Preferred hairstyles

[bunnybarista]

I'm curious - for those of you with long hair, what is your preferred hairstyle for practice? And what about for competing/shows? I've gotten away with mostly loose / lightly pinned back hair for ice dance, but now that I'm adding more freestyle to the mix, I'm finding that my hair gets in the way a lot... A ponytail will hit me in the face while spinning, and looks a bit comical when landing a jump. Buns are such a pain to do, though... so I'm curious to see what other people's go-to hairstyle is for practice! Feel free to also say what you do for competitions/tests/shows... I've had to enlist other people to do my hair for actual events because it's never been my forte.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

I'm curious - for those of you with long hair, what is your preferred hairstyle for practice? And what about for competing/shows? I've gotten away with mostly loose / lightly pinned back hair for ice dance, but now that I'm adding more freestyle to the mix, I'm finding that my hair gets in the way a lot... A ponytail will hit me in the face while spinning, and looks a bit comical when landing a jump. Buns are such a pain to do, though... so I'm curious to see what other people's go-to hairstyle is for practice! Feel free to also say what you do for competitions/tests/shows... I've had to enlist other people to do my hair for actual events because it's never been my forte.

Bun, pony or braid. Competition hair and make up depend on theme of program.

 

[WednesdayMarch]

Back when I had waist-length hair, I found it best to braid it into two long braids and then wind them around my head, Tyrolean-style, if you know what I mean. Anything swept straight up to the top of my head gave me a mammoth headache, and the time I tried a very high ponytail that I then braided ended up with me clobbering another skater when I went into a spin...

I've had many, many, many hairstyles over the years. The one where my hair was in lots and lots of tiny braids (not cornrows, just braids) was amazing but they all had to be plaited into a much thicker braid for skating. Spinning with them loose was dangerous. Nearly took one of my eyes out, but I had to try it just once!

Never had much success with buns. My hair has always been very, very thick and heavy. Combine that with excellent condition and it just won't stay in a bun. As a child, a ballet teacher became so fed up with it always falling down that he placed a pair of sheep sheers on the piano in the dance studio and threatened to cut it off to a "more reasonable" length if it fell down again. It fell down, he wasn't bluffing. Chopped it off, handed it to me and told me to go and sort myself out and return to class. My nanny, who was waiting in the changing room, was mortified when I came out of class and waved all that hair at her. My mother, however, never noticed...

What I'd really like to know is how Tiffany Zagorski skates with her hair in that beautiful bob? My hair is currently bobbed (albeit much more like Anna Wintour) and I struggle to see where I'm going most of the time. I also look more like a disgruntled Shetland pony than an elegant ice dancer...

 

[zjamic]

I'm curious - for those of you with long hair, what is your preferred hairstyle for practice? And what about for competing/shows? I've gotten away with mostly loose / lightly pinned back hair for ice dance, but now that I'm adding more freestyle to the mix, I'm finding that my hair gets in the way a lot... A ponytail will hit me in the face while spinning, and looks a bit comical when landing a jump. Buns are such a pain to do, though... so I'm curious to see what other people's go-to hairstyle is for practice! Feel free to also say what you do for competitions/tests/shows... I've had to enlist other people to do my hair for actual events because it's never been my forte.

For practice it is mostly high ponytails, occasionally a french braid if I have a friend do it for me. My go-to ponytail style is the side braid ponytail because it keeps the hair near my face pulled back and out of the way. However, I think I will be switching my go-to style for a braid due to my hair length being around my butt, not to mention very thick, and a high ponytail isn't cutting it anymore; the other day when I [managed] to do a biellman [for like 3 seconds] I didn't even realize I had grabbed my hair because it is so long!

For shows or tests it was either a side braid ponytail or a braided bun, sometimes a combination of the two. I find braids very professional looking and aesthetically pleasing, and I don't have to use as much hairspray to keep hairs in place. With buns, I use a lot of bobbie pins and sometimes a hairnet-like contraption that wraps around the bun to make said bun look uniform. Hairstyles depend on the music.

 

[JSM]

I highly recommended a bun-maker tool. I bought one for competition years ago but I love it so much I use it almost daily. I have bra strap length hair and it takes minutes to do, and stays all day, through spins, work, and even hair pulling toddlers!

 

[bunnybarista]

Back when I had waist-length hair, I found it best to braid it into two long braids and then wind them around my head, Tyrolean-style, if you know what I mean. Anything swept straight up to the top of my head gave me a mammoth headache, and the time I tried a very high ponytail that I then braided ended up with me clobbering another skater when I went into a spin...

I've had many, many, many hairstyles over the years. The one where my hair was in lots and lots of tiny braids (not cornrows, just braids) was amazing but they all had to be plaited into a much thicker braid for skating. Spinning with them loose was dangerous. Nearly took one of my eyes out, but I had to try it just once!

