It’s only recently that I’ve purchased my first two sets of plastic-free hair ties from Amazon (when I was finally down to my last couple of regular hair ties). But I’m already a huge fan! Yes they’re slightly different from the conventional plastic hair ties but tbh, not having to use plastic to put my hair up is a win. And that’s why April’s Fairly Curated offerings are plastic-free hair ties!
The biggest difference between conventional hair ties and these natural rubber ones (thus making them biodegradable) is the stretchiness. The natural rubber has less of a stretch so they’re a bit stiffer and requires a bit more finger strength to use. But on the bright side that means they stretch out less (and thus hopefully wear out slower). When these plastic-free hair ties eventually break I think it might be more of a sudden break rather than a continual loosening until it’s no longer usable like with conventional hair ties. But I have yet to have a rubber hair tie break so I’ll update this post when it does. And when it does break, I can just throw it in my compost bin for a waste-free solution!
And a quick comparison review of the three brands up top: Sole, Terra, and the ones I’m selling from ME Mother Earth. The first two I purchased off of Amazon, though I now see that Sole is no longer being offered. And for good reason too, it’s my least favorite of the bunch because the Sole hair ties are flat and not cylindrical all around (which is what I’m used to). The flatness of the band makes it harder to use. The Terra and ME Mother Earth ones are more like conventional hair ties in that they’re rounded. The Terra ones are slightly larger and I find it takes about three loops to tie up my hair in a ponytail, while the ME ones take two loops. I think if you have thicker hair the Terra ones might work better for you. As for me and my thin hair, the ME hair ties work great! Price-wise the Terra ties come to $0.55 per band while the ME ones are $0.47 per band. Currently I see another offering of biodegradable hair ties from Hey Earth that’s selling for $0.35 per band (though I don’t know what size it is or its quality). Wherever you decide to get your plastic-free hair ties, I hope you consider switching to natural rubber ones once you’re done with your conventional plastic ones. Yes, one person switching to non-plastic hair ties is not a big difference, but if we all did it it sends a message to the big conventional brands that we as a collective want something more sustainable. Plus now when I lose a hair band or two on the ground, at least I know I’m not littering plastic!