How To Remove Rubber Bands From Hair Safely In 6 Easy Steps

Leah LOVES hair. So much so, she dedicated an entire website to it! One of the founders of Hair Everyday and Chief Editor, Leah enjoys reviewing all the hair products and showcasing the best. She believes her most underrated articles are her hair care tips!

Discover the ultimate guide on how to remove rubber bands from hair safely. Say goodbye to tangles and frustration with our step-by-step instructions and tips. We cover safe techniques to avoid hair breakage and discomfort. Learn the best practices for releasing rubber bands without causing damage to your hair.

Here’s something for all you people who often tie their hair with rubber bands. Well, I’m sure you guys must have had the experience of having tied your hair with a rubber band and then the painful effort of trying to get it off after!

It can really pull off a good amount of hair for sure and it is comparatively just as annoying and equally painful as getting bobby pins off your hair!

Well, but what do you do, apart from wearing these of course? Are there any easier ways out to remove these pesky and painful rubber bands from your hair?

While rubber bands are super convenient to tie your hair up with, especially when you just cannot find your clips or scrunchies, they can be quite damaging to the hair if you do not take them off the right way.

So, let’s talk about it. Let’s discuss what is the “right” way to take off rubber bands from your hair so that you have little or no hair damage.

How to Remove Rubber Bands from Hair

Tips for Removing Rubber Bands in Hair

1. Do not pull, but roll down the rubber bands

Most often we tend to just pull off the rubber bands from our hair, how we’d “rip the band aid off”, at one shot! Yes, it is super painful and you do lose a lot of hair of course.

This method can be really damaging to the hair, as it causes friction between the hair strands, because the rubber band goes down, throughout the length of the hair, damaging the hair shaft.

What you need to do instead, is roll the rubber bands down your hair, gently loosening them while doing so.

You will need to hold the hair at the top of the rubber band and exert sufficient pressure, roll the rubber band downwards, until it is easy to take it off.

2. Cut off the rubber bands with a pair of scissors

Well, it doesn’t get any easier than this, does it? Cut it off! If you’re someone who doesn’t really reuse these rubber bands, then simply take scissors and cut it off and get the job done in a matter of seconds and of course, with absolutely no pain at all!

Of course, you will need to get some help cutting them off if you aren’t able to see the rubber band in the mirror for yourself, failing which you may end up cutting off a few strands of your hair as well! So watch out!

You will carefully need to split your scissors apart (so preferably use a small sized scissors) and then cautiously try to slip one of the blades under a layer of the rubber band and cut it open, thereby loosening up the entire rubber band making it easy to take it off.

3. Use some oil to get rubber bands out

While I know many of you may not prefer this method because it involves oil and then makes the hair look super greasy thereafter, well, it is definitely a good method to use.

I mean, it would be better to get your hair greasy, than to lose a good bit of it right?

Well, this method is super simple and easy to do as well. You will need to grease your hair, lather it up with some oil, very generously, over and under the rubber band as well, while moving the rubber band a little up and down.

This will make the hair shaft smooth and will make it easier for the rubber band to glide down the hair, without damaging it severely and without you having to lose a lot of hair either.

4. Apply heat over the rubber until it snaps

This is another super simple and easy method to use to be able to get your rubber bands off in just a few seconds. Of course, this technique will mean that you cannot reuse these rubber bands again, as they will snap completely.

So, if you do not wish to reuse your rubber bands, here’s what you can do – take any heat styling tool, like a curling iron or a flat iron or maybe even a blow dryer could do the trick.

How to Remove Rubber Bands from Hair Safely

Just hold it over the rubber band for a couple of seconds and it will snap in no time! This happens because the plastic/rubber of the band loosens and melts due to the heat and it snaps open.

This method is also pain free and can save your hair from a lot of damage. But well, you’ll need to buy yourself a set of new rubber bands of course.

5. Coat the rubber bands with oil before using them

This hack is one of those “the internet taught me this” kind of hacks, but it is super useful indeed! Trust me, I have tried it out and it actually works and I am grateful to the internet for it!