Never had much success with buns. My hair has always been very, very thick and heavy. Combine that with excellent condition and it just won't stay in a bun. As a child, a ballet teacher became so fed up with it always falling down that he placed a pair of sheep sheers on the piano in the dance studio and threatened to cut it off to a "more reasonable" length if it fell down again. It fell down, he wasn't bluffing. Chopped it off, handed it to me and told me to go and sort myself out and return to class. My nanny, who was waiting in the changing room, was mortified when I came out of class and waved all that hair at her. My mother, however, never noticed...

What I'd really like to know is how Tiffany Zagorski skates with her hair in that beautiful bob? My hair is currently bobbed (albeit much more like Anna Wintour) and I struggle to see where I'm going most of the time. I also look more like a disgruntled Shetland pony than an elegant ice dancer...

I love how you wrote this - I had a good giggle picturing you whacking another skater with your braid whilst spinning, and likewise the Shetland pony vs. elegant ice dancer analogy made me crack up! I, too, wonder how Tiffany (and other skaters) can get away with a bob, and with bangs, no less! I had hair kind of like hers before I started skating, and I grew out my hair specifically because it was so troublesome to skate with bangs and short-ish hair.

I can't believe your ballet teacher cut off your hair! Ooof. Certainly different times than today.

I don't think my hair is long enough to wrap braids around my head just yet, but I do like that idea! I can get headaches from buns / tight hairstyles, and generally my hair is too fine/slippery to want to stay in a bun without excessive hairspraying.

 

[bunnybarista]

I highly recommended a bun-maker tool. I bought one for competition years ago but I love it so much I use it almost daily. I have bra strap length hair and it takes minutes to do, and stays all day, through spins, work, and even hair pulling toddlers!

I had to google that - might be worth a shot! Thanks for the suggestion

 

[SmallAminal]

Back when I had waist-length hair, I found it best to braid it into two long braids and then wind them around my head, Tyrolean-style, if you know what I mean. Anything swept straight up to the top of my head gave me a mammoth headache, and the time I tried a very high ponytail that I then braided ended up with me clobbering another skater when I went into a spin...
.

PSA for those of you with long hair - please do take care to make sure its not swinging around. There is a girl at our rink with waist length hair *when its in braids* and to prevent whacking anyone, it is tucked into her skating jacket as I think its hard to keep that much hair in a bun during skating. I did see her compete with her hair in a bun, but it looked very big compared to her head and I wondered how much work it was to keep it in place (I think they also make some hair netting for this purpose so that it won't go flying everywhere).

Doesn't Trusova have waist length hair? Maybe her Instagram gives some insights into how she wears her hair for training and competing.

I've always kind of wondered if you have a long enough pony tail, would it maybe change the feel/balance of your jumps and spins?

Luckily, I neither have long enough hair or good enough spins/jumps to be a hazard on the ice

 

[hanyuufan5]

I've got a long list of practice hairstyles (no competitions yet): braids of varying position and number, straightened high ponytail, unstraightened high ponytail, unstraightened high pigtails...

Doesn't Trusova have waist length hair? Maybe her Instagram gives some insights into how she wears her hair for training and competing.

Closer to knee-length.

Here is a somewhat closeup of the texture. She usually wears it in a braided bun, but her hair appears to be very fine, thick, and fluffy, so her bun doesn't look much different than this one despite this woman's hair being much shorter.

The scientist in me got curious, so I did some googling, and apparently the fine texture is part of why Russian/Eastern European hair is so popular for extensions. Maybe that's part of why bun-wearing Russian skaters tend to have such long hair: they have to in order to get the same look as skaters with coarser hair.

What I'd really like to know is how Tiffany Zagorski skates with her hair in that beautiful bob?

I, too, wonder how Tiffany (and other skaters) can get away with a bob, and with bangs, no less!

I have bangs and Tiffany's-bob-length face framing layers, and they never bother me or get in my way. The shorter my hair is, the stiffer for some reason. I can actually bend over so my head is completely upside-down, and my bangs will mostly point straight up against gravity. The front layers are a bit less gravity/movement-defying, but they still stay pretty still when I'm skating. I don't use any products, just blow dry and flat-iron, but I have Russian and Polish ancestry like Tiffany (different amounts, though). Maybe that has something to do with it?

 

[maggieanne]

I've always kind of wondered if you have a long enough pony tail, would it maybe change the feel/balance of your jumps and spins?

My hair is a bit longer than waist length and it absolutely effects my skating. I’m not currently jumping, but if my hair is tied back in a ponytail or braids when I spin it pulls me over and I fall. I’m not a particularly fast spinner so I can’t even imagine how bad it would be if I spun quickly.

