I become easily obsessed with hair do-dads (or hair pretties, as I used to call them when I was younger). Second grade was the era of the butterfly clip, in fourth grade hair wraps reigned supreme and 7th grade was the dreaded glitter hair gel phase (just be happy you didn’t know me then…and if you did, sorry). Somewhere in between fell scrunchies, hair bows, the topsy tail and thin leather ropes to tie my hair (actually, still sort of a fan of that one).
Needless to say, I love my hair accessories. Which could maybe explain why I fell (hard) for the pretty ribbon elastic hair ties that have been everywhere recently. I picked up a few from Anthropologie a while back and have pretty much worn them to death in the months since–they’re so gentle on my hair (it’s stopped breaking from over-elastic-use) and much prettier hanging out on my wrist than a black elastic. But $12 for 5, really? That just seemed all sorts of overpriced to me, so I decided to see if I could somehow MacGyver up a few of my own when I found myself in need of a refill.
This is the kind of thing people tend to balk “You really need DIY instructions for THAT?!” at. And the truth is no, you don’t. But it took me a while to get the measurements, so why not share, right?
You can snag some elastic from here or here and measure each piece to 8 and 3/4 inches (again, what worked for me, feel free to experiment!). Fold the elastic in half and tie a small (and tight!) lopped knot at the end of the elastic, leaving about 1/4 of an inch free. If you find that the ends of the elastic are fraying where you cut them, simply burn them slightly with a lighter to seal them. Voila!
The other thing I forgot to mention? My eyes are often bigger than my stomach (or my bank account or my closet…). In this case, a supply that I thought would make 10 or so ties really created…45. Considering there’s no way I’m ever going to use all those, I thought it might be fun to give away sets of three to five of you! If you’d like, enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter below, sometime between now and Tuesday (Sept. 25) night at midnight for a chance to win. Much easier than handing over $12.00 and a trip to Anthro, right?
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