A ROUGH GUIDE TO
HAIR FORK SIZING
With hair forks there is no such thing as "one size fits all". What has to be taken into consideration is the length and thickness of your hair and just how much of the fork you want showing. You may see someone with the same length hair as you and think that the hair fork they are using would be perfect for you as well but their hair could well be thicker, finer, curly or straight than yours so the fork that works for them may not work for you. For example, my hair is 40+ inches and quite thick and I need a fork with at least a 4½ inch prong length. My husband's hair is nearly 30 inches and finer than mine, a fork with just a 3½ inch prong length will hold his hair with still some room for further growth. I think a lot of people assume that if they use a 5" or 6" hair stick (I use 6 inch hair sticks) then they need a fork with the same prong length but this is not the case as forks work very differently in the way they hold. I have often seen people using hair forks that look far too large for their hair type although some of the larger forks can also look very pretty. From information I have picked up I have put together this rough guide of the functional length needed depending on length and thickness of ones hair, it is of course only for guidance and you are free to buy any size fork you want.
| |
Fine |
Average |
Thick |
| Shoulder |
3.5" |
3.5" |
4" |
| Ampit - Bra strap |
3.5" |
3.75" - 4" |
4" |
| Waist - Tailbone |
4.0" |
4.25" - 4.5" |
5" |
| Classic |
4.5" |
4.5" - 5" |
5" |
| Mid Thigh |
4.5" - 5" |
5" |
5.5" |
| Beyond |
5.5" |
5.5" |
6" |
Another good way I have heard about for checking the size of fork you might need is to use a pencil or a plain wooden chopstick (something you don't mind marking). Put you hair up in your usual bun style (a cinnamon bun would be a good one for this experiment) and poke the pencil/chopstick in using it like a normal hair stick. Now you'll need someone to mark it for you at point it enters and exits your bun. Measure between the two marks and then add 1" - 1½ depending on just how much of the fork prongs you want showing. This will give you a good guide to what length should be suitable. Whether it agrees with the above guide is anyone's guess although it did work for me when I tried it.
For each of the forks I have I will give the functional length, total length and width. If you want any further information about a fork you are interested in then please contact me and I will endeavour to answer your questions.