Given the definition of hair, hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis, or skin. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from the areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick thermal and fine vellus hair.
What else is hair? To humans, a pivotal, important fashion accessory that, by how the hair on the head is cut and worn, can give you a unique, appealing personal style!
One fun, easily recognizable way to wear your hair is in the worldwide known style of the ponytail.
To make a ponytail, some or most of the hair on the head is pulled away from the face, gathered and secured at the back of the head with a hair tie, clip, or other similar device and allowed to hang freely from that point.
Ponytail Fun Fact: The ponytail hairstyle gets its name from the resemblance to the undocked tail of a horse or pony. Ponytails are most commonly gathered at the middle or back of the head, or the base of the neck.
Nancy Mangano’s Ponytail Tip: Ponytails work with both long and short hair, and for men and women. Popular ways to wear the ponytail are straight down the back, over the shoulder, a ponytail on each side of the head (left and right), on the very top of the head (allowing the hair to fall down the back or one side of the head) and mixing ponytails and braids.
Ponytail Fun Fact: If the hair is divided so that it hangs in two sections they are called ponytails or pigtails. Unbraided ponytails worn above each ear are sometimes called dog-ears.
Ponytail Not So Fun Fact: Although ponytails look great and can make for youthful, playful and elegant and chic hairstyles, if the hair is pulled back too tightly, sometimes ponytails can cause headaches. However, the ponytail hairstyle will always look sensual and real, never phony or fake.
Various hairstyles emit various looks and vibrations. We all know that it is fun to change your hairstyle from time to time. A person’s haircut and hairstyle is often used to indicate a person’s personal beliefs or social position, such as their age, sex or religion.
Swipe your hair up and back in a ponytail for a hairstyle that can’t be ignored! Glorious locks for sure!
Women often wear their hair in ponytails in informal and office settings or when exercising. For formal wear, ponytails can be glammed up by adding braids, chains, jewels and placing hair decorations on the head. A ponytail can also be a fashion statement; sometimes meaning sporty, other times a low ponytail sends signals of a chic personality.
Male Ponytail Fun Fact: In the late 18th century, men often tied their ponytails with a black ribbon. In the 1980s, a short ponytail was seen as an edgy look for men who wanted to individualize, but keep their hair flat and functional. Think actor Steven Seagal in the movie Marked for Death. Men who wear their hair long, or sometimes in mullets, often tie their hair back in a ponytail.
Let your hair swing and sway the ponytail way!
Since ponytails tend to expose the ears and the neck, the ponytail is a great hairstyle to spice up with large earrings and/or a neck choker. Fancy or feminine hair accessories also look adorable when offsetting the popular ponytail hairstyle.
Jogger Ponytail Fun Fact: Have you ever watched a jogger with a ponytail run? The ponytail swings from side-to-side rather than up and down. Why? An up and down motion is too unstable: a ponytail cannot sway forward and backward because the jogger’s head is in the way. Any slight jostling causes the up and down movement to become a side-to-side sway. Interesting ponytail tidbit, wouldn’t you say?
Hair Fun Fact: The word ‘hair’ refers to two distinct structures:
- The Hair Follicle: The part beneath the skin. This organ is located in the dermis and maintains stem cells, which regrow hair after it falls out and regrows skin after a wound.
- The Shaft: The hard filamentous part that extends above the skin surface.
Each strand of hair is made up of the medulla, cortex and cuticle:
- The Cuticle: Several layers of flat, thin cells laid out overlapping one another as roof shingles.
- The Cortex: Contains the keratin bundles in cell structures that remain roughly rod-like.
- The Medulla: A disorganized and open area at the fiber’s center.
There, there, there. What an important, well oiled machine, our hair!
For a hairstyle that can be made to look sophisticated, elegant, classy, sporty, beautiful, chic, playful or cute, why not give the ever trending ponytail a try? I guarantee, you’ll find it a hoot!
Hair Color Fun Fact: All natural hair colors are the result of two types of hair pigment. Both of these pigments are melanin types, produced inside the hair follicle and packed into granules found in fibers. Eumelanin is the dominant pigment in brown hair and black hair, while pheomelanin is dominant in red hair. Blond hair is the result f having little pigmentation in the hair strand. Gray hair occurs when melanin production decreases or stops.
No matter the color or texture of your hair, the swinging and swaying ponytail is a fashionable hairstyle to wear!
Hair Fun Fact: Hair growth begins inside the hair follicle. The only living portion of the hair is found in the follicle. The hair that is invisible is the hair shaft, which exhibits no biochemical activity and is considered dead. The base of the hair’s root (the bulb) contains the cells that produce the hair shaft.
Whether you prefer to wear your hair long or short, buzzed or bald, a person’s hairstyle can reveal all!
“I wanted a pony but my yard’s too small. Boarding a pony is no fun at all.”
“Have you given much thought to the type and color of the pony, which will eventually grow tall?”
“I’ve done the next best thing. I gave myself a horse’s tail by pulling my hair back in a ponytail.”
“That’s different. Like saying I’m in no mood to move fast, so I wrapped my hair like the shell of a snail.”
“Perhaps you just don’t understand my creative flair. I can explain if you have the time.”
“Perfect. Please put my hair in the fabulous ponytail as I listen and learn. I’ll look sublime!”
The Ponytail: Rock your hair the exquisite, swing and sway way! The pleasing ponytail is here to stay!
Watch for Nancy’s next book in her award winning murder mystery series, Deadly Decisions – A Natalie North Novel, coming to bookstores and online bookstores in February 2017.
Nancy Mangano is an American fashion journalist and author of the Natalie North murder mystery book series, A Passion for Prying and Murder Can Be Messy. Visit Nancy on her author website http://www.nancymangano.com, Twitter @https://twitter.com/nancymangano, her fashion magazine Strutting in Style! at http://www.struttinginstyle.com, and her Facebook fan page Nancy Mangano https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nancy-Mangano/362187023895846
STRUTTING IN STYLE! NANCY MANGANO'S FASHION/STYLE/BEAUTY BONANZA 