How to Do a Single Ringlet Ponytail
LINDSEY ROBINSON SANCHEZ
LIFE
You may live in a ponytail -- it's a quick way to get your hair out of your face, making it a gym staple, a lazy-day hairdo or an easy fix in the fast-paced lifestyle of a busy mom. But add a curling iron and a few minutes and you can turn your ponytail into a sleek, sweet single ringlet for a special evening out or a touch of fancy at work. The trick to having a single spiral -- not a mass of curls -- is to curl all of the hair in the ponytail in the same direction, fashioning your tresses into one fantastic, fat curl!
Wash and dry your hair. Brush your hair to remove all tangles and secure into a low ponytail with a small elastic ponytail holder. Do not use a curling iron on wet hair. Drape the ponytail over the shoulder that is opposite to the hand that you will use to hold the curling iron.
Apply a quarter- to golf-ball-sized dollop of mousse, depending on the thickness of your hair, throughout your ponytail. The mousse will help hold the curl. Brush through the ponytail gently to remove any tangles or stickiness from the mousse.
Heat your 1-inch curling iron and separate a 1/2-inch section of hair from your ponytail. Secure the rest of the ponytail with a clip.
Clamp your curling iron at the tips of the 1/2-inch section of hair and wind the curling iron up and away from your face, curling the hair around it as you go. Alternatively, you can clamp the curling iron around the base of the section of hair and wind the hair around the barrel and away from your face until you reach the end of your hair. Both methods will give you ringlet curls.
Curl the rest of the hair in the ponytail, section by section. In order to create a single ringlet ponytail, you must curl all of the hair in the same direction.
Manipulate your curls gently with your fingers when all of the hair has been curled and shape them into a single spiral curl. Since you've curled each section of hair in the same direction, the sections will curl together like a spring to create a single, large ringlet.
Spray the curl with hairspray to set. To add volume to the curl, pull gently along the sides of your ringlet with your fingers.
- A curling iron uses high heat to set curls, so take care not to touch it to your fingers, neck, ears or face.
- You can hide the elastic ponytail by wrapping it with a thin section of hair. Separate the section from the bottom of the ponytail and wrap it around the base of the ponytail over the elastic. Secure the hair with a bobby pin by pushing the pin up and into the ponytail. Seal with a spritz of hairspray.
- A side pony is easier to reach and curl by yourself, while a pony on the back of your head may be harder to handle on your own.
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