Hairsticks/Chopsticks?

[catabear]

So I feel kind of silly for asking this, but I never realized people use chopsticks to keep their really long hair up in a bun. Do chopsticks work for thick and curly hair? I have to wear my hair in a bun at work, and I hate doing so because my hair always ends up in a tangled matted mess, not to mention ripping out hair to free it from the evil hair ties. Do any plain chopsticks work? Is there a specific method of putting my hair up? Also, I don't want to be culturally insensitive, so is it offensive to the Asian culture if I use chopsticks? I'm sorry if it seems like a stupid question, I just want to make sure!

[Belle Paix]

Yes, for me they do. I'm APL now, but even when my hair was almost waist, chopsticks worked fantastically!

[gthlvrmx]

If you use the cheap wooden chopsticks, make sure it's smoothed down with some sand paper and maybe add a coating of nail polish or something to the tip? Something like that, that way the wood won't snag onto random hairs when you put on the stick. You can cut the wood though to a small size if it's too big for you. And no, you won't be culturally insensitive for using hair sticks or chopsticks as a way of keeping your hair up in an updo with a stick. Hair sticks do work for thick and curly hair as well. I have curly hair and it works for me. There are buns you can find on youtube like the Nautilus Bun, Lazy Wrap Bun, Disc Bun, Spidermom Bun, and other buns to do with hairsticks/chopsticks. Look up TorrinPaige on youtube for some hair tutorials (she has thick hair as well).

Again, for the culture, I found this on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_stick

[Islandgrrl]

I think chopsticks are perfectly acceptable hairsticks. Just make sure they are free from anything that might catch in your hair - they need to be smoothed with fine grit sandpaper if they are unfinished wood. My very first "hairsticks" ever were a pair of black lacquered chopsticks. I wore them for years until I discovered there were actual sticks made for hair. Using chopsticks was a great way for me to learn how to keep my hair up without damaging it, as well as being very economical.

As for how to use them, there are probably a bunch of tutorials on youtube that you could access, as well as tutorials for buns that they can hold up. Personally, I if I'm wearing sticks, I'm either wearing an inside out bun or a lazy wrap bun. Both very simple. Lazy wrap works nicer on my hair - inside out buns tend to look like bunsplosions on me these days.

[Lirona]

Many users here with your hair type use hairsticks! Say goodbye to evil hair ties, your life is about to change! :D

Some how-to resources:

Great, simple stick bun (love this tutorial, first bun I was able to master): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9PPb8gCsI
Excellent tutorial by our very own DreamSheep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b6WVvzfV9U

And the following are YouTube channels with tutorials for multiple different buns:

https://www.youtube.com/user/torrinpaige
https://www.youtube.com/user/4ypn0tica
https://www.youtube.com/user/Habioku
https://www.youtube.com/user/schmetterlinchen
https://www.youtube.com/user/HaartraumFrisuren (https://www.youtube.com/user/HaartraumFrisuren)(German, but you can see what she’s doing very well)

Don’t give up if some of the buns don’t work in your hair, there’s bound to be one that does!

I don’t think using chopsticks in your hair is culturally insensitive per se. But for some, it’s basically equivalent to adorning your locks with a dinner fork… just sort of goofy. By and large people will not care though, in my experience (I live in the US).

If you want to make your chopsticks look more like a hair accessory and less like an eating utensil, you can pick up some of those disposable ones at restaurants, shorten them if necessary, and paint them with nail polish, like gthlvrmx mentioned.

(Worth noting that hair sticks themselves are not cultural appropriation, as they have been used by many different cultures going back to the ancient world.)

ETA: truepeacenik's comment reminded me, children's chopsticks are great because they're shorter (~7 inches instead of 9, significantly reducing your chances of poking someone in the eye). :)

[truepeacenik]

Make it easy on yourself
https://www.etsy.com/shop/EaduardHairsticks

He makes chopsticks, but he makes awesome hairsticks, too.
There is a difference.
I use a pair of children's chopsticks, given to me by a wonderful member here. But I've avoided using adult chopsticks just as I would avoid using a spoon and fork (cutlery).

Funny side story, I travel with a roll of a folk, spoon and chopsticks, often a couple pairs for sharing. I'm not fond of throwaway culture.
I'd picked up food for my business partner and I, opened the roll, pulled out the chopsticks. My partner, Hong Kong born and well aware of how and with what I style my hair, stopped for a millisecond.
"I promise these have never been in my or anyone else's hair."
He smiled, and teased me. "Are you sure?"

