I purchased this product myself and my review is my own experience.
I don’t wear a lot of headbands. My head is a bit larger than normal, earpieces tend to dig into my head, and elastic headbands do not stay on my head even with bobby-pins. The whole cute bandanna as a hairband, even with bobby pins, doesn’t usually work for me either thought I’m trying. I usually pin my hair back with crossed bobby-pins if it’s not straight down or in a small ponytail.
Sometimes you just want a headband so you don’t have to deal with your bangs, pins or barrettes! I would love to have a fabric or metal headband since that should last longer; however I cannot find one. Let me know if you know of place that sells those and they are quality made!
I usually breakdown every few years and buy the three pack of small plastic headbands. I think they look better on me than the wider ones and they definitely are looser than the wider headbands so they don’t dig into the sides of my head. These thin headbands break so easily though, both the plain plastic version with small teeth and the silicone grippy version. When they do break, I put the headband pieces in the Hard Plastics recycling station at the Recycle & Reuse Drop-off Center since they’re so small. Otherwise the small pieces would end up in the trash falling through the single-stream sorter at the recycling center where the blue curbside recycling carts get processed.
I found a Scunci No-Slip Grip Headband at HEB, my local grocery store. It’s priced well, is a bit thicker than those skinny bands but not what I would call a medium or wide headband, and the best part: it adjusts!
This headband “bends & forms comfortably to the shape of your head” and they’re not kidding! It’s great! No pain, it stays put, and to-date despite handling by my almost-three-year-old son, it has not broken! I highly recommend this as an option if you want a simple headband to keep your hair back.
I will say that I wish the packaging was better. I don’t like the four little plastic straps holding the hairband onto the paper. I’d rather see a piece of cardboard folded over to hold the headband on the display bar since all of the cardboard can be recycled. As is, the little plastic tabs will go in the trash. I’m not even sure that TerraCycle would be able to catch/find the little plastic bands in their All-In-One box.
Being greener doesn’t mean you don’t buy things. It doesn’t always mean you have to buy or find everything second-hand/used. If you can find something like this second-hand, that’s amazing! Buy Nothing on Facebook would definitely be the place to start. Not all charities/re-sell stores are comfortable or allowed to put out more personal items like used hair products. Being green can mean making smarter choices to spend a little more money up front on a higher quality item that will last longer than a similar product that is both cheaper in price and quality.