Taming the Long Hair

We often get asked the best way to tie back your hair ready to get in the water.

Jason Mamoa as Aquaman ©DC Comics Karen Gillan in Jumanji ©Sony Pictures

Now we can't all look like these two when they are doing action packed films, but we can make our lives easier for getting in and out of a drysuit neck seal (or wetsuit for those diving in warmer waters).

Instructor Margot shows you here how some hair styles work far better than others.

Long hair let loose.

Option One: Doing nothing and leaving your hair not tied up at all. If you're anything like us, mornings are not your favourite time of the day, so it can be tempting to not do anything with your hair before getting ready to jump in the water.

Pros: Get to be lazy!

Down Side: It's really hard to pull all that hair through a neck seal of a drysuit. You can never grab all of it at once, so strands get stuck and then you are trying to stretch behind your head to get all those last bits through. If that's not annoying enough, you often get loose strands of hair floating outside of your hood distracting you when you're trying to look at the awesome underwater world! Basically, it's always worth doing something to your hair.

Overall Verdict: 0/10 Strong avoid recommended on this one

Option Two: A Simple Bun

Pro: it take 2mins to whip the hair into a single bobble and it's all out of your face.

Down side: the neck seal gets caught and, often, pull the bun down and then you need to redo it again. Then you get a hood to go on top, and you end up having a bit of a cone head.

Overall Verdict: 4/10 Better than nothing but not the comfiest.

Option 3: Ponytails

Pro: a nice easy option to do with a single bobble in a couple of minutes and anyone can do it. You can also just grab the full ponytail through the neckseal in a one.

Down Side: Can get pulled down by the hood and become uncomfortable

Overall Verdict: 7/10 Good easy option which works well, biggest top tip for this, however, is to do a low ponytail as this won't get pulled down by the hood.

Option 4: Braids

Pros: The neck seal slides over and you can grab each braid at a time to get the last little bit up and over the suit. They also last after multiple dives, so you once they are in, they are in for the day.

Down Side: They might take you a bit longer in the morning to do, but they are worth it (I guess that means there isn't really a down side?)

Overall Verdict: 10/10 This is what we'd recommmend, whether you can do the full braid from the top of you head or school pigtail style, both make your day far easier getting that hair through a neck seal!