[Anje]

Chopsticks are too long for 99% of longhairs... Cut them down to a reasonable length so you don't take out someone's eye! What I've done a couple of times is bought nice reusable wood (http://mfproduct.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/3_REUSABLE-CHOPSTICKS1.jpg) or bamboo (http://i5.walmartimages.com/dfw/dce07b8c-797d/k2-_03158660-f2bd-4490-883b-19b796962f68.v1.jpg) chopsticks, cut them to maybe 6 inches, tapered and polished the tip (nail files and buffers are useful for this), and often decorated the tops a little. Among other things, this made them not look like eating utensils, which to me is important.

ETA: It's worth mentioning that colored pencils are also a really cute option for hairsticks, if you're looking for a cheap thing to try.

[endersworld]

As far as usability, I have very thick hair that's also pretty long (TBL), and hairsticks work great for me! There are a ton of different buns you can do as well. I would definitely buff the chopsticks to a smoother finish and coat at least the tip (if not the entire stick) in clear nail polish to keep it from snagging.

[reilly0167]

Recently, I got my hands on some regular bamboo chop sticks from a restaurant (they were free yea!), I sanded it smooth and it worked perfectly well on my curly hair. Just yesterday my son wanted Chinese, so we stopped in and I noticed by the condiments there were the chop sticks. I asked politely if I can take a few than needed, the lady asked why so many ( I only had three in my hand), I told her I use them as hair sticks, she had a big smile and said well take three more. I left happy like a kid out of a candy store. So there you go, she was not offended at all. Most cultures do not take offense, if someone who taken an interest in things for example chopsticks as a good thing.:)

P.S. in my album theres a pic of my chopstick:)

[reilly0167]

I think chopsticks are perfectly acceptable hairsticks. Just make sure they are free from anything that might catch in your hair - they need to be smoothed with fine grit sandpaper if they are unfinished wood. My very first "hairsticks" ever were a pair of black lacquered chopsticks. I wore them for years until I discovered there were actual sticks made for hair. Using chopsticks was a great way for me to learn how to keep my hair up without damaging it, as well as being very economical.

As for how to use them, there are probably a bunch of tutorials on youtube that you could access, as well as tutorials for buns that they can hold up. Personally, I if I'm wearing sticks, I'm either wearing an inside out bun or a lazy wrap bun. Both very simple. Lazy wrap works nicer on my hair - inside out buns tend to look like bunsplosions on me these days.
Lol I like the word bunsplosions:)

[Islandgrrl]

Lol I like the word bunsplosions:)

Me too. :)

[Kiiruna]

Well, I personally wouldn't use a spoon, fork or a knife as a hair stick... but I'm not from Asia, so I guess my opinion doesn't really count :p

[reilly0167]

Well, I personally wouldn't use a spoon, fork or a knife as a hair stick... but I'm not from Asia, so I guess my opinion doesn't really count :p

I think a spoon and/or fork would be cute, if you are a chef, its different :)

[languagenut]

I have thick wavy hair (hip length), and recently learned how to use hair sticks. And, boy, they held better than any other hair accessory I've ever tried to bun with - no exaggeration! I have a pair of Lilla Rose hair sticks; they're shorter than chopsticks, and also smoother and with pointier ends, so as to slide into the hair more easily. And they have decorative beaded ends. I like them a lot, but I've also successfully used pens and pencils in a pinch. Crochet hooks and short knitting needles would work too, though the hooks might look funny :). And, of course, chopsticks, possibly modified as suggested above.

As for technique, I just twisted my hair, wound it into a bun shape, and wove the sticks through. The trick is to move the stick up and down as you push it through, so it grabs both the bun and the scalp hair, thus "sewing" them together. I wish you success!

[gossamer]

I've lived in Asia for years and used lacquered chopsticks cut down to the correct length for much of that time. Only ever had one person comment on them in a slightly derogatory manner - and they were just being snide in general about me thinking that I didn't understand what they were saying. I turned around brightly said something about, "Yes, I DO have chopsticks holding my hair up! Isn't it neat? Look how I made them shorter and painted the ends with contrasting nail polish. It really helps me save money because I'm a poor student!" and they didn't have too much to say after that. :p

[Nique1202]

Especially if the chopsticks don't look like chopsticks anymore and you're not switching between using them for food and for hair, then it's probably not going to cause a problem. Most chopsticks are plain bamboo with a distinctive round-to-squared-off shape you could round off a little but painting the bamboo will change the look entirely. Some are decorated in particular ways at the tops and those I'd avoid or sand off the design and refinish them. As pointed out above, most chopsticks are WAY too long for most heads. Hair sticks generally run 4 to 8 inches unless you have really big buns, and chopsticks run 10 to 16 inches long depending on their intended use. Even 10 inches would stick out both sides of my head by a wide margin. My 7 inch sticks look ridiculous enough!

