Technique

Choosing elastics

Fabric over rubber, every time.

By Martin, the dad behind Dad Hair Hero. The steps are the ones in the app.

Every step in the free app links to the technique it uses.

Why it matters

Fabric-covered elastics grip the hair instead of the hair sliding inside them, and they don't leave the sharp crease a bare rubber band does. That crease is where hair fatigues and eventually breaks, so a fabric tie protects the hair as much as it holds the style.

How to do it

1. Choose a fabric-covered elastic over a bare rubber band.
2. Match the thickness to her hair: thinner ties for fine hair, which needs more wraps to hold at all; thicker ties for thick hair, which needs fewer.
3. Move the tie point slightly each time you can, rather than securing in exactly the same spot every day, so the wear spreads out instead of concentrating on one point of hair.
4. Keep a couple of spares in the kit. A snapped elastic mid-style is the only real emergency this app covers.

How to check it's right

• By the next morning, no hard crease left in the hair where the elastic sat.
• The style held all day without needing a mid-day retie.

Common mistakes

• Reaching for whatever elastic is in the drawer instead of matching it to her hair. The wrong thickness either won't hold or ends up over-tightened trying to make it hold.
• Running out mid-style with no spare on hand, and having to stop and improvise.