Japanese laquered bamboo chopsticks work well. Buy the child size.

Chinese chopsticks are too big, but you can cut, sand, and paint them if you have nothing to do.

I had a plastic stick break on me once.  I think all you can do is just be gentle with them and don't push 'em into your 'do too hard.

I've only once had anyone touch my hairsticks, and that was just one of my friends commenting on the cool beads hanging from the end.  I've never had anyone pull them out, which is actually kinda surprising considering how much my guy friends enjoy doing things like that.  But then I'd just stab them with them too. 

I've never had much luck with plastic hairsticks.  They always seem to break - if not when I'm putting them in, then when I sit on them (they seem to always end up on the couch).  Wood is a stronger alternative to plastic.  I've found very inexpensive but very pretty looking chopsticks at import shops.  Some are a bit long, but are easily shortened.

As for shortening plastic sticks, that can be a bit tricky.  One way would be to use two sets of pliers to hold the stick.  Break the stick between the pliers then round the edges on a grinder or with sand paper. 

Stepping back out of lurkdom here after a long time  not posting!  Plastic breaks on me, but I like to have them to wear swimming/at the beach/etc.   Despite tons of snapped regular plastic sticks, I have been having pretty good luck with my overpriced France Luxe Elysee stick ($20 for a single) -- so far, so good (knock on plastic).  It's actually quite attractive and no worries about getting it wet.

C.

My chopsticks are made out of some kind of heavy duty plastic - it's very stretchy, if that makes any sense. They are too slippery to eat with, so I've tried using sandpaper but it hasn't had much effect. I think I'd need a power sander to make them into hairsticks. 

/Kate

Hi Cairn, re swimming with hairsticks, I can do it because . . . well, I can!  You have silky hair, and mine is wavy and just kind of sticks to itself, especially when wet.  Less so these days since I have begun oiling with jojoba, but it just stays put.  Finally, an upside of non-silky hair!

Re people pulling hairsticks, what an invasion of personal space!  And if you are going to pull something, it's a bad idea if that something is pointy & can be used as a weapon.

Hmmm.  If I had to have one pair of sticks and wanted something reasonably priced that would not be tempting to pull, I have to say that I would go with the very first pair of sticks that I ever owned.  Mei Fa is not normally something I am enthused over, esp. compared to the stellar quality of LongLocks sticks, but the all wood ones are great.  They also sort of nestle into the bun and I don't think they would be tempting to pull.

http://www.baznerstudio.com/collectionpage.htbml?c=13

I had the all black wood ones as my first ever sticks.  I also eventually got the dark solid wood ones, and wore these two sets most of the time for many years.   SO much better than hairpins.  I don't think Mei Fa was making ones with crystals then, and there certainly were not a lot of options, but I loved those sticks.  They were also a real step up from being in the library at night studying and sticking a pencil thru my bun to keep my hair out of my face (I wore it down a lot then).  Bad, I know.  I wish I kenw what happened to those sticks, they disappeared during the 3 years of my life that I bought into the "long hair is not professional" and my hair wasn't long enough to put up.

Anyway, for Lauraliz, I recommend hunting around for actual chopsticks that can used as is or filed down, a set of the Mei Fa all wood sticks, or the only brand of plastic sticks that does not break on me, France Luxe.  They are not as cheap as the ones at Claire's but they dont' seem to be capable of snapping and if they do, I think you can return them.

C.

thanks for all the advice -  - i might try getting some of those - and i had another question - what length sticks do you normally use? - mine are all like 7.5 inches - i'm not sure if i could use any that are much more than an inch shorter as i don't really make 'bun' bun's - mine tend to be however i can get my hair to twist up at the time so i kind of make a long bun and i only have slightly more than an inch on either end