If you're really concerned, a cheap wooden dowel can be cut down to hairstick appropriate lengths, sharpened up a little with a pencil sharpener, covered in nail polish or acrylic paint and cheap varnish, and do the same job as a chopstick with even less risk of offending anyone. I made 32 hairsticks out of a $3 pack of 16 one-foot-long craft dowels this way.

Stick buns take a little practice to get right, so I'd recommend starting with the disc bun or its cousins the lazy wrap and the nautilus bun. Lots of tutorials on youtube for each of those so you should have no problem finding instructions you can follow, and generally some people have trouble with one or the other but most people can make at least one work. Once you have a solid go-to you can and should play with stick-held cinnabuns, infinity/figure-8 buns, and all sorts of others.

[gossamer]

Here's where I blogged about chopsticks to hair sticks on my craft blog ages ago: https://gossycrafts.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/hair-sticks-from-chopsticks/

[brickworld13]

Here's where I blogged about chopsticks to hair sticks on my craft blog ages ago: https://gossycrafts.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/hair-sticks-from-chopsticks/

Why didn't I think of a silverware tray?! :doh: I could tuck that in the shallow dresser drawer that is hard to utilize.

[gossamer]

Why didn't I think of a silverware tray?! :doh: I could tuck that in the shallow dresser drawer that is hard to utilize.

I mean, neither did I! Took my designer/artist SO to think of it. He's so much faster at spatial thinking than I am.

[brickworld13]

I mean, neither did I! Took my designer/artist SO to think of it. He's so much faster at spatial thinking than I am.

I can be if I actually sit down and analyze things, but I'm decidedly poor at recognizing when I SHOULD do that kind of analysis.

[chen bao jun]

to add a couple of things:
as you heard they are probably too long. You can cut them shorter and sharpen them in a pencil sharpener, if they weren't the sort of chopsticks that had a point of sorts. The point will be too sharp--you can sand that smooth.

Besides sanding chopsticks, you paint them with nail polish to get different colors AND get them smoother. On the make your own hairtoys thread, this process is described.

Noting that you said you have thick and curly hair--there is something of a chance that chopsticks will break in your particular hairtype. (I know because I am one). It takes torque to put them and somewhat more torque if your hair is very thick and dense. In that case, a good substitute is wooden dowels. these are stronger. They are sold in any craft store such as joanns or michaels. They come in different sizes, I forget which size is best, its only slightly thicker than a pencil but a long stronger than a chopstick. They are VERY cheap. You fix them up the same way, cut (you can actually do this with a kitchen knife, sharpen in a pencil sharpener, sand. i suggest buying sanding paper in walmart or a tool store rather than in a craft store. Its also very cheap (in Walmart), large sheets, the crafts stores tend to sell you very little squares for much more money.

I wouldn't worry about cultural appropriation at all, as others have said and Gossamer definitely knows, she is an Asian country right now. I was formerly in the same one. People are not so easily offended by things like this and in this case, it isn't even a true appropriation, cultures have used sticks both to hold up hair and to eat food in a whole lot of places for a long, long time.

[Kat]

I like using double-pointed knitting needles as hairsticks. They're strong, sturdy, are fine in wet hair, are smooth so don't catch, are a just-right length, and are nice and thin so I'm not stuck trying to jam something huge through my bun (always difficult; I use pencils and pens in a pinch but I hate it; they catch) or have it possibly digging into my head.

(and frankly, if I ever needed to, I could use it for self defense.)

[chen bao jun]

Kat, how do double pointed knitting needles not slip out of your hair (unless they are bent).
I have the opposite of slippery hair and they slip out of mine. (this is an honest question)

[brickworld13]

Chen, I've had good luck with the plastic and wooden knitting needles. They have really good grip. I haven't tried the metal ones as I don't even like knitting with them. They are really slippery and I drop a lot of stitches when using them which also leads me to think they would fall right out of my hair.

[FantasyBoudicca]

I'm as Chinese as it gets, both sides of my family, and I couldn't give less of a damn about what you stick in your hair so long as you don't ******ize it or think it suddenly makes you Chinese/Japanese/Korean (I swear I have seen that) or whatever. Besides, you see hair sticks in Roman women's tombs all the time, they're hardly exclusive to us Asians.

I got a pair of black plastic chopsticks and snapped/cut off the thin tips so it'd be more manageable and looked less like an actual chopstick, then filed it smooth so it wouldn't snag. Black was purely because I needed it for school (uniform code) and my hair has already murdered two hair sticks, so I needed mine to be fairly sturdy - thus the plastic. It works great. No snagging, I don't have to fuss over losing hair elastics or whatever, and at the end of the day I just pull out one stick and my hair is free again. AND it holds through me running for the bus in the mornings if I do it right.