Martial Arts style?

[KiraCurls]

Okay ladies (and gents), I'm looking for a way I can wear my (currently) waist-length hair to aikido without it coming all loose and end up having people kneeling on my wispies-ouch!- and my braid tassel in my face keeping me from breathing during pins! I think a bun would be ideal but I have no idea how I could get one to stay through an hour of activity without a hairstick (it would get in the way). Any suggestions are welcome!

Also please note I've been cursed with the lovely affliction of trichotillomania so I can't wear any parted styles... ;_;

[akurah]

What about a multi-strand braid, or three smaller braids braided together? Then fold the braid in half, and secure it with a ponytail holder (a sort of bun).

[CherryDanish]

if you want to bun without sticks, invest in hair scroos. they hold like cement in my hair! i would also suggest putting a bandanna or buff over the bun for extra security.

[Stevy]

Have you tried Cortese's gibraltar bun? I do it with two sticks for exercise and seriously, it holds like glue, but it'll also hold with hairpins as long as you pin both ends of the top loop.

Another one of her styles, the Ficcare Braid also holds pretty well, if you want a braided style and you've got a clamp that'll hold it to hand.

Stevy

[Katze]

when I studied martial arts seriously we were rolling on the floor a lot (Kuk Sool Won and Hap Kido) so a clip or clamp would have been useless and/or painful!

One thing I discovered back then were two small "cat ear" buns (at the place where cats have their ears) on top of my head...and it went with the uniform too, in that cute "fighta girl" way. However, my hair was much shorter then than now, and is much shorter than yours - four barettes did the trick.

The other suggestion for hardcore activity are two braids whose ends are then braided together down your back. I like this for getting my hair out of the way for running or biking. Again, for mat work this might not be the best...but you could pin them up, maybe?

I can't imagine a big single bun actually holding for some of the stuff we used to do, especially with thick/heavy/long hair! Sticks just sound like a recipe for disaster, for me. ..but with my "short" and thin hair with layers, they don't even stay in for bike riding...

[rainkitty]

Hi Kira!

I do aikido too. I had a thread a little while ago about how to wear my hair, which is now at mid-thigh. After some experimentation, I decided that the best style was hair taping a faux crown braid in place. A single braid works for some things, but not all, and a french crown takes forever to do, so hairtaping a single braid was the best compromise.

Cheers,
RainKitty

[SpecialKitty]

There was a great thread about this exact topic awhile back......I'll try to find it for ya. I remember there were some really creative suggestions.......

Okay, here are two good threads on this subject:

long hair and sports

long hair and martial arts

edited to add thread links

[davidvs]

Would a snood work?

My wife used to have long hair, while working in a biology lab. For very different reasons she did not want it caught in things! On days I did not French Braid it, she often used a snood.

[wonhwa]

There is a great idea from RainKitty in the long hair and martial arts thread above-mentioned. She did a braid and sewed it to her head with ribbon. I shall try that this week.

I do Hwa Rang Do, we grapple, throw, fall, spar, and whatever else there is that can be done in a martial art. I have done several sorts of braids, one of the women does two french braids, joins them into one braid down her back. However the end slapping her in the face did not bother her; it makes me crazy, and it hurts! haha!

So I usually braid one long braid down my back, then loop it up in three, so it has two folds in it, and then I use a hairband-sized elastic to put around it, keeping it "clubbed" at the nape of my neck. This takes my almost-sitting-on-hair to barely touching my shoulders. The British Navy officers used to wear their hair 'clubbed'. It works very well. the wispies are held in place with clear Aloe gel bought at WalMart, which is good for your hair and doesn't make it hard as other hair gels.

I cannot use any sort of pins, clips, barrettes, nothing hard in my hair, or they will either make holes in the mat, my head, or my partners.
Hope this helps.
Wonhwa

[rainkitty]

Originally Posted by wonhwa

So I usually braid one long braid down my back, then loop it up in three, so it has two folds in it, and then I use a hairband-sized elastic to put around it, keeping it "clubbed" at the nape of my neck. This takes my almost-sitting-on-hair to barely touching my shoulders. The British Navy officers used to wear their hair 'clubbed'. It works very well. the wispies are held in place with clear Aloe gel bought at WalMart, which is good for your hair and doesn't make it hard as other hair gels.

I cannot use any sort of pins, clips, barrettes, nothing hard in my hair, or they will either make holes in the mat, my head, or my partners.

Thanks, Wonhwa! I have that problem with anything metal in my hair too. The clubbing idea (I usually called it a folded braid so that people knew immediately what I meant) worked for me until my hair grew past classic. At that point, the lump of the braid got in the way for some rolls and techniques. I still alternate between a braid, a folded braid, and a sewn-up braid depending on the class and how I feel.

Cheers,
RainKitty

[KiraCurls]

Wow, my thread is still here! Thanks for all your suggestions guys.

I tried doing a bun secured with a couple short pencils (my sticks are all really long) last night and it didn't work very well at all. Not only that but I got told it was a bad idea to wear sharp things on the mat, I could poke holes in the mat or in people!

Rainkitty, I have absolutely no idea what hairtaping is. Amazing I can still find new things on here after so long!

Edit: Okay, I figured out that hairtaping is the same as the ribbon sewing...Where did you find the 'needle' for the ribbon? Would they be at regular craft stores?

I'm going to try your clubbed braid next time Wonhwa, and see how it works. Probably with one of those headbands Rainkitty mentioned in the threads Specialkitty posted. I have had people kneeling on my wispies when they practice pins, and it is no fun at all.

I was talking about what to do with all this hair in the changing room after class, and I got a couple suggestions from a dancer-- she said I should get a dancing bun cover or some extra long bobby pins. I took this with a grain of salt because my hair has never been able to be held by those flimsy pins and her hair is not so long. Another girl, a black hakama member, told me she used to have classic length hair and just cut it because of the frustration of trying to keep it out of the way during class.

[tkj25]

i think a tight bun, double wrapped with scrunchies might work for you. this is what i use when i run/do aerobics.