The art of using hair sticks to fashion women’s hair has existed for centuries and it still remains one of the easiest and most fashionable ways to style hair. Hair stick tools come in many shapes, styles and materials, including wood and metal, and can vary in lengths.

There are not many physical stores you can find them in, but there’s a variety of shops online. Amazon and Etsy are two popular sites where hair sticks can be found; both sites will offer good results for beautiful and creative hair sticks.

You will often notice anything crafted and sold on Etsy tends to be more expensive, but that’s where I purchased the cutlass sword hair stick I used in this tutorial and I’ve had a great experience using it.

Most styles can’t be achieved with hair sticks if the hair is too dense, too short or too layered, but if your hair is a medium to long length with minimal layering, many hair stick styles should work for you.

Figure 8 Bun

Sarah Fischer/Northern Star

Step 1:

Gather your hair into a ponytail.

Step 2:

Twist the ponytail tightly all the way to the ends.

Step 3:

Wrap it around its base tightly into a spiral.

Step 4:

Lift one loop of the spiral and lay it flat against your head.

Step 5:

Insert your hair stick into the top loop, through the bun and out of the bottom loop.

You can also create this same style with half of your hair up. This method works well if your hair isn’t quite long enough or too thick to use all of it. This style lasts all day and stays tightly wrapped in the hair stick.

Follow the same procedure as above, except in the first step grab only half of your hair into a ponytail.

Sarah Fischer/Northern Star