Creative Hair Accessories You Can Make Yourself
Our hair is the ultimate canvas, and there are endless ways to call attention to it. But you may spend way too much on stylish, sparkling barrettes and headbands when you find them in department stores. If you want the perfect finishing touch without breaking the bank, try your hand at these creative hair accessories you can make yourself.
Decorated Hairpins
Once you’ve found the perfect drugstore hair clip, stock up so you can customize them. Consider this: Prada sells a pair of simple metal hair clips with their logo for $420. You can achieve something more original with a hot glue gun: try craft letters, flowers, and charms. Gucci likes to spell out their name with rhinestones on a wider resin barrette. So can you (without the $400 price tag).
You can even dress up your bobby pins if you can thread a needle. You can secure vintage buttons to bobby pins with the thread, and add a drop of superglue to seal the deal. You can do it with anything that’s already drilled with a hole: faux pearls, exotic beads, earrings, pendants. Spray paint the whole thing gold if you want some antique flair.
Scarf Scrunchie
Attaching a scarf to a scrunchie is the easiest hair trend to try right now, whether it’s just a simple knot or the perfect bow you only need to tie once. The designers have jumped on the idea as a new way to sell their silk scarves. Valentino’s version costs $370—and if you’re not wearing pink or black, you’re out of luck.
It’s the easiest thing to replicate on your own, as long as you have a scrunchie and scarf the same color. If you have a chiffon neck scarf left over from a ’50s costume, they look incredible in your hair. If you love romantic, wide satin bows, you can tie one to a scrunchie without worrying about it slipping out of your hair. For drama, use a long, thin scarf you haven’t used in a while. Just make sure that it’s lightweight, and don’t use glue for this one; you can repurpose the pieces a different way later.
Embellished Headband
Headbands go in and out of style. Last season, padded headbands with little pearl accents were in demand. Now, Ferragamo’s flat-bow, grosgrain headband ($180) is hinting at a return to preppy fashion. Grosgrain? Bow? You can do that—and with the variety of ribbons out there now, you can achieve more interesting effects, too.
You can wrap a plastic headband with ribbon, or hot-glue it along the top. The headband is the closest thing Americans have to the English fascinator, so add feathers, ruffles, flowers, and all kinds of 3D fun. The best thing about creative hair accessories you can make yourself is that they’re customized to your personal style. With some drugstore finds and craft supplies, there’s no limit to what you can do.