{Emi-Jay Hair Ties, $10.99}
For almost the entirety of 4th and 5th grade, I wore my then spiral-permed hair in a ponytail. I wasn't the kind of girl who was blessed with naturally straight, flat hair that could easily air dry into a fly-away-free mane before lunch. I was Curly Sue. And not in a good way.
Eventually, I discovered hair straightening, which freed me from the perm shackles I wore most of my life (you can't live in Texas if you don't have big hair), which I did until I discovered hair color and learned that doing both would leave me with no hair at all. When I finally felt good about my hair in high school, I decided wearing it in a ponytail was basically akin to being ashamed of yourself and wearing a bag over your head.
Then I went off to college, discovered all-you-can-eat dining halls, sweat pants, and sorority meetings and started wearing ponytails all over again. Then I grew up a little and evolved my ponytails into ballerina buns, twist and pin bun-hawks, and fishtail braids. And then, I discovered Emi-Jay hair ties, and decided all other hair ties were officially dead to me and whatever hairstyle I was wearing.
Emi-Jay hair ties are made of a really soft, stretchy fabric that doesn't pull or tug on my hair. They come in a variety of amazing colors and patterns (I have the pastel and gold glitter collections) to suit every style. They also make headbands, which I'm hoping will make me look super cute in the gym. Also, I'm hoping they motivate me to go to the gym. What I'm saying is, I hope they're magic.
Here's a terrible iPhone photo of me wearing the pink hair tie:
