All-Star How Common Are Hair Pieces?

[Mndl]

CP's team has done a high curled pony all season, coach said a slight tease is ok if you want(I do not want), but she hates the super teased giant pony. I think the curls look cute, but I'm glad all our comp times have been a decent because it takes me around 30 mins to curl

 

[retiredl5cheer]

CP's team has done a high curled pony all season, coach said a slight tease is ok if you want(I do not want:), but she hates the super teased giant pony. I think the curls look cute, but I'm glad all our comp times have been a decent because it takes me around 30 mins to curl

I hope most coaches take into account report times when assigning hairstyles, but know that most probably don't. My minis ALWAYS had the earliest check-in times, usually before 7:30 AM. You better believe we did a straight, high, side pony that year. It blew my mind when I had a parent complain that her daughter's hair wasn't in curls like the big girls. Girl, I'm doing you a FAVOR.

 

[MzLyn23]

We use one out of necessity. My daughter suffers from alopecia and her hair is extremely fragile and thin and many times has spots that are hard to hide with her thin hair. Her hair breaks easily and I refuse to tease her natural hair. I wish she could do braids cause I think they’re adorable but unfortunately her spots don’t allow for that type of hairstyle. She has just enough where a high pony will cover most of the spots and the pony also helps hide some of the back sections. Thankfully it usually regrows but it never gets that thick as it used to be when she was younger. I like it because it’s easy to do it’s quick and it gives the impression that her hair is a little thicker than it actually is. We have used the same pony for three seasons now and just recently got a new one only because our first one was starting to look very aged. We also have gotten the medium tease because the large tease to me looks ridiculous. I have also washed and released myself so it doesn’t look so frozen in time lol


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[123jump4!]

It's not on the scoresheet. However, different comps look for different things. Some want the slick high pony. Some want the big hair. Some want clean. We have done posh ponies most of the season. We have one more comp and we will (at least our team) do the buns. You see a lot of teams doing them. I myself prefer the traditional high pony. The buns are easy though.

Really? That competitions want different hair? We always do buns and it seems to work for us... they won 3 comps. ;)

I thought I would miss seeing CP with a (normal) pony but I don't really.

For the bows, we have tailless bows and they don't have normal ponytail holders, they have 2 elastics with a sliding clip holding them together, to make it easier to put over the bun and fasten. Then the elastics stick out in the back and we bobby pin them into the bun.

We did lose our first comp to a team with massive hair. But I think that was because we had a major stunt fall, not the lack of big hair. :D

 

[Sterling von Shimmer]

I think they are semi popular. I absolutely love when I see teams with buns or braids. That says athlete far more to me than giant ponies. We want our kids to be taken seriously as athletes, let’s let them look the part. That said, my kid wears one. She has super curly hair and our gym has a straight hair policy (which really frustrates me, because I don’t like the message it sends to those who don’t fit the mold). Heat straightening her hair will damage it and even when I do, it makes it so long, it’s a lot of hair. A fake pony makes it easier. It gives her an awful headache, though, and if she was just allowed to be her natural, beautiful self, this would all be avoided. (Kind of a touchy subject for me, lol)

I think a “straight hair” policy is a little out of line for kids. I understand that kind of micromanagement at the pro level, but for kids I think it’s unreasonable. Put their hair in a pony — whatever type it may be — and call it a day. That looks uniform enough. Like others have said, it’s not going to cost the team points if everyone’s hair isn’t exactly a carbon copy from girl to girl.

 

[california cheer mom]

CP uses one, mostly to save her hair. but I really think the super teased pony look is starting to go out of style. We've seen a few gyms switch away from it this year.

I don't care for the look of a bun though, that's one style I would like to avoid. If you have thick hair it's nearly impossible to make it look nice and neat.

 

[coacha]

It's not on the scoresheet. However, different comps look for different things. Some want the slick high pony. Some want the big hair. Some want clean. We have done posh ponies most of the season. We have one more comp and we will (at least our team) do the buns. You see a lot of teams doing them. I myself prefer the traditional high pony. The buns are easy though.

Baloney. You may feel out of place if all the other teams are a certain style, but that’s not the same thing.

If hairstyles are affecting the scoresheet we have bigger problems.

Edited to add: I should note that I coach HS and compete UCA which trends to the clean, collegiate look. But you always have outliers on style, and it should not affect the scoresheet.

