#styling tutorial

Seeing as my before-and-after post about Streaky has nearly 500 notes, I've noticed a lot of the reblogs have questions about styling ponies. I thought I'd try to answer a few questions here.

Firstly, I brush out the mane and tail, regardless of the condition. It helps me judge whether I'm dealing with damage, or just tangles.  If it's just tangles, sometimes it's suitable to just wash the hair, condition it, and wrap the tail around the leg just to flip the end a bit.  If there's real damage, though, in order for the pony to look her best, she will either need rehairing, which can be difficult and costs a bit of money, or she'll need to be curled.  As you can see above, the pony on the left, Heartthrob, has damaged hair that I curled. The pony on the right, Strawberry Surprise, had undamaged hair. The damaged hair will take and hold curls well, and it helps disguise the state of the hair. Keep in mind, many ponies suffered hair damage due to being used as bath toys. Try to keep them out of bath-hot water. Curls can help disguise hair cuts and frizz, and can restore the look of ponies that once had factory-curl.  

I always wash and condition with the cheap stuff. VO5, White Rain, and Suave run about a dollar a bottle around where I live, and they definitely get the job done. They remove cellar and mold smell and soften the nylon hair beautifully. There's no need to use expensive stuff on ponies. Since their hair is synthetic, vitamins and keratin and all the crap they ad to expensive shampoo is pointless.  If your pony has electric stuff in it, like the g1 Sweet Talkin' ponies, or lights, like the current Shine Bright ponies, you might not want to run them under water. Here, it can be beneficial to use a detangling spray, like the one Suave makes for children.  In extreme cases, fabric softener can be used to treat damaged hair. 

After the hair is detangled and clean, it's time to style. Pictured above are my tools of the trade:

Aerosol maximum hold hair spray. I use Aussie, since I am allergic to the White Rain hair sprays. Since I DO NOT boil my ponies to perm them, I rely heavily on strong hair spray. It holds style beautifully, and if I ever want to restyle my pony, I simply wash it out and start over.

Small foam rollers like this are the perfect size for creating curls on ponies.  They're foam and can be used to do everything from a soft curl to tight baloney curls. They're even lovely for just adding a bit of curl to the end of a main or tail on ponies with otherwise straight hair. They're super cheap and are available at most drug stores.

Perming rods are wonderful for ponies with very long hair. They can be kind of pricey, so keep your eye out for them at thrift stores. I was able to get about 60 for two dollars at my local thrift store. If you're not going to use curling papers, stay away from perming rods with teeth!  They snag in the hair and destroy the curl when you try to take them out. The dark blue and purple perming rods I have work beautifully. AVOID PERMING RODS THAT LOOK LIKE THE LIGHT BLUE ONE.

Curling papers aren't always necessary, but they're good to have around.  Perming rods usually come with curling papers, and while they help grip hair on rods without teeth, I find that I get by without them more frequently than not.

Other tools that might come in handy: 

Pipe cleaners, for very tight curls.

bobby pins, for weighing down and holding hair while it sets.

small, clear elastics, for holding braids.

small hair clips (think butterfly clip and smaller).