Is there an idiot's guide to using hair pins, sticks, combs, etc?

I'm a guy trying to grow my hair out long. I realize there's no fast and easy way to do this, it just takes time and a good diet.

The problem is that in the interm of having had it short, and waiting for it to grow out long enough to put the whole thing in a basic "manly" pony tail, it gets in my eyes, on my face, and is generally an annoying nuisance when I'm trying to work.

For a long time, I used a basic hair band to keep it back and out of my face. That worked fine until the bangs and sides got down to nose and earlobe level, then the hairband would work only as long as I didn't do anything too active. If I did, the band slipped around, fell off, lost hair, etc.

After that, not knowing any other way to do it, I put it into pigtails. The pigtails worked perfectly, however... while I'm fairly confident in my masculinity, this isn't something I'm going to do to keep my hair back while going out shopping or something.

I eventually bought a set of hair combs, but until my aunt showed me how to use them correctly (which was an embarassing, but illuminating event), they didn't work that well. Even after she showed me how to use them correctly, they aren't large enough to hold back all the hair at once, and they're also very visible. Not as visible as pigtails of course, but still visible.

I think that hair pins (or bobby pins, the basic two-prong deal that you always find in dozens at the bottom of your bathroom basinet drawer) are what I need to use in order to hold my hair back and have the 'tool' I'm using to hold it back be as inconspicuous as possible. The problem is that I have no idea how, and for the life of me, I can't find anything on the internet on how to use them properly. I can't, in fact, find anything at all on how to use any of the traditional hair-styling implements.

So, does anyone know of a How-To for a completely hair-shaping-ignorant man? Or failing that, can one of you explain how to use hair pins, or anything else that would help me hold my hair back? It may seem like the most basic and intuitive thing, but I thought the hair combs were basic and intuitive too, and it turned out that I was using them completely backwards and wrong.

Help?

Hey Jim,

I understand where you're coming from. I've been there & done that.

Fortunately for me, I was really relaxed about my hair's general messiness and out-of-control behavior. It was a milestone when the bangs grew out long enough to tuck them behind my ears. And when I could, I wore a hat to keep the hair from falling into my face. When it got to be long enough to wear in a ponytail (yay!) I wore my hair that way more often. Interestingly, as it grew to my shoulders and just beyond, I frequently wore my hair loose because it was long enough that it would (for the most part) stay out of my face. The first half year or so of the grow-out was okay... it was the next year that was the toughest. Just hang in there and it will get better as it gets longer.

Thanks for asking the question Jim_R. I just found this site looking for the same thing and thought I'd have to get all embarassed asking the same questions. It seems like no one here thought it too strange at least.

I've just started a new position working at a deli counter. Even though we have to wear hats my hair keeps falling out. My supervisor told me that I need to pin it/clip it back as well as keeping it in a pony tail.

One of the girls I work with fixed it for me today with some large clip like thing but said I should get some bobby pins to hold the stray hairs back too. She's not always there though when I am, so I need to learn this myself. I don't even know what I really need to buy. I was thinking of going to the drug store to ask someone there, but chickened out right now.

Any suggestions?

Mike