Today I'm sharing four easy hair styles you can achieve with hair sticks, wooden hair sticks to be specific. Saya Designs makes their wooden hairpins from tree roots salvaged from old plantations in Indonesia. The roots are left behind by loggers harvesting the trees, they take hundreds of years to decompose and have little value for the soil. Not only is the wood Saya uses recycled, but they also plant trees for every hair pin purchased. For example, if you purchase the Chanang hair fork, they will plant 10 trees. In addition to doing good for the environment, these wooden hair pins are actually good for your hair health as well; the wood holds the natural oils in your hair and helps reduce breakage and damage compared to elastics. All that to say: I was very excited to receive a few hair pins from Saya Designs a few weeks ago and I've been playing with them ever since. They're really versatile little tools that can be used in a variety of ways.
This elegant braided updo is actually surprisingly easy, especially when you use a hair fork to hold everything in place. Instead of a mountain of bobby pins, one large hair stick or comb and your braid stays put. In fact, there's only three simple steps to achieve this style.
Step one: Start by braiding your hair into a single, three strand braid and tie off with an elastic.
Step two: Lift your braid up and tuck the end of your braid underneath.
Step three: Take your hair stick and weave it into the braid and hair at your scalp.
That's it! A very elegant style that takes minimal effort. I used the Barrette style hair fork in recycled rosewood roots for this tutorial. I like the natural streaks of color in the rosewood and how close that color matches my own. For more sophisticated hair styles it's always smart to go with matching hair accessories rather than contrasting ones; even a ponytail looks classier and more professional when your elastic is hidden or matches your hair color.
Half up dos are always one of my most requested hair tutorial styles to do, so I'm always trying to think of new styles. This style is very simple and uses the Barrette style hair fork again. I found the Barrette Style a great alternative for bobby pins; so any hair style I would normally use a lot of bobby pins to hold in place I tried the Barrette hair fork instead.Step one: take a small section of hair from either side of your face and twist them.
Step two: take the two twists and tie them together like you're tying a shoelace.
Step three: take your hair fork and insert it down through your twists and into the hair at your scalp.
Again, very simple and one tool to keep your hair style in place. From the front you can just see the hair fork peaking out like a bow.
Step one: take a small section of hair from the top of your head and twist it into a basic bun.
Step two: place the wooden loop over your bun.
Step three: slide the hair stick through your bun.
This is the Moonflower hair slide in recycled teak and while you can use it to hold a larger bun in place, I like the way it looks with a little half bun. The shape of the slide and twisted bun does look like a flower to me and I like the way the hair stick peeks out a bit from the front. It's a bit more sophisticated than your basic, messy half bun, but not too dressy that you can't wear this style every day.
For this style I used a hair stick as an accent piece rather than to hold the style together. In addition, to being able to hold your hair in different styles, hair sticks can also just be used decoratively.
Step one: leaving two small sections of hair loose on either side of your face, tie the rest of your hair back into a low ponytail.
Step two: loop one side of hair around your ponytail, then the other side. Secure them in place with a bobby pin.
Step three: Slide your hair stick through the loop above your ponytail.
I like the way this one looks like the hair stick is holding the style together, but it's really just there to look pretty! This is the Soka Bud hair stick in recycled rosewood. I would normally add a bow or flower to a messy ponytail style like this, but the hair stick is a less "girly" alternative.
P.S. Need more inspiration? Saya Designs also has a section on their site with hair tutorials for a variety of hair sticks and hair lengths--so there's probably a useful tutorial there if your hair is shorter or longer than mine!
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