Weight of Hair Barrette?

[Gaelic Girl]

Hi All,

This might sound goofy, but I am wondering what the average weight of a large ( 2 x 5 inches) silver or pewter hair barrette might be?

I am hoping to have an artisan make a custom Celtic Tree of Life barrette for me from a piece he has..but he says it'll be 100 grams. That's 3.5 ounces. Is that a lot?

I wear 9 inch sticks, and 3 x 7 inch forks, and 2/3 x 5 inch barrettes and have a couple by St. Justin that are heavy pewter so used to wearing larger and somewhat weighty items....but no way of weighing them.

Is 100 grams/ 3.5 ounces crazy heavy? Can it work? :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Help, please..and thanks!!!

Cheers, GG

[lillielil]

I can't tell you what an average barrette weighs, but 100 grams is about what a normal-sized bar of soap weighs. Eggs are about 50 g each. That does seem pretty hefty for a barrette.

[lapushka]

Maybe someone can weigh a couple of hairsticks and compare. Do you not have kitchen scales? :o

[Nique1202]

I got a hair clip from Oberon Design once (very high quality if you like their designs, I would recommend their leather and their pewter in a heartbeat) and the very heaviest clip of theirs I can find (http://www.oberondesign.com/collections/hair-clips-accessories/products/dogwood-hairclip) is under 40 grams.

100 grams sounds like way too much weight for a hair clip, it's going to be dragging down and might even cause some pain issues if you wear it for too long.

[Anje]

That sounds like a lot. I just weighed several large Ficcare maximas clips the other day, and they were on the order of 31-35g. I don't think I'd want to wear something 100g, but your hair is a lot thicker than mine and might support the weight more readily?


Maybe someone can weigh a couple of hairsticks and compare. Do you not have kitchen scales? :o
Scales aren't really a standard kitchen item in the US, at least, unless you're dieting and want to check portions. Most people here measure dry ingredients like flour by volume rather than mass and the recipes reflect that. I eventually acquired scales for brewing and soap-making, but I still normally don't use them for cooking.

[Obsidian]

A medium fakkare covered in faceted crystals, 48 grams
Two 8" hairsticks made from chopsticks, topped with large glass beads, 19 grams together
a standard sized glass shot glass, 85 grams

[trolleypup]

A medium fakkare covered in faceted crystals, 48 grams
Two 8" hairsticks made from chopsticks, topped with large glass beads, 19 grams together
a standard sized glass shot glass, 85 grams
100 grams is almost 1/4 pound...that's a lot for a hair toy.

My heaviest barrettes (cast metal, paint, rhinestones, large) top out at about 50 grams. My regular metal slide barrette is about 30 grams, and the single stainless stick I use almost all the time is 9 grams.

[Gaelic Girl]

I can't tell you what an average barrette weighs, but 100 grams is about what a normal-sized bar of soap weighs. Eggs are about 50 g each. That does seem pretty hefty for a barrette.

A bar of soap? Wow! Thank you lillielil.



I got a hair clip from Oberon Design once (very high quality if you like their designs, I would recommend their leather and their pewter in a heartbeat) and the very heaviest clip of theirs I can find (http://www.oberondesign.com/collections/hair-clips-accessories/products/dogwood-hairclip) is under 40 grams.

100 grams sounds like way too much weight for a hair clip, it's going to be dragging down and might even cause some pain issues if you wear it for too long.

Thanks, Nique1202. This occurred and concerned me too, which is why I started the thread and really appreciate everyone's feedback. :flower:


Maybe someone can weigh a couple of hairsticks and compare. Do you not have kitchen scales? :o

I don't own any.


That sounds like a lot. I just weighed several large Ficcare maximas clips the other day, and they were on the order of 31-35g. I don't think I'd want to wear something 100g, but your hair is a lot thicker than mine and might support the weight more readily?


Scales aren't really a standard kitchen item in the US, at least, unless you're dieting and want to check portions. Most people here measure dry ingredients like flour by volume rather than mass and the recipes reflect that. I eventually acquired scales for brewing and soap-making, but I still normally don't use them for cooking.

Thanks, Anje. Yeah...it would be a custom, which is why I'm trying to get a good sense of the weight before I go ahead with it. I do have heavier items, but then they are not ones I use a great deal, all things considered.


A medium fakkare covered in faceted crystals, 48 grams
Two 8" hairsticks made from chopsticks, topped with large glass beads, 19 grams together
a standard sized glass shot glass, 85 grams

Thanks very much for doing this, Obsidian! This really helps!


I have e-mailed both Oberon (thanks to Nique1202's info) and St. Justin's inquiring about the weight of their heaviest barrettes. I have two of the biggest St. Justin's which are indeed heavy.

