With my long hair, and living in a climate that's warm most of the year, I'm always wearing ponytails to get my hair off my neck and face.  My hair is also thick, so I need a fairly large holder.  And I prefer my holders not to have any parts that can catch my hair and cause it to rip out.

I tend to rely on Scunci hair products.  They are high quality and inexpensive.  They also make a line of products specifically geared towards thick hair.  Their "No Damage, Thick Hair" ponytail holders come in tons of colors and really do a good job of holding my thick hair (and not ripping it out).

These elastic bands are round, and start out approximately 2 1/4" in diameter.   Without any stress at all, they can easily stretch to at least 4" diameter.  A circle that wide should accommodate any ponytail, no matter how thick your hair is!  When they're brand new, I can easily double these bands around my ponytail. 

But they do tend to stretch out with use.  So when they get older, I find myself tripling them.  When even that leaves my ponytail too loose, that's when it's time to toss the band and grab a new one.

The material, itself, is fairly thick, nearly 1/4" wide.  It's a smooth material, not at all sticky like a rubber band would be.  There's only one spot in the circle that's different from the rest.  This is a glued seam that's thinner than the rest of the band.  With other brands, this seam would be covered with a metal clasp.  But the metal clasps tend to snag hair.  So Scunci eliminated the metal clasp and left us with a thin seam, instead.  Unfortunately, that seam is a definite "weak spot" in the band.  Eventually, the band might break at that spot.

They come in every color you can imagine.  I like the darker colors - the blacks, browns, and dark blues best.  But occasionally I'll wear white.  This particular package includes mostly dark colors but also a green, yellow, light blue, and bright red.  Still, most of the 24 elastics are of the dark colors that I prefer.

Sadly, as I've described, these holders do not last forever.  They stretch out to the point where they're useless, or they break at the weak seam.  But while they're new, they do a great job.  They hold my hair comfortably, with no snags.  Removal is easy as the material can slide smoothly down the ponytail.  Luckily they're inexpensive, so I buy 24 at a time for just a couple dollars.  When they stretch or break, I simply toss them and grab another.  Despite the fact that they don't last forever, I still recommend them for their "no damage" design.

Recommended: Yes