Josh and Korey

So I kept reading about these great hair ties and headbands in magazines and on the internet called Twistbands. Supposedly they are cute, soft, stay in your hair well and don’t hurt your head, dent or pull your hair. They are cute and — get this — can be worn on your wrist (I’m looking at you, Niki!) without cutting off circulation or giving you an itchy line. Meaning you can have a hair tie on the ready at all times and not look like you’re wearing a hair tie on your wrist! Sounds too good to be true, right? Well it sort of was. See these wonderful bands are hard to find. Oh and they are expensive. Despite the fact that they are made in San Clemente, CA (by a mom, no less!) the headbands are $4 and the hair ties $3. As much as I wanted to try them, I couldn’t bring myself to spend that much plus shipping. I thought there had to be a way to make them. They look simple. After receiving a sample through Birchbox, I had one in my hot little hand to see if they lived up to the hype! My verdict:

• The packaging was cute — a little paper hangtag adorns it.
• It’s shiny and beautiful material. The color I received (red) was nice — although not one I’d use a WHOLE lot.
• They don’t dent hair much (I wouldn’t say NOT AT ALL like they claim, but it’s not bad! In fact, if your hair isn’t flat-ironed and of a curly texture like mine it may not dent at all!)
• They do not pull your hair at all whatsoever.
• They don’t make the tightest ponytail — which you don’t always need. In fact, it was kind of nice.
• They don’t stay looking flat and beautiful once used several times, but this doesn’t bother me.
• The ends aren’t sealed or melted to prevent fraying, and it doesn’t seem to matter much. It’s just elastic tied with a knot.

I was determined to make them myself. I turned to my trusty friend Google.

“What are Twistbands made of?” I asked.

Google answered, through the words of some great beauty bloggers. The name for this magical elastic? Fold-Over Elastic (or FOE). Why is it so great? It’s used for lingerie making! So it’s soft and pretty because it edges undies. It comes in all colors and — best part — it’s not expensive! Where do you get such a thing, you ask? My other friend Etsy helped here. For the cost of 3 headbands or 4 hair ties (A.K.A. $4), I had:

• 10 yards of different colored FOE (1 yard each color)
• 5 yards of black FOE
• 5 yards of grey FOE

With each yard I was able to make 1 headband and 2 hair ties. This is great because I got to make a lot of colors, and one headband in each color works for me. I get a lot of black and grey headbands because I’ll wear them the most. I wear them often to keep my fuzzies (you know that new hair growth by your face?) at bay, and they work great and don’t hurt my head! Yay!

How did I do this? I’m glad you asked. It was SO EASY.

Take 1 yard of FOE. Fold in half and cut it on the fold. Set half “A” into your “headband” pile. Fold side “B” in half and cut on the fold. Place both pieces in your “hair tie” pile. When all the FOE is cut, take each piece and hold in half, shiny side out. Make a knot by wrapping the whole thing around your two fingers and pulling it through itself, then sliding the knot down toward the cut end. (If this made no sense, let me know in the comments, but I think it’ll be self-explanatory.) You don’t even have to be very precise! Anything close to 18″ for the headband and 9″ each for the hair ties will work!

My band next to the Twistband. Can you even tell them apart?