We often see hair vitamins and treatments that claim to increase hair thickness, but sometimes, thick hair isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I can’t tell you how many headbands, combs and brushes my hair has broken. I tried a HairZing and it was an absolute disaster (seriously, I almost had to cut it out of my hair) and other decorative combs are pointless for styling. I have a vintage-style headwrap that I love, that I also can’t fit over my hair. It’s kind of a bummer to see so many pretty hair accessories that simply don’t work for your hair. Fear not, my thick-haired sisters, these accessories can handle our manes. Check ’em out!
Bun Pins
Bun pins are my absolute latest obsession. These nifty little decorations are meant to be placed in the front of your buns, kind of like a crown, but so not a crown. They’re a great way to dress up an updo for a night out (no boring buns here) or pick one that’s not as glitzy for a more casual look. Bonus — if your hair is thick enough, the comb will totally stay in your hair even without a bun.
Hair Sticks
When I got my first set of hair sticks as a gift, I doubted the ability of a little, 2‑prong stick to hold my hair up. But hey, when I’m wrong, I’m wrong. These have become a staple in my hair styling routine, especially when I need to work out and don’t want to ruin my wash and go with dents from elastics. If you want to get fancy with it, check out online tutorials for cool ways to style your sticks. I personally stick to buns and rolls because I’m style challenged.
Bonus: hair sticks can also help stretch your wash and go (it’s totally my pet peeve when I get back from the gym, but hey, stretched hair is way better than dented hair).
Metal Headbands & Hair Chains
My biggest issue with headbands is that I always break them because my hair is big. Metal headbands seem kind of scary at first, but they’re a lot sturdier than regular headbands and you can’t stretch them out. Hair chains are also awesome because all you need to do is clip them in your hair and BAM! Instaglam.
So where do you find all these fun accessories? My fave sites to add some pizzazz to my hair are ASOS, Crystal Mood (for hair sticks), Kitsch (for bun pins), and Luv AJ. And remember, you definitely don’t need to have thick hair to wear these accessories.
Do you have any favorite hair accessories?
Spin pins (the large strong ones from Goody) are awesome and wonderfully strong for textured type 4 hair. I also love bridal pins with the diamonds (ranging from blue to red to yellow…) on the tip for decorating braids/buns. I also use and like the bejeweled metal salon clips because those hold a lot of hair.
I’ll have to look for the bigger spin pins…last time I tried those Izzy just laughed at me, lol!
I’m sorry but I am thoroughly dissappointed with this article/post. It almost seems as if it was whipped together in 3 minutes.
There wasn’t anything innovative about the suggestions at all — the items mentioned are all common sense. I am a kinky curly girl with obnoxiously dense hair — I would love to have seen something about “slim satin scrunchies” or “seamless banana clips” that are accommodating for dense and thickly stranded hair.
Well that stinks! I actually purchased all of the items myself doing research for the post because I wanted to make sure they worked in my hair. I had never seen bun pins or hair chains until recently and haven’t seen many naturals using hair sticks. Interestingly, the accessories you mentioned do not work on my hair, especially banana clips, one of the main reasons I began using hair sticks. I was really excited to share my recent hair finds so that stinks you were disappointed. If you’ve found additional items that work for thick hair, please post them!
No need to be rude. Elle’s suggestions are not common sense to me, and I found this article helpful. I had never heard of a bun pin before, and I have only heard of a few naturals that use sticks. In addition, I wouldn’t have thought that a metal headband would work on my hair either. What is unique and different to one person, may not be unique to someone else. If this article didn’t work for you, just keep it movin’. No need to leave a mean comment. Not cool.
Headbands always give me headaches, no matter how expensive.….……
If you have issues with headbands hurting, you may want to try the metal ones…they are sturdier than other materials so you can adjust them more without them breaking or stretching out. They have some for about $15 on ASOS that I really like, you don’t have to break the bank.
I like the bun pins and the metal headbands. They are all so decorative, noticable and royal. It gets you excited. If your wearing a big afro and your still getting use to, especially if your living in a community that makes you stand out, a knot hair headband that you can get at OSOS for under $10 will give you decoration. I like the goddess band for a bun.
Yep, ASOS usually has a wide selection of hair accessories that are less than $20.