S A Y A Designs | Hair Sticks From Reclaimed Wood

Every now and then, you come across a brand that’s just straight up your alley. Like, for example, a brand that makes hand-crafted hair sticks from salvaged tree roots and plants new trees for every purchase made from them.

The wood S A Y A Designs use to make their hair sticks is from tree roots that are left behind on old hardwood plantations in Indonesia. These roots take hundreds of years to decompose, while adding little value to the soil. S A Y A use them to make beautifully designed, sturdy, plastic and elastic free hair accessories, hand-carved by traditional Balinese artisans working under good conditions. For every purchased hair stick, S A Y A Designs has vowed to plant up to ten endangered endemic trees in rainforests across Indonesia. As of now, almost 2000 trees have been planted already. The packaging the sticks come in is sustainable as well, recycled and made from papaya pulp. Sounds pretty amazing, right?

When Victoria, founder of S A Y A Designs reached out to me, I was overjoyed to know such a company even exists. I’m more than happy to support a small, sustainable business so today I’d like to present my gorgeous Double Pandans to you.

These hairsticks come in a set of two. One is made of rosewood with a tamarind tip, and the other is tamarind with a rosewood tip. Their beautiful, organic shape is inspired by pandan leaves, which are used in Indonesia for lots of different purposes. The rounded center sets these sticks apart from others, and I’ve noticed it makes them sit inside a bun much more snugly and securely. The center of a hair stick tends to be the weakest point with a lot of pressure put on it, but these handle that pressure really well.

The Double Pandans come in a beautiful sleek box made of recycled material, and a fabric sleeve that you can use with your hair sticks for travel and safekeeping. There’s also a little note on how to take care of your hair sticks: avoid water and heavy pressure, keep them in the sleeve when not in use, and polish them with a natural oil occasionally.

Hair sticks have been used as a tool for pulling up hair all across the world for many, many centuries. It’s an easy, quick and hair-friendly way to keep your hair out of your face, if you’re going for a simple hairstyle. If you’re looking for something a bit more elaborate they also make a beautiful accessory and tool for creating quite elegant updo’s. Here below I have three ways that you can use these hair sticks to put your hair up. Just keep in mind that the trick to securing hair with a hair stick is to weave the stick back and forth between the hair in the bun and the hair on your scalp. You’ll want to go in through the edge of the bun, guide the stick across your scalp, and go out through the other side of the bun again.

1. Create a French braid.
2. Slide a hair stick through the braid in the place where you’d like your bun to sit
3. Wrap the braid around the hair stick.
4. Weave the braid into place with a second hair stick, by going in through the braid  bun on one side, taking the stick along the scalp, and then out through the braid bun again on the other side.

1. Gather all hair in one hand as if you’re making a ponytail. Take hair under and around hand.
2.Wrap your hair around the hair in your hand to create a sort of loop
3. Slide your hand out of the loop of hair. Wrap/push the loop around the wrapped hair to create a compact bun.
4. Insert a hair stick into the wrapped portion of hair, going over the loop, then out on the other side of the wrapped portion again so that the stick is only going through the center of the bun.
5. Insert a second hair stick in the same way, but on the other diagonal.

1. Gather all your hair in one hand as if you’re making a low ponytail, and place the hair stick underneath.
2. Twist the hairstick around twice, picking up all the hair and twisting it into a bun. Move up as you’re twisting, so that you create a French roll.
3. Tuck the ends that are sticking out on the side away underneath the roll.
4. Slide the hair stick into the roll, wiggling across the scalp as you go to secure the hairstyle.

If you prefer to see hair tutorials in motion, check out the video below:

If you’re as inspired by this company as I am, I highly encourage you to check out S A Y A Design’s website to read more of their story and take a look at the other beautiful hair sticks and forks they offer.

This post is kindly sponsored by S A Y A Designs. Of course, all opinions are thruthful and my own.