How to Put Your Hair Up With a Pencil

Long-haired ladies (and gents!), if you’ve ever wondered how to put your hair up with a pencil, this article is for you. It’s a skill I’ve always admired and, today, I am making a commitment to mastering it, and I’m going to help you do the same. Quick note before I begin: I’m using an unsharpened pencil while I learn, and I suggest that if you’ve never done this before, you stick with unsharpened for now too. It is a little harder to push through your hair, but accidental stab wounds are nobody’s friend.

The first method I tried was from Emily Smucker’s blog. I like this method a lot because the pencil ends up horizontal instead of vertical, so you don’t run the risk of impaling yourself in the back of the neck any time you look up. On the downside, I only had enough hair to wrap it around the base of the ponytail one and a half times after looping it over my hand, and the whole thing fell apart when I stuck the pencil through.

The next method I tried was from this WikiHow article. Although the pencil ends up vertical, it is eraser side down, so no danger of impaling yourself. I swear I followed the instructions to the letter, and yet instead of sticking in place at the end, my hair spun the pencil around and it all fell apart.

Next, I turned to YouTube. Most of the videos I found resulted in a pencil-point-toward-neck situation. I really liked this method, but my hair is a little longer than hers and I tended to end up with a surplus of hair at the end. Maybe, with some adjustments, this would work for me. This method is closest to what finally did work, and I’ll break down my exact technique for you:

How to Put Your Hair Up With a Pencil

1. Gather your hair into a ponytail, twist clockwise twice, and hold in your left hand.
2. With your right hand, put your pencil horizontally under your hair, with the eraser end pointing left, an inch or two away from your head (you don’t need a ruler, just leave some space. I’m estimating here).
3. Take hair and pencil in your right hand, and with your left fold the remaining hair down over the pencil, then pull it straight up behind the pencil.
4. Hold the pencil by the eraser end in your right hand, and twist it clockwise while allowing the hair in your left hand to wrap around the pencil.
5. When all of your hair is wrapped around the pencil, pull the pointy end straight up and fold it in towards your head before pushing it through the rest of your hair, while simultaneously continuing to turn the pencil clockwise. I’ve found this motion results in the pencil ending up at an angle rather than vertically, to avoid that stabbing thing we talked about. If you’re concerned about impaling your head when using a sharpened pencil, aim the sharpened end to the left in step 2, and this will result in the eraser end being folded in toward your head.

And there you have it, five simple steps that teach you how to put your hair up with a pencil. Please share your experiences, tips, tricks, and techniques in the comments – there is no right or wrong way to put your hair up with a pencil!