Spiral hair ties are a snap ... until they do

  

The idea of spiral hair ties sounds ingenious. These little coiled plastic loops are supposed to hold hair (as in a ponytail or half-pony) without creasing the hair shafts. That way, when they are removed, the hair remains sleek and styled.

 

Hey, they kind of work.

 Ever since hair scrunchies went out of style (inciting me to discard a whole Rubbermaid shoebox of those home-sewn fabric gems), I’ve used basic covered hair rubber bands to hold back (or up) my hair. Sometimes I’ve splurged a little for patterned or beaded varieties, but you get the point.

 I purchased a multi-pack of colors, ranging from clear to grey to tan to rust to brown to black. The promotional info calls this collection “gradient colors,” and I guess it’s supposed to correspond to plenty of people’s hair colors. OK, sure.

 Spiral hair ties are not particularly costly. I think I received 15 for about $5.

 But inexpensive and cheap are not exactly the same thing. When a product doesn’t hold up to a reasonable amount of use, then I’d count any price as too much.

 

Snap! Oops!

 Here’s what happened to one of my spiral hair ties – the second time I used it. I didn’t pull extra hard, as many of the various manufacturers' promotional photos demonstrate. It simply snapped when I tried to loop it twice around my ponytail.

 

Here’s an add-on drawback to the spiral hair ties.

 Unlike the traditional hair rubber bands (and scrunchies), spiral hair ties are too small and tight to fit on one’s wrist. And we all know how often we have worn our hair rubber bands that way, despite warnings about their possible effects on circulation and blood pressure.

 

Going back to the basics.

 Guess I’ll go back to the old covered rubber bands. Sure, they make a bump in my hair, but at least I can count on them to hold.

 And by the way. I heard hair scrunchies are coming back.

 

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 Image/s:

Product promo photo – fair use

Other photos by Practically at Home – all rights reserved.

 

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Simple channel quilt project brings midwinter comfort

 Like many, I’ve had a hankering for clearing out closets again. It somehow feels like a good time of year for de-cluttering, because we’re spending a lot more time indoors anyway.

 

Enter the fabric collection.

 My sewing closet is like the poster child of over-accumulation. (I worked my way through graduate school by measuring and cutting and ringing up fabrics for sewing enthusiasts. That included a generous employee discount and early access to the best deals. You can do the math from there.)

 During the pandemic-prompted season/s of mask-making (beginning in March 2020), I used up plenty of piles of fabrics. But I still had lots of remnants. I’d also cut and prepared miles of bias trim in tons of prints and colors. Plus, I had several leftover lengths of jelly-roll fabrics (pre-made bias trims in fun fabrics for quilting and other textile crafts).

 After stowing all the Christmas decorations and tree trims, I was itching to start a new project.

 Here’s how that turned out.

 

 This simple, but wildly colorful channel quilt now covers the bed in my home office/guest room. I really love it.

 Don’t look too closely at the top-stitching. I wrestled the bulky coverlet through my basic sewing machine. And it was a workout.

 But I think it’s worth it. This crazy collection of colorful fabrics makes a cozy covering for midwinter reading and for binging on TV streaming offerings when the weather runs too harsh for outdoor fun.

 

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Image/s:  Practically at Home photo/s – all rights reserved.

Feel free to follow on Twitter. Like this blog?  Check out Practically at Home on Facebook. You are also invited to visit my author page on Amazon.com.