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Hair Accessories for Girls: Vital Styling Tips

Updated on March 12, 2012

I absolutely adore hair accessories. Having now accumulated well over 30 different headbands, bows, hats, fascinators, and berets, I have stopped keeping count. Even though they take up nearly one fifth of my total closet space, I have absolutely no intention of giving up my collection. Hair accessories, are, after all, a splendidly inexpensive and playful way to spice up any outfit.

Are you interested in augmenting your personal hair accessory collection? If so, I've got some styling and shopping tips that can get you started on the right foot.

Wearing and Styling Tips

There are three primary pieces of advice I'd give to anyone rocking a hair accessory:

  1. Take risks: While you might not regret wearing a conservative, tasteful headband or clip, you'll probably not remember doing so, either. Every time you put on clothing and accessories, you have the opportunity to amuse yourself and others. Seize the moment and wear something daring! You may look like an idiot, but... let's be honest... you always look like an idiot. You're HUMAN.
  2. Coordinate with your outfits: Girls' hair accessories have a stronger impact when they tie together an entire outfit. Consider the color palate of your wardrobe when choosing headbands and hats to add to your collection, and select a day's hair accessory considering your overall ensemble- outer wear included.
  3. Go for black: When in doubt, wear black. It goes with the greatest number of outfits, and can be easily dressed up or down. I own a litany of hair accessories, and the vast majority of them are black.

What about you?

Do you wear hair accessories?

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Shopping Tips

Depending on where you look, you may find headbands and hair accessories either incredibly hard to find/expensive or splendidly abundant/cheap. Here are my pointers on enjoying the latter conditions:

  1. Don't spend more than $20: Just like sunglasses, headbands come and go. They get lost, damaged, trampled, and outmoded. Additionally, most hair accessories are made with very cheap labor and materials, so if you're spending more than $20 on one, you're spending X-$20 on a whole lot of nothing.
  2. Pay a visit to Chinatown or Japantown (or better yet, China and Japan): Some of my best hair accessories have been purchased in China and Japan, but you don't have to travel abroad to find a fine selection of amazing headbands and fascinators. Just stop by your nearest Chinatown or Japantown and you shall be pleasantly surprised by both the selection and the prices.
  3. When it comes to chain stores, Forever 21, Icing by Claire's, and (sometimes) H&M are your friends: I'm not a huge fan of chain stores, but I am known for stepping inside Icing, H&M, and Forever 21 to have a look at their ever-rotating selection of hair accessories. I've found some real treasures in Forever 21 sale bins, and... who has to know where they're from?
  4. Make your own: Headbands aren't rocket ships. You can make them quite easily with some basic materials. To get inspiration, browse around Etsy- you'll find that many a $80 fascinator could be re-created with your own two hands using some lace, tulle, a comb, and a hot glue gun.

What to Look For

When you have the ability to physically inspect a potential purchase, especially a headband, you should look for the following things:

  • Glue: If you can see glue before even buying a headband, move along (unless it's not very visible and SUPER CHEAP).
  • Stains: A lot of headbands in sale bins (marvelous places) have seen a bit more action than shopkeepers would like to let on. Check the fabric (if there is any) for stains, tears, and unraveling seems... they're always a sign of more to come.
  • Pressure points: Before trying a headband on, place it on your head to see how it feels. If there are any pressure points at all, don't buy the headband. Even if it doesn't seem uncomfortable at the get-go, any pressure point put on one's head by a hair accessory can become absolutely excruciating over time. Believe me.
  • Glitter: Try to avoid headbands with glitter on them. Glitter is the herpes of the craft world. It will spread to your hair, your coats, your furniture, and even your food.
  • Rhinestones: Unless a headband is very inexpensive, avoid rhinestones. They tend to fall out pretty quickly and ruin the effect.

About the Music

The Public Domain music song I've used in this video is Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5. This particular clip was performed by the US Army Band and downloaded from Musopen.org.

Fact: You Can't Go Wrong

Listen, as far as I'm concerned, if you're slapping something on your head, no matter how ridiculous it might be, you are a winner. So have fun with the headbands, hats, clips, combs, ribbons, and bows you make and buy!

If you're enjoying yourself and being creative, you're a true fashionista. End of story.

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