Make your own "hair gems" with snaps

Hair gems are like hair clips, except they are tiny and don't hold your hair in place, and for that reason can be applied anywhere from root to tip. The idea is that you'd add more hair gems than you would hair clips, dotting your hair with them.

These things typically come with heavy, bulky, fake gems, but fortunately, they're really easy to make with any bead you have. Examining these I discovered two things--one is that they are secretly just tiny sew-on snaps with fake gems glued on, and two is that they stay in hair really well without weighing it down, so much so that several can be clipped on the wave of a spiral curl of hair.

Step 1 Materials

Sew on ball and socket snaps--Get them as tiny as possible.
Black ones will be less likely to be seen behind your bead, especially if you have dark hair, however you can paint them any color. It is up to you if you want to try to conceal the functional snap, but even if you don't, it is a small metal circle and not unattractive if seen behind a decorative bead.
They are very affordable at around a dollar for a dozen or better at sewing stores, and you can also scavenge them from garbage clothing items, although that might take a while.

Beads-- These should be the same size or larger than the diameter of your ball and socket snaps. They should have a hole through the middle, unless you plan to crazy-glue them to your snaps.

Superglue OR wire OR stringing material-- If you use string, try to use something that's not stretchy at all.

Scissors

Comments

[chicks_with_sticks]

I like very much!

[rauni]

I've made these before just using the rough side of loop and hook (velcro) tape. I just used a hole punch to make small circles of the tape, then hot glued them to gem stones or beads. They stick in your hair quite well and are easy and cheap to make. Thanks for reminding me of them! Your tutorial is great by the way!

[byayoi]

Thank you! Very useful.

[lemonie]

Good stuff, which I would never have thought of... (These are otherwise known as press-studs) L

[lotusduck]

In searching, probably the most common term is "snap fastener"?

[lemonie]

It depends where you live, which is why I used "otherwise" - just info. L

[lotusduck]

I'm still trying to find out the best term to find these on ebay.

[lemonie]

It's of ten hard to tell, and depends who's buying... any sales yet? L

[lotusduck]

Oh, I didn't mean the final product, I've been looking for deals on bulk snaps on ebay. Press studs sometimes means somewhat heavier duty things for biker jackets, on ebay.

[Goodhart]

Indeed,  a search for "hair gems" on Ebay gives results like this. Whereas using FatFingers, only gave this.

 

[magicpocket]

Cheer up.

[jambhack]

Very Cool.