new thread
Hey guys just found this board. I've had long hair now for a couple of years now and I definatly love it, its a part of who I am now. Anyways, I ride a motorcycle twice a week to school, and its my only transportation on my own. I always put it up into a ponytail which helps but I gets so tanlged by the time I get back home that I hate dealing with it and usually must resort to using tons of conditioner when I shower to get the knots out easier.
I am considering anything that will help keep this from happening. Braiding is an option but I'd like something that wasn't so time consuming and that I could take out as soon as I got off my bike and then put it back in real quick when I get back on it to go home. I prefer having my hair down. Wearing a hoodie works well but its way to hot for that now. I just really want something I can use just when I'm riding, and I don't care how it looks, especially if I can take it out right away. Also, it's gotta be able to stay together because there is nothing worse than trying to untangle it when my money tail comes undone.
Any help is much appreciated.
Welcome, Nick!
I also ride and up until a few months ago, just ponytailed it and carefully 'de-tangled' it when I finished my ride. But as it's getting longer [3 years, 3 months], it's been taking way too long to get the snarls out. What I've been doing lately is stuffing the tail between my leather jacket and my shirt. It works ok for the most part but quite often, it does come out and then I have the same problem as before. Something that might work [I just now thought of it and have never tried it before] is after you ponytail your hair, 'fold' it up once or twice and put a hair band around it. Just a thought...
--Rick
Thanks Rick,
Actually that does sound like a good idea and so simple I wonder why I didn't consider it. I'll have to test it out and see if it will stay together while at highway speeds, but that is exactly what I was talking about.
-Nick
Hope it works out for you. BTW... where are you located? I'm in San Jose, CA
--Rick
About an hours drive north of Atlanta, GA. I go to the Art Institute of Atlanta, and we have the craziest and longest commute in the USA. Not really from around here tho, was a military dependent and this was were my dad retired two years ago.
I haven't ridden a bike for years, but what I used to do to keep my hair inside my jacket was to wear a thin scarf around my neck even in hot weather, with the ends just folded over once. I had a white 'silk' (fake) scarf that looked like what the old air aces wore, and that was OK even in summer without getting too hot, and of course in winter I wore a wooly scarf (my old college scarf). I think the fighter pilot look with a leather jacket and a white 'silk' scarf is cool! I used to wear a ponytail band as well, but the scarf did most of the work in retaining my hair, and at a pinch would work on it's own for a short run.
I hadn't learnt to braid my hair back then, but that ought to work too. It doesn't take as long as you think if you are used to doing it. One time when I was going on an extreme ride at a funfair (for my son's benefit, I am not into that) I emptied all my pockets and gave it all to my wife before getting in line, just like the sign said, and then realised I had given her my hairbands too, and I was going to be hanging upside down and doing a barrel roll! I was near the front of the line by then, but I still had time to braid my hair before getting on, and it stayed in OK without tying it. That's one advantage of a braid, they take quite a while to fall undone, which is handy when you get stuck without anything to tie your hair (which we all know is inevitable).
Perhaps one of these might help:
Perhaps one of these might help:
Ah yea that looks pretty good too. I think I might have to get me one of those...
I would line my pony tail with multiple hair ties. I'd say that's the only way to prevent lots of tangles!
I do that if I'm going to do some work involving power tools, or if I ride (not often enough anymore :( ), or if I'm just going to have it up for a long time, so it doesn't get tangled. Good luck!
Yea I should have mentioned I've already tried this and it works well enough for short trips but at prolonged highway speeds it gets whipped around to much and eventually comes out, sometimes all the way. Doing that and then twisting that into sort of a bun my work tho.
I've never ridden a motorcycle before, but I'd suggest putting your hair in a bun. If the bun is secure, the wind shouldn't unravel it, and you can undo it in seconds and redo it in moments at your will, depending how good you get at making one.
Hope that helps.
Peace
Well it doesn't just have to survive the wind on its own its also got to survive the it getting knocked constantly up and down against my helmet. I'm going to try tieing it into a ponytail and then folding it up and putting it into the tie or another tie, when I tested it it seemed to work well but it looks like the loops may catch air. I'll post how it goes I got to take the trip tomorrow morning.
Good luck wearing a bun under a crash helmet!
I don't ride on the street much anymore, but I do road race on race tracks. I use a pony tail and have not had any problems.
My hair is about the same length as yours.
There are 2 or 3 other guys with long hair at the track, all use pony tails.
Speeds are up to 175 mph, but the time out there is only an hour or so per day.
A few years back it seemed that sport bike riders favoured short buzz cuts, but that seems to be changing lately.
You still see lots of gruby looking harley riders with long hair, I guess that will never change.
David L
Why dont you just wear your hair loose under the helmet
with a full-face or even 3/4s helmet its very hard to get it all under the helmet and it usually ends up sticking out the front and can be quite annoying. Also keep it in a ponytail and sticking it into the helmet will make the helmet too tight. I only use those types of helmets on rainy/cold days anyways. The helmet I use now is very open and there is no way to keep it under it. I put a picture up of what I did.
Absalom who has hair over three feet long and posts here frequently uses multiple pony tail ties at close intervals (3-4 inches) along the length of the tail to secure all the hairs and avoid tangles. He says that he rides his bicycle frequently with no problems.
--Sorry for putting words in your mouth, Scott, but if it works good enough for you, then...you know the rest.
This is what I ended up doing. I just tied a regular ponytail with my usual hairband and then, using another smaller and tighter hairband, I only pulled the hair halfway through. It worked well enough for the trip there and although I didn't try finger combing my hair or anything it didn't feel or look like it had knots when I took it out. On the way home it came undone a bit but even so it wasn't very tangled and I managed to get it all out in just a couple of mins.
I'm going to keep trying some other methods and probably will end up getting one of those hairguards or whatever they are, but atleast now I got something that works. Thanks guys.