Whether you’re in the flow or holding the pose, we’ve all had that non-OM moment: OMG I cannot keep my hair out of my face. At TIY, we love a good ashtanga or kundalini class as much as the next person, but those bangs, side strands, or fringe fall? Yeah no thanks. Part of what we love about TIY hair ties is that they’re soft and silky smooth (goodbye breakage) and work great whether you’re doing high-impact or headstands.

Read on to learn more about the best yoga hair ties (spoiler alert: ours), how to tie your hair for yoga, the flyest yoga hairstyles, and the perfect ponytail holder for any pose. 

Interested in the best hair ties for working out, end of story? Open this blog in another tab to read next.

How to Tie Your Hair for Yoga

Yoga has evolved from being a primarily eastern spiritual exercise practice to proliferating in centers in every major metropolitan city. Whether you throw down the mat on the daily or use yoga to help you develop core muscles, it is a valuable form of movement. Yoga hairstyles can be as simple as an updo or as fancy as a fishtail, and here are some of our faves.

Yoga Hair Styles

Hairstyles for athletes need to meet a few requirements. The best hairstyles for yoga are undistracting, hold in place and work even if you’re facing sideways, downward or upside down.

Multi-Hair Tie Pull Back

This is an especially sweet style if you have short hair, bangs or lots of layers. Pull the top section of your hair back, as close to the forehead as you need to and secure with a small hair tie (we recommend a one-loop or baby loop TIY). Then, grab a second section, sweeping back from the temples, and secure a half ponytail. Add as many additional groups you need to, securing with a hair tie each time, until you have a low pony at the nape of your neck. You can also secure it into a side ponytail at this point, but that may be annoying if you’re doing sun salutations or triangle poses (and your head is turned sideways).

Double Braids

Double braids can be french or standard. If you have very thick hair or very thin hair, we recommend french braids to keep the braids from unraveling, or the top part from getting wispy as you move around.

If you don’t know how to french braid, YouTube is probably your best bet. It’s pretty easy once you get the hand positions and motions right. Whether you’re going for french or regular, you just need to separate your hair into two big sections, start at the top, and braid down to the end. Now, for active yoga classes or if you have very long hair, you may want to take the two sections and twist them into a small bun at the nape of your neck, then secure with a hair tie.

Big Loop Messy Bun

Know you’re about to sweat it out at yoga but don’t want slicked back hair the rest of the day? This is the style: a big loop messy bun. Andrea shows you how to do it in this video. It’s a simple updo, but comes with a warning: the average hair tie isn’t going to work on a bun for yoga. Unless you want your bun to crash, unravel, or fall out during your first downward facing dog, you need a TIY hair tie.

Shop TIY hair ties now (thank us later).

Perfect Yoga Hairstyle for Headstands

A big yoga moment for most of us is mastering a shoulder stand or headstand. Of course, the last thing you want to think about when you’re in the zen is your hair flopping on your face. To that end, here are some yoga hairstyles for headstands:

Crown Braids into a Low Bun

For girls with mid-length bangs, or anyone with a fringe, crown braids into a low bun are the perfect headstand hairstyle solution. Simply part the hair nearest the crown of your head with a comb, then make tiny braids, grabbing hair in sections as you move down the side of your face. You can do this into a french braid style, if you know how, or simply pull the two small braided sections back toward your neck, then secure into a low bun. Beautiful.

Twisted Halo Braid

Not the most skilled braider in the world? You don’t have to get super elaborate to get the hair out of your face for yoga class. A twisted halo is achieved in a similar way we described the crown braids, only you don’t have to use the typical braiding pattern. Instead, start anywhere on your head (seriously), and separate a section of hair into two sections. Twist each section on itself, then around each other like a rope (Google it if you’re confused now). Wind the sections around each other, grabbing new lengths of hair as you go around your head. We recommend securing this in a side low bun, especially if you have textured hair and a bulky bun.

Ponytail Holder for Any Pose

Want to find the perfect yoga hair tie for your next class? Namast-ay around (okay, we’re reaching there) and browse all of the TIY hair tie colors on our site!

Also, are we friends yet on IG? Hope so! If not: follow us on Instagram here for daily hair inspo and to connect with other fit-tastic friends who are part of our TIY TEAM.