Anonymous wrote:What the heck are bunches? Pigtails = two loose ended ponytails (New Yorker). Have literally never heard terms like bunches.

NP this is my understanding as well. When we wanted them braided we referred to them as “pigtail braids”. The operative difference was the number, there were two.

My daughters hair is too short but I will do this soon because her one ponytail falls out too quickly.

Anonymous wrote:I use the term "pigtail" to refer to two ponytails, one on each side. And yes, I put pigtails in my daughter's hair. I think they look adorable. She still gets them sometimes at 8, although now they tend to be lower down on her head, more like where a lower ponytail would be, not sticking straight out the sides.

Yep my tween does pigtails too. But we generally do hers high up. Only do low down when we're doing pigtail braids.

Anonymous wrote:
I can see why two ponytails might be called pigtails if they corkscrew. My daughter's hair doesn't do that, although mine does. I wear my hair in a single ponytail most days and if I put it back while still at all wet, it forms a single giant corkscrew.

There are a large portion of us who don't think they need to corkscrew (or have any special shape) for two ponytails to be called pigtails. seems like in the UK people would never call 2 pony tails pigtails, but the US seems much more split on this.

If we want another debate, what is the piece of elastic that you use to bind the ponytail together called?

I use the term "pigtail" to refer to two ponytails, one on each side. And yes, I put pigtails in my daughter's hair. I think they look adorable. She still gets them sometimes at 8, although now they tend to be lower down on her head, more like where a lower ponytail would be, not sticking straight out the sides.

Anonymous wrote:Assuming pigtails are braids - since apparently they can mean different hairstyles in other parts of the country - my guess is a lot of 2 year olds don’t have enough hair or thick enough hair yet. I do them sometimes on my 4 year old but her hair is slippery and they don’t stay in unless I do them when her hair is wet. Mostly we do two ponytails or variations on two ponytails. She has shoulder length hair and like another pp I won’t let her grow it longer for now because it gets so tangled as is.

Wow. I am the PP who posted this and I knew they could mean different things but didn't realize the discussion would get so heated! FWIW I am from Philadelphia and we always understood pigtails to be braids. But I don't know if that's a Philly thing or just my family, as neither parent is from Philly -- one from NYC and one from Michigan.

Anyway, my 4 year old wears two ponytails most days. It's very fast and easy to do, they stay in better than one ponytail or braids, and she asks for them. Sometimes her preschool teachers do more elaborate braided hairstyles on her.

I can see why two ponytails might be called pigtails if they corkscrew. My daughter's hair doesn't do that, although mine does. I wear my hair in a single ponytail most days and if I put it back while still at all wet, it forms a single giant corkscrew.

I think they're cute. I have a boy who likes his hair short (I think because he was a bald baby and had no hair for so long) but I see lots of little girls his age with them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the heck are bunches? Pigtails = two loose ended ponytails (New Yorker). Have literally never heard terms like bunches.

bunches of hair that are secured on one end with an elastic and loose all the way down/not braided = ponytails

braids = pigtails

This is not the meaning I know. Pigtails literally look like pigtails, little corkscrews, not braided. And FWIW I've lived in the UK and US.

OK, just to be clear, I'm the other UK poster, and we call them 'bunches' (ponytails) or 'plaits' (pigtails).

But plaits = braids, pigtails is a different hairstyle.

Yes. They’re adorable.

These days I do fairly tight (but not painfully tight of course) braids on DD's hair. She carries in less of those long strands of pollenish whatever that is that fall from the oaks. Yes, I could google the word but I'm exhausted and it's only 4:13.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the heck are bunches? Pigtails = two loose ended ponytails (New Yorker). Have literally never heard terms like bunches.

bunches of hair that are secured on one end with an elastic and loose all the way down/not braided = ponytails

braids = pigtails

This is not the meaning I know. Pigtails literally look like pigtails, little corkscrews, not braided. And FWIW I've lived in the UK and US.

OK, just to be clear, I'm the other UK poster, and we call them 'bunches' (ponytails) or 'plaits' (pigtails).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the heck are bunches? Pigtails = two loose ended ponytails (New Yorker). Have literally never heard terms like bunches.

bunches of hair that are secured on one end with an elastic and loose all the way down/not braided = ponytails

braids = pigtails

This is not the meaning I know. Pigtails literally look like pigtails, little corkscrews, not braided. And FWIW I've lived in the UK and US.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Stop arguing and accept that pigtails mean unbraided or braided to different people.

This is well-documented. If pressed, I'd say the original term meant BRAIDED, because it's the same as British plaits, which are braided.

Usually:
Bunches = a pair of ponytails.
One bunch = one ponytail.
Pigtails = plaits = two braids framing the face.

Wrong.
Pigtail:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pigtail

Definition of pigtail
1 : tobacco in small twisted strands or rolls
2 : a lock of hair that has been gathered and banded or braided together at the back or side of the head

The one person on this thread who disagrees with that definition will never let it go, though.

Basically this says that BOTH definitions are correct; it doesn’t support either side. I truly think it’s a UK-US divide.

The definition clearly says braided OR banded, how is that unclear? It does not say only braided as one PP is insisting is the only correct definition.

Yes. That was my point.

So we agree pigtails can be braided or unbraided.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Stop arguing and accept that pigtails mean unbraided or braided to different people.

This is well-documented. If pressed, I'd say the original term meant BRAIDED, because it's the same as British plaits, which are braided.

Usually:
Bunches = a pair of ponytails.
One bunch = one ponytail.
Pigtails = plaits = two braids framing the face.

Wrong.
Pigtail:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pigtail

Definition of pigtail
1 : tobacco in small twisted strands or rolls
2 : a lock of hair that has been gathered and banded or braided together at the back or side of the head

The one person on this thread who disagrees with that definition will never let it go, though.

Basically this says that BOTH definitions are correct; it doesn’t support either side. I truly think it’s a UK-US divide.

The definition clearly says braided OR banded, how is that unclear? It does not say only braided as one PP is insisting is the only correct definition.

Yes. That was my point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What the heck are bunches? Pigtails = two loose ended ponytails (New Yorker). Have literally never heard terms like bunches.

bunches of hair that are secured on one end with an elastic and loose all the way down/not braided = ponytails

braids = pigtails

In your opinion. This is not fact.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Stop arguing and accept that pigtails mean unbraided or braided to different people.

This is well-documented. If pressed, I'd say the original term meant BRAIDED, because it's the same as British plaits, which are braided.

Usually:
Bunches = a pair of ponytails.
One bunch = one ponytail.
Pigtails = plaits = two braids framing the face.

Wrong.
Pigtail:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pigtail

Definition of pigtail
1 : tobacco in small twisted strands or rolls
2 : a lock of hair that has been gathered and banded or braided together at the back or side of the head

The one person on this thread who disagrees with that definition will never let it go, though.

Basically this says that BOTH definitions are correct; it doesn’t support either side. I truly think it’s a UK-US divide.

The definition clearly says braided OR banded, how is that unclear? It does not say only braided as one PP is insisting is the only correct definition.