My Roman Empire is the scene in Conserving Up With the Kardashians the place Kourtney Kardashian Barker finds a thinning spot on her head that she attributes to carrying a excessive and tight ponytail means an excessive amount of. It’s what obtained me interested in my very own hair loss scenario, prompting me to scrutinize my hairline and manually verify my scalp for patches regularly (ah, actuality TV—a treasure trove of neuroses). I by no means discovered a full-on bald spot, however I did discover some thinning at my temples, a telltale signal of traction alopecia.
Whereas Kourtney addressed her hair loss with a platelet-rich plasma injection straight to the dome, I figured the least I might do was swap out my strand-snagging, pony-pulling, curl-crushing bands for ones that put rather less pressure on my do. (I additionally thought of how stress in all probability performs a task in my shedding—and the way I’d be capable of handle that higher for myself. I additionally began utilizing extra conditioning merchandise to assist forestall breakage within the first place. However I’m not right here to speak about significant way of life adjustments. I’m right here to speak about hair ties.)
That is all to say that I’ve been on a yearslong journey to discover a hair tie that doesn’t pressure my hairline, yank out chunks of my hair, or give me a headache—and final 12 months, I blessedly, lastly discovered The One: the Seamless Hair Tie from Heliums Cyndibands ($6, amazon.com). I got here throughout them after taking place an Amazon rabbit gap, the place I clicked by means of associated product hyperlink after associated product hyperlink and landed on these. They have been low cost, well-reviewed (3,550 five-star rankings and counting), and would ship to me tremendous quick. On the identical price as my morning latte, there was subsequent to no danger in giving them a attempt, and the reward has been improbable.
The match and really feel
Straight out of the bundle, Cyndibands look tiny—they’re about 1.5 inches in diameter—however they’ll stretch to no less than double that (then snap again into form). They’re manufactured from tremendous tender seamless nylon and don’t have any type of steel tab or connector. They don’t even have that tough spot the place the band was glued collectively that some ponytail holders have. The straightforward Cyndiband is only a steady loop of extremely stretchy material. It couldn’t snag if it wished to. And so, gone are the times the place I’d dread letting my hair down as a result of my band would eat half of it on its means out.
If these elastics sound flimsy, you’re proper—they don’t seem like a lot, however Cyndibands are mightier than they appear. I’d describe my hair as wavy and normal-to-kind-of-thick, and I can get a Cyndiband round my ponytail no less than 3 times—undoubtedly 4 if I’m having a half-up second. Right here’s the magical half: I don’t really feel the identical pressure on my hairline that I felt with different hair ties, even when I’m doing a excessive type. My hair feels prefer it’s being held in place by the Cyndiband as a substitute of combating in opposition to it.