Emergency Uses

#78 · Emergency hair pin

Slide a chopstick through a bun or coiled hair for a genuine emergency hairstyle fix with real staying power.

Your hair grip has gone and your fringe is in your eyes. A chopstick snapped down to pin length will hold a twist out of the way until you find something better.

How to do it

1. Snap a chopstick to about 7cm.
2. Sand both ends smooth - a fresh bamboo break is sharp and this is going near your scalp.
3. Twist the section of hair, push the pin through it, catch a little hair underneath, and bring the tip back out.
4. Angle it slightly downwards so gravity works with it rather than against it.

Why it works

It holds for the same reason a full hair stick does: two passes through different layers of hair trap the twist mechanically. A single pass through relies on friction alone and will slide straight out.

Tips & warnings

• Matte finishes grip far better than lacquered ones.
• Two crossed in an X hold better in fine hair than one.