Thank you, so much, everyone, for your advice and ideas! I will keep you posted! :magic:

Cheers, GG

p.s.


100 grams is almost 1/4 pound...that's a lot for a hair toy.

My heaviest barrettes (cast metal, paint, rhinestones, large) top out at about 50 grams. My regular metal slide barrette is about 30 grams, and the single stainless stick I use almost all the time is 9 grams.

Uh oh...thank you, trolleypup. This really puts things into perspective! Hmm...he said that sterling silver would weigh that much...I wonder if there is a silver material that is less? I would have thought pewter would be heavier....to be continued...

[trolleypup]

Uh oh...thank you, trolleypup. This really puts things into perspective! Hmm...he said that sterling silver would weigh that much...I wonder if there is a silver material that is less? I would have thought pewter would be heavier....to be continued...
Sterling silver is about 10.5 oz/in3, pewter is about 7.5 oz/in3, so all else being equal, a pewter version of your piece would be about 70 grams.

One thing you could do is find something that weighs about 1/4 pound/100g/4 oz and hook it onto a hair elastic holding a ponytail. 40 pennies(US) weigh about 100 grams. Tape up the pennies with a unbent paperclip sticking out and attach that to your hair to get a feel for the weight.

Is your piece all solid, without openings or gaps? That increases the weight...all my larger barrettes are some sort of openwork, so they are lighter than a solid piece.

[Theobroma]

The heaviest hairtoy I own weighs 60g, so just over half of what your barrette would weigh. It's a four-prong Elymwold fork made of ebony and tiger's eye and while it's fine for me in a full bun, I couldn't possibly handle it in a half-up. I can't imagine pulling off a 100g toy even in a full bun, let alone in only half my hair!

[Gaelic Girl]

Sterling silver is about 10.5 oz/in3, pewter is about 7.5 oz/in3, so all else being equal, a pewter version of your piece would be about 70 grams.

One thing you could do is find something that weighs about 1/4 pound/100g/4 oz and hook it onto a hair elastic holding a ponytail. 40 pennies(US) weigh about 100 grams. Tape up the pennies with a unbent paperclip sticking out and attach that to your hair to get a feel for the weight.

Is your piece all solid, without openings or gaps? That increases the weight...all my larger barrettes are some sort of openwork, so they are lighter than a solid piece.

That's an excellent idea, trolleypup! I will indeed try this out. Thank you! ;) It does have cut outs, and is over 4 inches across so should evenly distribute the weight. He usually works in bronze or silver, not pewter, but I will ask about it as well as the weight of bronze. He has made the design as a belt buckle, so a couple embellishments would not be needed, although a french clip would be necessary (though so light it should not matter).


The heaviest hairtoy I own weighs 60g, so just over half of what your barrette would weigh. It's a four-prong Elymwold fork made of ebony and tiger's eye and while it's fine for me in a full bun, I couldn't possibly handle it in a half-up. I can't imagine pulling off a 100g toy even in a full bun, let alone in only half my hair!

Thanks, Theobroma. You are fortunate to have an Elymwold fork. Some day...sigh. :pray: This is a barrette so I'm hoping would evenly distribute the weight on my head. I don't think I'd even risk a fork that weight.

Thanks for all the great advice, folks! Much appreciated.:beerchug:

[Wusel]

100g is WAY TOO MUCH. Only thinking about this makes my scalp hurt...

[Horrorpops]

Girl that sounds heavy!! I agree with PPs the shape of the barrette, and the thickness of your hair probably will play a part in whether or not its ok to use comfortably...

[xZx]

I came across this thread last night and meant to reply, but it was super late and I thought I'd better wait until my brain was awake!

I am in fact a silversmith, so I might have something useful to add :)

100gms seems heavy for that size of silver. In 1mm sheet (which I would have thought would be adequate for a hair barrette, especially if it's being curved or domed) I make it 67g for a solid 2 X 5 inch piece of sterling silver. You've got to add some sort of pin to that, but even so, 100g seems a little heavy if the design has cut outs as well.

I suspect he's going off the weight for a belt buckle, but I'd check on the thickness of the design and see if it can be made thinner, because it might just be overkill for what you need it for, and once it's in your hair, nobody will see the thickness of the thing anyway.

Of course, depending on his production methods he might not be able to do that, but it's worth asking the question as shaving even 0.5mm off the thickness of a hair barrette could make a surprisingly big difference to the feel when it's in your hair.

Last thing, if you decide to go for pewter make sure it's lead free - most stuff labeled as pewter these days is fine, but it's always advisable to check!