollar store.  Haven't been able to find any hair elastics lately.  I thought that I would combat my problem by ceasing to 'bun'.  But that's just crazy talk.  It would be like telling Carrie Bradshaw not to buy shoes, or some such foolishness.

So I've decided I would buy new elastics....and vow to wrap them around my hair no more than twice.  My mom used to wrap bobbles around twice.  But my magic number was 3.  Always gotta have it in there tight.  There was also another kind of elastic with a silicone inside surface that is not supposed to slip and therefore not tangle.  I can't promise I will like them, so I bough both kinds.  At least if one doesn't meet my style requirements, it may turn out to be suitable for at home use.

Today, I've got the new kind inside the bun wrapped thrice around my ponytail.  ( I know, it was supposed to be twice...but these once are wider) The usual sporty soft elastics wrapped twice around the outside.

Not doing so great on day one....but alas, I still have my bun...and I have a plan.

k