Okay, hairsticks are my secret vice -- I have several pairs of chopsticks I use, two pairs of longlocks sticks for special occasions, and a pair of plain rosewood ones for "hair, get out of my way!" on a daily basis. All the other hair boards I've been on, I've been the /only/ person who adores them, so I haven't had anyone to ask this of before, sooo... ;D

What style do you prefer to have the stick portion be? By this I mean, smooth and straight, spirally, textured slightly...? Personally, I've found ones that are textured some how (my wood pair has irregular slices taken out) tend to hold my hair in place better for a bun, although smooth straight ones work best for a french twist.

And am I the only one who likes to wear ones that are perhaps a little long for her hair length? All of my hairsticks end up with about .5"-.75" free on either side of my bun/twist/whatever, and several different vendors have told me that's too long.

It doesn't make any difference to me which style I use, though I find that the square sticks don't hold my hair as well as the round ones do... but they used to hold it better!  Don't ask me why the change, tho length might have something to do with it.

Since I create designs with fancy sticks, I always want the ends to show a bit... that's the whole point (pun intended ;)

I've never tried square sticks. o.o; I don't think that would hold my hair up at all -- and if the end wasn't pointed adequately, I wouldn't be able to get it /into/ my hair. ;)

Oh, the square sticks are just as pointy as the round ones.  Some people swear by 'em, and I used to love them but now for some reason they don't seem to hold my hair as well anymore.

I also don't care for the square ones.  I have to twist my hair extra tight to get them to be firmly in, which isn't ideal.  I also do not like the thicker round ones, same problem as the square ones. Texture doesn't seem to matter, as my hair is wavy and tends to stay up pretty much by itself.  I like the ends to stick out so my pretty hairsticks show!

I have many styles of hairsticks.  They are a part of my personality similar to some people having different earrings for different moods, styles, or outfits.

My hair is very fine and slippery so I find the sticks with some texture work best.  I particularly like spirals and carved sticks.  I also have some that have a "bump" turned into the center of the stick that holds very well.  For a more creative/fun look, I have recently discovered swizzle sticks with plastic sticks.  I have cut the ball off the end and rounded the tip so that it glides through my hair.  The plastic is usually a bit soft so I either use several of them together or use a wooden one to stablize the bun and use the swizzle sticks just for decoration.

Needless to say, I am a hairstick junkie!

I love my beautiful longlocks hair sticks, of course, and wear them everyday after work.  My bridal sticks are my favorite because of the frosted glass and softly painted flowers that go with everything in my closet! The lightly etched, pearly white bone stick is beautiful peaking out from my bun.

I daycare little ones 6 days a week and need to keep my hair away from the glue, paint, and art sizzors :o

I use a colored pencil and an artist's paint brush most of the time.  It is handy to have the pencil within reach and the paintbrush holds my hair up well.   :D

I'm so glad I finally found some pretty hair sticks!  

It sounds like you could use some casual ones to wear during work!  Maybe a pair from Claire's Accessories with nice dull points incase a little one grabs them?  :)

I tried some plain ones, they worked, but had no style at all :(  

The children love my paintbrush and pencil and they go nicely with my "teacher" skirts.   One of my moms has decided to let her hair grow because I have so much fun with my hair  :)

At last count I think I have 14 pair of LongLocks hair sticks.  I'm an interiod designer and I'm in paint, wood, paste and any number of other messy things on a daily basis....When my days are going to be realy challenging and I don't want hair that day I put mt hair into a pony tail on the back of my head, braid it,  wrap it around itself and secure with a pair of my hair sticks.  They are a big part of my wardrobe these days....My clients are always interested in which pair I am wearing

If you are going to have a vice pampering your hair with pretty things is a good one...It works for me!! ;D

I'm probably going to be one of the folks that will swear by the square stix...  I got a pair for X-mas that happend to be square and they're one of my favorites for work right now - they never move/budge/shift...  and on the days my hair has to stay up (I'm an engineer) they work so well!  (for those curious, I have long, very straight and thin hair)

;D

Question for folks while I'm here :  thoughts on using the single sticks? (like the Asian sticks).  They're gorgeous!, but I'm not sure how to put up my hair to use them...  (they seem strange for just the normal bun, and I also got one of these for X-mas)   :D

I can try to explain one way to wear them so the dangle shows at the front of your hair more like the Asian wear, if you like.  It's one of my fav ways to wear single sticks.  It's very easy and quick to do, looks great AND gets your hair out of the way all at the same time.  

I'm going to assume the world is right-handed here, adjust accordingly ;)

1. Bend at the waist and grab all your hair in a ponytail with your left hand at the top and slightly to the left of your head.

2. Holding a hairstick in your right hand, place it centered in front of the ponytail at the base, touching your head or just above it (practice will tell you which gives you the right tension) and the point facing down toward your left shoulder.

3. Wrap the ponytail around the hairstick once (if you want your hair shorter when you are done, you can wrap it more often) pulling it forward over it and then under it toward your left ear.  Keep the hair pulled taught and don't let go of the ponytail.  

4. Pivot the top of the hairstick in an arc up and over to the left so your right hand is over and slightly in front of your left hand.  Push the hairstick through your hair toward the back and right and let go.  Voila! You have a cascade of hair down the left side of your head, nice lift at the top, and a great way to show off some dramatic dangles (but works with "regular" sticks too!).  

