Carbon Fiber Hair Sticks
hair sticks, durable enough to last a lifetime and designed to complement any look
Hair sticks are an alternate way to put up long hair. With ancient roots, their use in the modern day has been greatly reduced in favor of hair elastics. Hair elastics, however, can get tangled especially in longer hair, resulting in a lengthy (and uncomfortable) removal process, or a premature end to the elastic’s life. Hair sticks, being smooth and rigid, do not share this issue, and when used properly can be used to hold a bun as securely as an elastic. Most hair sticks are made of wood, plastic, or metal, but these materials each have compromises.
Wood, while possessing good aesthetic properties, has limited strength and cannot be regularly exposed to moisture. Plastic also has limited strength, and typically feels cheap, although sufficiently high-quality designs and materials can mitigate both of these issues. Metals are strong, but tend to be expensive to produce and are heavy, which impacts usability and effectiveness. Carbon fiber strikes an excellent balance between these properties: it is only slightly denser than most hardwoods, but has a strength comparable to aluminum and a high-quality look and feel. It is impervious to water and, barring excessive exposure to UV light, does not meaningfully degrade over time.
These hair sticks are made using a forged carbon fiber process; a measured quantity (12g for this part) of dry chopped carbon fiber tow (in this case derived from carbon fiber fabric cutoffs from Purdue’s Formula SAE) is packed into a mold with uncured epoxy. The mold is designed to compress the part as it is assembled, bringing the final part to the specified fiber-resin ratio as the excess epoxy is squeezed out of the mold. Once the epoxy is cured, the mold can be disassembled around the part. Once the flashing from the mold parting surfaces has been removed (using some combination of a sharp knife and rotary sander), the hair stick just needs a final step to polish the exterior and hide the marks left from the removal of flashing.
As of this writing, the polishing step is still under development; currently the leading candidate is an epoxy coating process, but attempts so far have been promising but ultimately imperfect, experiencing surface defects from bubbling, incomplete coverage, dripping, part holding, and more.
