Pop in Ponies, a small business started by nine-year-old Elliete Cox and her mom, Kristina Rogers, gives people the option to have colorful hair without permanently dying their own.
Since mid-September, from their home in Bowling Green, the pair has been designing and making colorful ponies that attach to someone’s natural hair with a ponytail.
“It started with me having a problem that I couldn’t dye my hair because of how dark it is and the color would never stay. And hair dye, certain ones, could damage hair and your scalp,” Cox said. “Me and my mom started experimenting and we finally came up with just a plain one [fake ponytail] without any of these decorations or glitter.”
This happened about three years ago when Cox was six. She wanted pink hair, but the temporary dye wasn’t bright enough, so Rogers improvised and made a fake ponytail for Cox to wear. After a few years of making special ponies for Cox, the pair decided to start a business this September.
“My mom started finding a bunch of more accessories for them, a bunch of new themes and then she thought, ‘hey, maybe me and my daughter can do a business together,’” Cox said.
To make the ponies, they use fake hair and loop them around a black hair tie. From there, they add all of the accessories.
“We grabbed just simple fake hair… We first start out with the simple pony… My mom loops both sides [of the hair] around in the middle [of the black hair tie] and puts a little hair tie to keep it on the black hair tie. And then we just design it how we want,” Cox said. “Then, when we are done, we put it on our deck and we spray paint them with the glitter.”
The pair specializes in bubble braids, fishtails and basic three-strand braids. The Pop in Ponies regularly come in multiple colors based on the theme. They regularly come decorated with charms, pearls and glitter that match the theme too.
As Cox goes to school in Adrian, Mich., she goes to her mom’s house on the weekends to make the ponies. Rogers teaches elementary school full-time and teaches college American Sign Language classes in the evenings. To make sure they have time, Rogers has Pop in Ponies ready to go.
“My mom has went ahead and started just putting hair on here [black hair tie], so we have a bunch of them ready with the hair on the hair ties,” Cox said. “Our designs, like the bubble braid, the twisty fish tail braid, the gem braid, those only take about five minutes for each one.”
The entire process takes about a day, as after they braid them, they spray them all with a layer of glitter, which then has to dry. The pair has lots of themed designs, but they also take requests.
One pony is $15 and two are $25. The pricing for custom requests are listed on their Facebook page.
“We take color requests, we take theme requests, we take charm requests and we take size requests,” Cox said.
Some of the themed designs have been Bowling Green High School Bobcats, Ohio State, University of Michigan and Christmas. They also released some Bowling Green State University (BGSU) ones.
One BGSU alumna, Nadine Bryant, said her five-year-old daughter would wear these to school and during special events.
“She’d love to wear it to school, concerts, when she does her dance recital,” Bryant said.
Adrian Vasicek, a BGSU sophomore majoring in actuarial science, agrees that these would be perfect to be worn by dancers.
“I think it would be really cool if the dance team or the cheer team would be able to incorporate them and to help support the small business,” Vasicek said. “I know that they always do something fun with their hair.”
When it comes to the co-owners of Pop in Ponies, they think that their ponies can be worn for any occasion.
“They’re so simple. It’s just the ponytail, so it takes five seconds to pop it in and they hold up nicely. So, really, they can be worn anytime you want a little extra sparkle,” Rogers said.
Pop in Ponies will also be attending their first craft fair, the Kenwood Elementary Christmas Market on Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. where people can buy their ponies in person.
To order from Pop in Ponies, DM them on Facebook.