 

[alpaca]

I am not a fan of the space buns or braids. Personally I can braid my kids hair, but a lot of our moms can't and it adds extra stress to the few moms that volunteer to help braid other kids hair. CP has a hairpiece because she didn't like the damage of teasing and a high pony without volume looked like wet spaghetti on the top of her head. I think her hairpiece looks silly but when she looks back on the photos the hairpiece is far from the only thing she will cringe at.

 

[mischiefmanaged]

CP had a hair piece in the past, teasing her hair was damaging it plus her hair is so heavy that it never stayed teased. This season her team is doing braids that end in a messy bun and I love it! CP loves it as well she said it’s so much easier to tumble in and she no longer has her hair being pulled while basing. CP says she also feels like she looks more athletic with the braids. I know there are a couple of girls on her team that miss the high pony but the majority love the braids. They also got rid of glitter and such for make up this year as well, CP’s team wears natural makeup. It’s made getting ready in the mornings so much easier. There is one girl on the team who has to have someone else braid her hair but otherwise all the other parents can braid.

 

[Sterling von Shimmer]

I think they are semi popular. I absolutely love when I see teams with buns or braids. That says athlete far more to me than giant ponies. We want our kids to be taken seriously as athletes, let’s let them look the part. That said, my kid wears one. She has super curly hair and our gym has a straight hair policy (which really frustrates me, because I don’t like the message it sends to those who don’t fit the mold). Heat straightening her hair will damage it and even when I do, it makes it so long, it’s a lot of hair. A fake pony makes it easier. It gives her an awful headache, though, and if she was just allowed to be her natural, beautiful self, this would all be avoided. (Kind of a touchy subject for me, lol)

I understand wanting hair to be more athletic/functional, but one of the things I love the most about cheer is how performative it is. Unfortunately, that element is the very thing that makes people not take cheer very seriously if "performative" = "makeup/hair" = "girly" = "can't be that hard." Which makes me want to embrace all the performative elements as well as the skills just so we can say to other sports/detractors, "Yeah I just did that incredible thing with my hair three stories tall and plastic glued to my eyes. But good job throwing that ball around. That's adorable."

 

[SLM]

I coach, and this season we have switched to just a high pony. If kids want to straighten go for it, if they have a hair type that straightening isn't good for then don't. I used to not mind the bigger hair, but I will be honest, I'm over it. A tiny bit of tease so hair shows over bow slightly is fine too, but no big hair here.

Just had to pull up some old pictures of my daughter for a Spanish project and looking back at pictures with the poofs omg.

 

[molls]

A lot of kids at our gym wear them - I'd say that 75% of my team wears one. Most of it is that the parents do not want to heat style or tease their child's hair. Some of the ponies really do look so, so nice, but others are way too big or are getting a bit ragged.

As a coach, it drives me absolutely insane when we ask for flat ironed straight hair and kids show up with their natural waves thrown in a pony tail with lots of fly aways... the biggest offenders are the kids that are old enough to style it themselves (and always have perfect, straight hair in their pictures hanging out with friends). It's not on the score sheet, and when I judge I'm not looking at hair (unless it's distracting) but, as a coach, I like for my team to look uniform. The kids that get a pass on flat ironed hair for me are the kids with super tight ringlet curls that take HOURS to straighten. Everyone else, run a flat iron over it. I make a point of doing my hair and a full face of makeup even for the earliest report times, because if I expect kids to do it, I'll do it, too.

 

[kewpiekid]

I am so glad our gym sticks with natural hair. We do a French braid across the front that joins the high, smooth ponytail. Simple, looks clean. I do blowdry CP's hair and then flat iron the pony just to smaoooth down the flyaways, but so glad I do not have to tease or use a hair piece. Just last weekend at a comp, a girl's pony tail flew off mid tumble during their performance!

 

[kewpiekid]

It's not on the scoresheet. However, different comps look for different things. Some want the slick high pony. Some want the big hair. Some want clean. We have done posh ponies most of the season. We have one more comp and we will (at least our team) do the buns. You see a lot of teams doing them. I myself prefer the traditional high pony. The buns are easy though.

Interesting, CP's AS team does smooth, high pony and her youth football cheer does the buns. I hated the bun b/c they wanted a specific kind of bun that required lots of bobby pins and I was panicked they would fly out during the comps. I much prefer a smooth, high pony tail.

 

[XtremeWpg]

We do a french braid across the front (right to left) and a high straight pony. Kids with curly hair usually wash it and blow dry it straight the night before. We're not militant about the straight part though, and don't presently have any kids with crazy curls other than some of our tiny's.

Our Juniors and up will poof up their ponytails but most of the little ones don't. As far as I know, no one uses a hair piece.