This blog entry is for the Snapaholic Novice. If you are saying, "What ARE these things called hair snaps? What can they do for me, and are they worth it to get addicted ?" then you need to read this!

See the little girl in the photo at left? She has the most amazing doodads in her hair, securing the ends of her braids. They are virtually impossible to find in any retail store or hair care aisle. They are called HAIR SNAPS! Not much bigger than your pinky nail or a nickel, they are THE cutest, most convenient way to secure the ends of braids or twists, or quickly add some color and decoration to the hair. Their other purpose is to hold beads on the braids. In the photo below, there are small black flower snaps (style #3) with a tiny jewel in the center holding on all those butterflies and pony beads! There is no unsightly rubber band or clump of hair at the end of the braids, just the cute little snap.

Hair snaps come in many shapes and colors, but the premise is always the same....2 sides with a hinge, and it closes with a male/female fitting. Some snaps are 2 sided (like both examples above), which means that they have the shape on both sides, and some we call "one-sided," which means they have the shape on one side, and the circular closure flap on the other side, like this...

The key to getting snaps to work for you is that you CANNOT put too much hair in them. If you think you will do a style of 3 or 4 big fat braids on the head, then get the end of those into these little snaps, it won't work. Because you have to squash the male fitting down right over the very ends of hair, and into the female fitting. If there is too much hair, it just won't close (for big fat braid styles, I like the very clean look of finishing the braid with a large-holed bead with a bead or 2 on top of it. There is a rubber band involved in this method, but it's hidden by one of the top beads. Scroll about halfway down one the web page for an explanation of this method.) Lots of moms find that, especially with new snaps, they have to bite the ends closed as it is is. I never recommend this for your teeth of course, but yes, I have done it too. Then getting them open is sometimes a bit tricky...having fingernails helps! But the good thing is that once that snap is on there, you can pull and pull on it all you want, and it probably won't open. I lose very few snaps that have a decent amount of hair in them and if I have closed them properly and captured the hair well.

Snaps do work to hold beads onto straight hair, too, but it looks better to put the snap higher up and leave a few to several inches of "tail" hair hanging down, since the very ends of straight hair will tend to stick wildly out of the snap.

Here are the basic steps of putting on a snap. In these photos, the purple cord represents the hair.

Step 1, after your beads are on (if you are using them), grab your snap and lay the tail end of the hair on the hinge.

Step 2, wrap the tail end of the hair around the hinge once or twice. I always try to do it twice. Leave a tad hanging, like .25 inch.

Step 3, close the snap tightly, laying the end bit of hair right across the male end (post) or female opening (hole) so that it gets caught in there. When I flip my snap over I can SEE the hair pressed in the hole. For snaps style #20-#22, with a tiny male and female fitting, just try to make sure the closure goes down over some of the hair.

Remember, the key is SMALL AMOUNTS OF HAIR!!!

Happy Snapping! Keep checking back for new items!

Stephanie