Conventional hair ties and hair-oriented rubber bands cause breakage. There's no way around this; no matter how gently you remove a hair tie, it breaks off weak pieces of hair, adds pressure on follicles and encourages hairs about to shed to do just that.
If you are using REAL rubber bands meant for money and other things, NO PLEASE WHY GAWD NOOOOO! These are literally traumatizing to the hair. Rubber outright sticks to the cuticle, breaking and weakening little by little with every use!
But using panties to tie up your hair is another story.
This method is used only for preserving a hairstyle overnight. Assuming anyone would advocate wearing panties on their head out in public is ridiculous. The obvious questions answer themselves: CLEAN and NOT as a fashion statement. Though studies do suggest that the smell of copulins will attract sexual partners, I do not see that as a reason to leave the house with underwear on your head, clean or otherwise.
Why would panties help your hairstyle? Simply put, panties provide just the right amount of fabric and tension to secure hair away from the face and pillow, but they aren’t tight enough to cause dents while you sleep. This can be done with a scrunchie if you have straight to wavy hair and wear the roots smooth, but if you have curly or very curly hair, a loose but secure tie up is a godsend compared to a harsh tie that could snap or break.
Here are a few ways to do this:
The Pineapple
Wrap the undies around your ponytail gently but tightly enough to stay in place. This can be done anywhere on the head depending on length and curl pattern.
The Single Bun
This can be done for ladies that wear a side part, or like me, an asymmetrical ‘do.
Gather hair into a ponytail and wrap one leg opening. Flip and twist the hair with the other until you have a secure, messy bun.
The Wednesday Addams
If you wear a center part, this is your bag.
Position low for smooth hair, and high if you wear curls or sleep on your back. Part your hair down the center from forehead to nape and twist it from front to back away from the face for waves, or smooth back behind the ears for straighter hair. Use each side of the undies to wrap half of your hair in either a smooth ponytail or a bun, as illustrated above.
Yes, your significant other may make poke fun at you, at first, but my boyfriend appreciated the reduced primping time in the am.
Curly girls: Play around with the positioning and tension of the pony to get it just right. If your hair is a bit too short for this trick, try using baby hair ties! The fluffy 99-cent store ones are meant to be loose and forgiving on even tiny baby hairs, and they will help keep a bob nice and smooth.
Tension is what prevents dents here, so never tie your hair too tight unless you want to start over. A very loose scrunchie can be employed in the same way as the panties for workouts, so even if you have to blow-dry out the sweat a little, you won’t be dealing with bends all over the place.