I Finally Found It: The Perfect Pilates Hairstyle

If you don’t practice Pilates yet, then you don’t know how important your hair is to a great session. I mean, with regular workouts, you can toss your hair into a ponytail and go. Or wear a ball-cap. Heck, you can even pin your bangs back to get them out of your face. Not with Pilates, though.

It sometimes makes me laugh at how often I have to adjust my hair during my Pilates workout. And it’s not just me; my students often bring it up in class, too. Certain hairstyles just don’t work with certain exercises! Until now, I thought the only solution was to get a pixie cut. Lo and behold, I have finally found the perfect Pilates hairstyle; but first, let’s go over what doesn’t work. 

The classic work-out ponytail does well when you are doing the hundred or if you start with footwork.. But once you lay down for the rollover or short-spine, that darn ponytail is like a rock under the back of your head. 

Annoying. So you switch to hair completely down, which works for awhile. Unfortunately, once you are on your front or practicing planks, it’s drooping into your face and getting stuck in your mouth. Gross. 

Frustrated, you switch to a top-knot. Aha! Gotcha this time, hair! Alas, the rock-in-the-skull feeling comes back as soon as you move into crab or start working on headstands. 

Sigh. What about a french braid? That could actually work, if you can actually french braid your own hair.  And half up, half down comes with all of the above problems, just with slightly less hair in the way. 

It has taken me longer than I’d like to admit, but I have finally mastered the perfect pilates hairstyle… drum roll, please… I give you THE LOW PONYTAIL! 

The low-ponytail means I can easily move the elastic and my hair to the side when I am on my back, it doesn’t flop into my face while I am face down, and it isn’t in the way for headstands. Ta da! And I didn’t even have to chop it all off.