Hook 'em while they're young.... The Enablinator Strikes!

**GRU** · February 15th, 2011, 11:59 AM

As I walked into the lobby of my son's Tae Kwon Do do-jang last night, I noticed a mom and her (absolutely adorable) 5yo daughter Sydney were looking around for the elastic they were going to use to put Sydney's hair back. Sydney has *gorgeous* waist-length brown/black hair, probably about a 2b/2c, fine (like kid hair is pre-puberty), and plentiful (probably the kid equivalent of ii/iii).

Normally I could have whipped out a spare elastic from my coat pocket, but we had some lovely warm weather (40F) and I had only worn a light hoodie that night. I did, however, have my backpack (studying for my final exam for tonight), and I had a hairstick (child's chopstick) in the accessory compartment of my backpack.

I offered my services, demonstrating how I could put all my volumes of hair into a bun in less than ten seconds with nothing more than a hairstick and my hands. (All of the other moms there were commenting on how impressive it was... people really don't have any idea how simple hairstick buns can be!)

When her mom said it was okay, Sydney skipped over to me. First off, I have to say that I am TOTALLY envious of this little girl's locks. I admit it. Envy is not a good trait, but it's definitely one that I have -- putting that gorgeous hair in my hands made me turn COMPLETELY green with envy. It's sooooo smooth and silky in a way that we curlies can only dream about. Anyway, back to the story.

It took me two tries to get the right amount of tension -- I'm not accustomed to putting buns in others' hair, and particularly with a tiny girl I didn't want to over-tighten it. Her mom came over to watch, and she was amazed at how simple it was. Sydney skipped off to join the others in the do-jang, and her mom commented that she was going to have to learn how to do that because it looked so adorable on Sydney (I had left a small tail hanging down, and it was curly and so cute!) so I gave the mom a lesson with my own hair and a pencil.

I put on my headphones then and started studying, and about 10 minutes later Sydney tapped me on the shoulder and handed me back the stick -- her mom had located the wayward elastic. I told Sydney that if she wanted to, she could take the hairstick over to her mom and tell her that I gave it to her so she could learn to do updos at home. Talk about a happy grin!

She skipped over to her mom and told her what I said, and as her mom was putting the stick into her purse, Sydney admonished, "That's MY hairstick, NOT yours, so you don't get to keep it!" Sydney ran back into the do-jang for the rest of her class then, while all the moms chuckled. (You may have noticed that Sydney never walks -- she either skips or bounces or runs!)

There are always smiles on the adults' faces when Sydney is in the room -- she really is an adorable little girl.... actually, now she's an adorable enabled little girl.

**Kitteh** · February 15th, 2011, 12:02 PM

That is adorable! I wish someone gave me my first hairtoy at such a young age... By now, I would have been the old woman who lived in a hairstick cabin

**Angel_099** · February 15th, 2011, 12:07 PM

Awww! Sounds like you made her day! I'm new here and need to look into hair sticks. Do you know how to easily explain them or point me to a good thread? Haven't looked yet since there are so many things to read about on this site! It is full of enablers though

...already spent $150!! And I've got a list started of more that I "need"...just added hairsticks!

**vanity_acefake** · February 15th, 2011, 12:09 PM

What a lovely story. You will now be her idol.

**Alvrodul** · February 15th, 2011, 12:12 PM

Adorable story!

**Kitteh** · February 15th, 2011, 12:14 PM

Try chopsticks! Shorten, sand down, lacquer or leave au naturel, hotglue decorations and you have a gorgeous, unique one!

If you are not good with crafts, I can make you one free

Buuut... You pay for shipping from Europe. I'm not that nice

Originally Posted by Angel_099

Awww! Sounds like you made her day! I'm new here and need to look into hair sticks. Do you know how to easily explain them or point me to a good thread? Haven't looked yet since there are so many things to read about on this site! It is full of enablers though

...already spent $150!! And I've got a list started of more that I "need"...just added hairsticks!

**chopandchange** · February 15th, 2011, 12:15 PM

That's a really sweet story, but I'm just wondering if it's wise to use the child's real name and write about her on the Internet without the parents' permission.

Of course, you haven't used her full name, but I think I would have just used her initial or else made up a fake name.

edit: maybe I am just being overly paranoid about privacy. After all it wasn't a photo, just a name. OK, shut up now, chopandchange.

chopandchange begs to be excused but is currently very oversensitive to personal privacy on the Internet for her own reasons.

Anyway, yay for hairsticks!

**GRU** · February 15th, 2011, 12:19 PM

Another thing I forgot to say... as I was pulling her hair back and combing it with my fingers, I said that this would just take me a minute because her hair is sooooo long, and she didn't miss a beat: "So is yours!" It was one of those "oh my gosh, other people think my hair is long, dancing cheese time

" moments in my life!

Kitteh -- I can totally see the "hairstick cabin"... like the Hansel & Gretel story, only with hairsticks instead of cookies and candies. It would be SO PRETTY!

Angel 099 -- welcome! For how to use hairsticks, check out the styling articles. For how to blow mind-numbing sums of money on hairsticks, check out the Hair Accessories forum where there are threads for specific hairstick artists and also an entire thread of different "new" artists on etsy, etc.

vanity_acefake -- pretty amazing how happy you can make another person with a 25-cent wooden stick, isn't it? I hope she really does enjoy it and learns how to love her hair at a young age, instead of despising it like I did for so many years.

chopandchange -- what's to say that I didn't already change the name?

**chopandchange** · February 15th, 2011, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by GRU

chopandchange -- what's to say that I didn't already change the name?

I beg your pardon.

People normally write something like "let's call her X" if changing a name, so I just made a wrong assumption.

P.S. I'm curious - which bun did you do?

**~~ericthegreat~~** · February 15th, 2011, 12:41 PM

What a cute story! I'm sure Sydney* must have been so thrilled to both become your new little friend and to have learned how to put up her own hair with a hair stick.