 

[WednesdayMarch]

I don't think my hair is long enough to wrap braids around my head just yet, but I do like that idea! I can get headaches from buns / tight hairstyles, and generally my hair is too fine/slippery to want to stay in a bun without excessive hairspraying.

I remember when I started with the Tyrolean look, my hair wasn't long enough to wrap around, but I simply pulled the braids up to meet at the top, and continued wrapping over the top until they were long enough to wrap all the way around. You can also wrap them downwards, which looks quite chic. One day a school friend came to a public session and remarked, "Now I understand why you do your hair like that. It's perfect for skating!" which made me feel momentarily less weird.

 

[sandraskates]

My first memory of a now departed skating friend was seeing a woman with lovely, thick, waist-length hair tied in a simple pony tail, doing a very low and fast sit-spin on the ice. Her hair was her trademark and we all envied it.
In the sit-spin position, her flying pony tail flew behind her like a counter-balance to her outstretched leg.

But for competition, she would put her hair into a bun.

Chopped it off, handed it to me and told me to go and sort myself out and return to class. My nanny, who was waiting in the changing room, was mortified when I came out of class and waved all that hair at her. My mother, however, never noticed...

I'm certain that he wouldn't get away with a stunt like that these days!

 

[karne]

No-one will care how you wear your hair for practice; a simple pony is fine.

Braids and buns are the route for competition. I keep it fairly simple. Possibly the most complicated thing I do is put my hair in two plaits, then twist the plaits together at the nape of my neck, across each other. Lots of pins and spray ensue. It usually works but takes a lot of effort to keep in place and makes me paranoid.

 

[Sunshine247]

One of my daughters has super thick, long, curly hair, while the other has super silky board straight hair. So I’ve learned a lot about hair in the past year. Lol. They both practice in a high pony tail unless they feel like twisting it up into a really high bun and using scrunchies. (Funny story, we discovered the cure for my younger daughter’s toe pushing was being aware of her pony tail bobbing up and down. Lol.) For competitions we have a wonderful braider/hairstylist sometimes, or we use various braids and buns I struggle through. Mostly we try to stay away from things that damage my curly girls hair and in the meantime I’ve discovered a few key products.

The first, best thing ever is spin pins. The ones by goody are pricey, but there are amazon knock offs now and I swear by those things. They look like DNA (double helix) and spin into a bun without pulling hair or pressing on your scalp. It only takes three or four of them to hold a huge messy bun while my curly girl practices, or a neat one for competition, and they never ever ever fall out! It’s hard to explain how wonderful these magical contraptions are.

Next we use those super fine stretchy hair net things. They hardly ever last more than once, but they can be found in bulk. It makes all those slippery hairs comply and work into the bun without a million small hairpins so I don’t have to spend ten minutes jabbing pins into a bun for my silky haired DD and curls immediately comply for my other DD.

Lastly, most obviously, we use gel on damp hair which gives a bun or braid a fighting chance for both of them. I have a whole arsenal of hair friendly gels thanks to doing research for maintaining my curly girls hair. Like a long list of various holds, so I won’t list them unless someone is dying to know..

 

[bunnybarista]

The first, best thing ever is spin pins. The ones by goody are pricey, but there are amazon knock offs now and I swear by those things. They look like DNA (double helix) and spin into a bun without pulling hair or pressing on your scalp. It only takes three or four of them to hold a huge messy bun while my curly girl practices, or a neat one for competition, and they never ever ever fall out! It’s hard to explain how wonderful these magical contraptions are.

Thanks so much for this tip! I will have to look into trying these out

 

[Nimyue]

The first, best thing ever is spin pins. The ones by goody are pricey, but there are amazon knock offs now and I swear by those things. They look like DNA (double helix) and spin into a bun without pulling hair or pressing on your scalp. It only takes three or four of them to hold a huge messy bun while my curly girl practices, or a neat one for competition, and they never ever ever fall out! It’s hard to explain how wonderful these magical contraptions are.

I flipping LOVE Spin Pins!!!!! I have thick volume but very fine stranded hair and they are the only way I can keep a bun in while skating.

 

[chilledicecubes]

I used to wear my hair in a bun when I practiced but eventually I gave up and cut it really short. Gotta say that’s worked out best for me up till now.

 

[Arwen17]

My hair is Alexandra Trusova length most of the time, and it slips out very, very easily during spins and jumps. The only thing I’ve found that keeps it from slipping out of my casual bun is to anchor it with corkscrew pins. https://www.amazon.com/Goody-Simple-Styles-Assorted-Colors/dp/B003FVDNO6

I hate and will never use hairspray or any other nasty chemical crap on my hair. And I can’t use any other type of pin because it will fall out. Braiding would work but that takes too damn long for daily practice sessions. So quick bun with 3 hair ties and 3 corkscrew pins to anchor it.

Once my hair is long enough, it either starts hitting me in the face or throwing off my balance in spins and jumps.