You might also want to check the Customer Gallery at http://www.longlocks.com/gallery.htm, there are some pics in there of styles using GeishaStix :)

When you're done does it look kind of like a high ponytail just held with a stick? I don't know if I've done it correctly  :-[

I have both round and square sticks and my hair stays just fine with either one so I have no real preference...just as long as they are pretty :D

I found a single hair stick in an antique store just before the holidays and I had to have it (I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it being it was a single)  I have found that it will hold my hair.  I put it into a braid on the topish of my head and wrap the braid around itself into a bun and slide the stick through and it stays all day.

Ginny

I use a single stick to hold my bun quite often.  I also use unmatched sticks when I want to use a pair of sticks.  I've also been known to go to a store that stocks lots of oriental items and buy chopsticks to use in my hair (some are very pretty and inexpensive).  I will use a chopstick to go with another single stick.  Let your hairsticks make a statement about you!  :D

[quote author=leia link=1040509009/0#12 date=1044212364]When you're done does it look kind of like a high ponytail just held with a stick? I don't know if I've done it correctly  :-[/quote]

Yup, off to one side a bit with a fall of hair down the left side of your head :)

More important for how well sticks stay in my hair is how I put them in - I have it easier in some ways because my hair has so much texture, it often will naturally stay in place almost on its own - but I've put many people's hair up in sticks - especially people who claim they can't put their hair up in sticks - Tree included at least once...though not recently (but I brought all my sticks on a trip we took together and she's been hooked on longlocks ever since!   ;D) - and what I've found always works (no matter how short or thin or slippery or fine they think their hair is) is this method:

when you make your bun (or most other stick styles you are trying) place the stick slightly inside of the bun (or 'do) by about 1/4" or so and angled to the outside of the bun.  Then push the stick towards your scalp, gathering a little bit of the hair that is pulled against your scalp under it, then flip the stick so that the pointy end is going through your bun and the other end (decorated if it's from this site!) is left pointing out of the top of the bun - then repeat for the other stick on the other side - I frequently use either an X formation, a + formation or a parallel formation (one right below the other in the same direction) to get the best hold on the bun or do.  I do this on virtually all of my updo's that I use sticks for, and I've never had a one come down (or on anyone else either!).  On smaller buns or updo's you can do this with just one stick and have it stay fairly well too!

Yes,you´re right! :DThat´s the best way!I´ve always used this method(rather than weaving the sticks in)and it holds my long,slippery hair securely in a bun all day.

I also use the method of starting by pointing the sticks the opposite direction I ultimately want the sticks to go.  I have also found that when your hair gets longer and you have multiple "rounds" on the bun, you need to weave the stick back up into the bun to catch each "round".  With this method I can hold my waist length hair in a bun with a single stick.

My hair will never hold up with one stick, unless I do the French Twist where I flip my bun upside down. Thanks for the tip, this works soo much better, I can actually *get* the sticks in my hair now  ;D!

 :'(  A  CALL FOR HELP!!!

Hi everyone I am new to the message board. Nice to meet you all - I have read the previous postings for some time.

I am quite a new Hairstix customer and having some trouble with hairstyles. I can get my hair in a bun by holding it in a pony tail with a snagfree elastic, I then twist this, but have to use a bun net over the top. I insert the sticks behind the pony holder / bun for stability.

I cannot get my hair held in a bun without a net otherwise it slips down and looks a mess. The twist starts to fall as I place sticks in, and the ends will not tuck underneath neatly, they are too bulky.

I seem to have bits of hair slipping out everywhere even though my hair is all one length (mid-back and thick). Also I am finding it difficult to actually 'weave' the sticks in and out of the hair. How do you do this, can your hair be too thick for this?

I cannot recreate any of the styles featured in the Gallery without getting frustrated and giving up.

I'm sorry to be complaining and miserable but I love my Hairstix and want to be wearing them every day.

Does anyone else have these problems?
Does anyone have any suggestions?
I would be very grateful for any help. ???

Hi Louise, welcome to the LongLocks Salon!

I'm in a hurry at the moment, but I wanted to take a minute to respond enough to at least get you going... the *best* trick for hairsticks newbies I can share is to braid your hair first!  It makes *all* the difference in the world when it comes to learning how to work with hairsticks.  It will make it very easy to put up and make your bun extremely secure, not to mention give you a beautiful, sophisticated look.  Try it!

Also, make sure that when you put the sticks in, you start on the side of the bun closest to your head.  Don't try to work from the outside of the bun, it's too much ground to cover.  This will make the "weaving" technique easier to learn.

Don't worry, with practice you'll be a pro in no time!

I'm sure others will have lots of hints to share with you as well :)

;D

Louise, is your hair straight, soft, and slippery? This could be a factor if your hair doesn't hold very well. I agree with Rapunzel that you should braid your hair first.

Sometimes it may be hard to get the hang of a new thing, but believe me, practise makes perfect! When my hair was just mid-back length, I still had some layers and I couldn't braid my hair without bits sticking out, so I would do a french braid. Then I would wrap this into a bun, and it stays much more securely than a normal bun, so you could try this method as well.

I also don't weave the stick through my hair. If you read Space_Cadet's post I'm sure you'll understand what I mean when I say put the stick at the edge of the bun and then push it outwards, then turn it around and push the stick through your bun. You won't have to weave at all. Sorry if my explanation isn't very understandable! But Space_Cadet has posted very good instructions for this.

Good luck  :D