Sort of "Grownup" Hair Accessories

Hair clips, as purchased from Forever 21.

Flower glued onto ponytail holder.

Two on an alligator clip. Would have more impact if pictured on my head, but do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your own head?

I had thought that the only people I would be making hair accessories for would be my little nieces, but that was before I somewhat regrettably signed up to donate my hair for Locks of Love. A completely worthy cause and when I was convinced to start growing it out about a year ago, for a work contest, I figured it'd be a piece of cake. The deal was, you had a year to grow it out. The standard Locks of Love donation is 10". At the time my hair was fairly short, sort of a bob length. And it's grown ALOT. (I'm told that hair grows about 1/2" a month.) But not quite long enough for a 10" donation. I guess I could go forward with cutting it off next month as planned, but then I would have really short hair. Which I don't want either. My hair stylist, who I still see every 4 months or so, for a teeny trim, just to keep it healthy, thinks I have about another year to go. Ugh. You see, I have incredibly thick hair. Which is definitely a blessing, except for when you are challenged to have really long hair. And it gets really heavy. Not to mention hot. But since I've committed to this, I'm going to keep growing out until at least January and then reevaluate. It's a noble cause, but I don't want to look like I've joined some weird religious sect. So in the meantime, since it's still very warm here in Maryland, I've been wearing lots and lots of ponytails. Figured it was about time to dress it up a bit.

While at Forever 21 this weekend, I saw these oh so cute little hair clips. 6 of them for $2.50. Could not pass them up. Brought them home only to discover that won't stay in my hair. It's just too thick. Time for plan B. I ripped the little flowers off of the clips they came on, glued one onto a ponytail holder, using E6000. (My favorite crafting adhesive. Every crafter needs this glue. Once it dries, it PERMANENT. Which isn't always the same with hot glue. But you do have to wait for it to dry.) Decided to get over my fear hot glue (I always burn myself) and glued two of the little flowers onto an alligator clip, promptly burning myself in the process (have a blister on my finger this morning to prove it). But ending up with 3 very cute somewhat grown up hair accessories for under $3.