Budget friendly hair toys? And does anyone make their own?

[Emila]

I thought I might start a thread on this topic because I couldn't see anything recent.

Most long hair styles require either a fork or sticks. Then there are the other options, including ficcare or Flexi 8... None of these are available locally for me. I'm happy to order online, but I've never spent much on hair accessories before and the idea of spending well over $25 (AUD) for a single item seems like a lot to me. While saying this, I acknowledge that it's likely that I need to change my mindset about hair accesory cost because maybe my expectations have been set by fast-produced plasticy items.

But all the same, I was wondering if we could have a hair toys for broke folks thread? Where we can we get cheaper options that are not too terrible while we save up for our dream hair toys? Any recommendations for cheaper products?

Also... I'm not sure whether I should make this part of this thread or start a seperate thread but I think it does kind of fit with the thrifty vibe of this topic... Does anyone make their own hair toys? I mean, can we carve our own forks? Make our own sticks? Or get crafty with some kind of existing cheap product to improve it or personalise it? Any information about this? I did try to search but I'm not sure I thought of the right terms to search with as not much came up!

Of course, getting our hands on second hand items is another way of being thrifty!

Please feel free to leave any other thrifty hair toy tips or suggestions here 😊

[lapushka]

Nice idea; just to help, simple claw-clips is the stage I'm at and I can't for the life of me find me some. And I don't want to order online either. I do still have a couple XS flexi8s that might suit my peacock twist, but that's about it. Nice small to medium claw-clips? They're nowhere. I just went through the rest of my "stash", and about 70% of them lost limbs and some broke in half. Yes, plastic wears badly. It somehow gets so brittle with time.

My 2-prong forks are useless at this stage.

So yes, I'm dying for some input here. I would love to find stuff that is easy to use that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Mostly claw clips, actually.

[SeppV]

I bought my first hair forks from Alpenlandkunst on Etsy (Germany based shop). They were not very expensive. His head curve ones are a bit more expensive than the ones he sells without a head curve. I was very happy with my two pronged fork from him (in birch). I also bought two three pronged forks, but they are a bit more difficult to get to work smoothly. The tines are a bit thick and close, I imagine that a Jeterfork with flatter tines or a 60th with it's more slim tines would slide in more easily, but I haven't tried them, so I am not sure....

There is a lady selling used hair toys at a page called longhairedjewels.com. I almost bought a Jeterfork from there. I believe it's based in UK...? Not very expensive either, since it's pre owned.

[Lonian]

If you can order from Taobao or Alibaba there are TONS of cheap hair sticks. The wooden ones I've tried all work really well; metal ones are more hit and miss (some have rough tips which snag on hair). There are two-prong forks available too, though I haven't really found three-prong ones on there before

[KokoroDragon]

I've seen a lot of cheap sticks and forks on Amazon, I can't say anything on the quality though since I haven't bought any. I've also heard of people bending double-pointed aluminum knitting needles in half to make a cheap fork.
Chopsticks might also be an option, you could saw off one end to make them shorter if they're too long, and even paint them. Some people do make their own, I think there's a thread for homemade hairtoys somewhere around here.
Unfortunately I have no advice for claw clips, I've never found one that works for my hair. Would those combs with stretchy beadwork between them work for what you need? They probably have a proper name but I don't know what it is.

[Finda]

I remembered this thread from some time ago:
https://forums.longhaircommunity.com...d.php?t=153978

[lapushka]

The thing about claw clips is... you can't gauge the size of them as in how much circumference do they fit. I am stuck with that right now. I had to borrow claws from my mom (who has fine thin hair) but I would like/love some of my own, for sure. I can't put my mom out for this. I just rummaged through her collection, which is not that big to begin with, and she let me borrow one (I didn't dare take more). It fits like a glove but now I fear I'll have 0 when something happens to this one, and they sooo easily break, don't they?

Does anyone know a great budget site for small to medium claws?

[neko_kawaii]

It also depends on your length/thickness and what hair styles you want to make. Cinnamon buns can be done with just bobby pins, though I find spin pins hold better. A package of double pointed metal knitting needles can be bent into sturdy U pins. Chopsticks, skewers, and random twigs can be smoothed into functional hair sticks. In addition to claw clips which others have mentioned, you may already have large barrettes which if you are careful to keep hair out of the hinge and clip can be used for center held braided buns with a couple bobby pins to secure the end, or depending on your lenght/thickness may work to hold the very top of a peacock twist. Interlaced braids and tucked french braids are secured with bobby pins as are all the variations of crown braids. Scarves function on their own for Fridah braids and scarf buns.


There is also the self made hair toys thread: https://forums.longhaircommunity.com...read.php?t=131

[Deborah]

Dollar Tree carries loads of hairtoys, and they all now cost $1.25. (Used to cost $1, but they had to raise their prices.)

[Ada-banana]

Amazon and Alibaba have some nice hairtoys.

But I bought a more expensive one from Etsy and that is really the most comfortable hairfork (Woodartjewelry)