Hair Sticks

Since around 1998, I've been growing my hair and wearing it long. That is, not going to a salon at all. I do trim it myself, though, so it's not completely raggedy! I did start out visiting George Michael's Long Hair Heaven salon to learn how to care for it and brush it and so forth. Caring for long hair is easy once you know how. Believe it or not, it's a lot easier than caring for that perfect haircut! And it's not just for young girls, as the cosmetic industry would have you believe. Women of all ages have been wearing their hair long for centuries. They only began cutting it in the 20's with the Flapper craze.

So, my own personal hair I used to color with henna to give it a reddish tinge, but then grey hair started to come in, and I decided that I really liked the silver strands! Honestly, I can't wait until more comes in! But that's another subject entirely.

For the past few years, and especially as I've gotten older, I've begun to use hair sticks more and more often, because I don't want to just let it flow free and get in my way. I use what's called a "Gibraltar Bun" because, yes, it really is that secure. Here is a great video showing how to do it.

As I've said before, I'm not a jewelry-wearing person. But hair sticks... yes, I do collect those. I suppose it's hair jewelry! I do have a few from Longlocks.com, and I even had Susan make me a custom pair, but my tastes tend to run more towards the earthy instead of the fancy.

My very favorite ones? Besides my own designs, of course? Antler Hair Sticks by Grah-Toe Studio. Yep, those are real deer antlers (shed, not from killed deer).

Second place goes to a hair fork made of che-chen wood from Ric the Comb Maker.

So this is why I use wood for the hair sticks I create. I love having the little sparkly at the top, and the nice smooth wood to glide through your hair.