So, it is the plastic or the rubber of the bands that graze over the hair strands and create friction and make it harder to pull it out and when they do, it pulls some hair along with it too. Thus, the premise here is oiling the rubber band, before you use it.

I had mentioned earlier about greasing your hair with oil to be able to remove the rubber bands, right? Well, if you do not wish to get your hair all greasy, then you could maybe try out this technique.

Just take some oil between your fingertips and nicely grease the rubber bands with the oil before tying your hair with them.

This will ensure a better and smoother rubber band pull out, when you try to get it off your hair later on.

6. Use rubber bands which are fabric-covered

There are certain rubber bands that come with a fabric coating. Using these rubber bands can help reduce tugging on the hair strands and snagging to a large extent.

It will also reduce the friction caused when you try to pull down these rubber bands and reduce the loss of hair.

These fabric-covered rubber bands are easier to get off and do not need to be lubricated before use or cut off.

You can simply open out one layer at a time, pulling out your hair and then gently remove your rubber band.

Why Rubber Bands Are Bad For Hair

Using a rubber band for your hair can cause tension to the hair strands and if they are pulled out while trying to remove them, they can cause severe hair damage and extensive hair breakage, which leads to hair loss.

Rubber bands are used to fasten the hair and thus can be quite tight on the hair. This tension created on the hair shaft, makes it get weaker.

Also, if you keep your rubber hand in your hair for too long, it will cause the hair follicle to lose circulation, because the rubber band is secured tightly around it, thus damaging the hair.

Tools To Easily Remove Hair Elastics

1. A nail clipper: You could use a small sized nail clipper, to help gently cut off the rubber band.

2. A pair of scissors: Using a small sized pair of scissors can come in handy to cut off the rubber band.

3. A stitch opener/seam ripper: Using a stitch opener, you can cut off a thin rubber band by tugging on it. But this needs to be done with utmost caution.

4. A cuticle cutter: A cuticle cutter can also be used to cut off a rubber band.

5. A heat styling tool: Applying heat over the rubber band for a few seconds can cause it to snap open.

What Oil Removes Rubber Bands

In general, any type of oil should typically work to help remove the rubber band from the hair. There is no specific oil that you will need to use.

But there is some information doing the rounds over the internet about the fact that oils that contain citrus, help loosen out or break off the rubber band faster. Well, this could be because the content of limonene in the citrus based oils like lemon oil, grapefruit oil etc., interferes with the structure of the rubber band and weakens it.

Now, is this really true? Well, to be honest, using a citrus based oil can help loosen out the rubber band just like any other oil, but about it breaking, it is highly unlikely.

Does Lemon Juice Break Rubber Bands

So, coming to the answer many of you must be looking for – well, no, lemon juice does not break rubber bands. This is because rubber bands are made of rubber and are able to withstand the acidity of the lemon juice.

Yes, lemon juice on rubber bands is acidic and can corrode the rubber over time, but not within a matter of a few minutes to get it to snap. Well, that’s not a possibility.

The Final Takeaway

To close out this topic, we can definitely conclude that rubber bands are not the best hair accessories for our hair. It can cause friction between the hair strands while it is being pulled out and can damage the hair shaft and cause significant hair damage and hair loss.

It can also tug on the hair strands and cause snagging. The prolonged usage of rubber bands in the hair can cut off circulation to the hair follicle.

But in case you really have to use a rubber band and cannot get it off, you could try lathering your hair with oil, oiling the rubber band before using it, applying heat to get it to snap or of course, simply cut them off using a scissors and you’ll be good to go!

Why You Should Trust Haireveryday?

The author of this article, Leah Marie Priest has a degree in Cosmetology with years of experience in dealing with hair care, scalp care, and hairstyling. As someone who extensively deals with all kinds of hair textures, products, styling methods and more, hair Leah Marie knows what kind of products and procedures suit each hair type and person. We have also tested these hair products and processes ourselves to provide you an unbiased review about every product. Each of our articles are also reviewed by a team of medical professionals so that you get the most accurate and expert-reviewed information.