Trendy hair ties for pennies

Have you seen the new hair ties cropping up all around Charlotte? I LOVE them – they are soft, hardly make a dent in my (very straight) hair, and are super cute hanging out on your wrist when you’re not using them. They are perfect for a yoga, Pilates, or Pure Barre workout – but they hold my hair just fine for a run. My daughter even loves them! I don’t, however, love the rather steep price tag that I’ve seen around town. I tend to lose things, so nope, I can’t justify that one and I’m guessing many of you can’t either.

Well, Smarties, have I got some fun news for you! They are super easy and cheap to make – you don’t have to be craftsy or a sewing expert either. If you know how to tie a knot, you can make these oh-so-trendy hair ties in record time (here’s where I need to give a shout out to my friend Adrienne who showed me just how easy it is – she’s a super Smarty mom in my opinion!).

A quick trip to a sewing store (we found ours at Mary Jo’s in Gastonia) to buy 5/8″ foldover elastic gets you started. Mary Jo’s price for one yard of elastic is 29 cents. Yes, you read that right – 29 CENTS. You can make about 3 hair ties for 29 cents! You can also do a quick search for “foldover elastic” on Etsy – tons of shops sell it – animal prints, glitter, and great colors. Grab some scissors and some No Fray, park yourself in front of the TV, and get ready to make some hair ties!

Another Smarty mom, Rachel, and I recently got together on a weeknight after the kids went to bed, talked, and watched “Khloe and Lamar” while we made about a million of them.

First measure your elastic out to about 10 1/2 inches.

Fold the elastic in half.

Tie a knot at the end leaving about 1/2″ or 3/4″ at the tail. Apply No Fray to the ends.

Voila! You’re got a great looking hair tie for pennies!!

You can also easily make headbands the same way – just measure out how big you need it, tie a knot, and use No Fray. Easy enough!