The Best Hair Ties of 2026

The L. Erickson Grab & Go Pony Tube has a unique braided design that’s secured with a plastic oval bead. According to the company, the soft woven material is designed to be super comfortable and non-damaging to your strands.

As promised, the elastic is very soft to the touch and slips in and out of hair with ease. No hair got caught in any of the woven material or around the decorative bead holding the tie together. It also looks attractive (each comes in five colors and has 15 hair ties total) and wears comfortably on the wrist, so you’ll always have a hair tie at the ready.

The material stretched three times around my hair to provide a very snug hold, but this causes it to tug at the scalp. It was much more comfortable with two wraps, but that didn’t feel tight enough for light activity. To avoid discomfort, I’d only wear this if I needed to tie my hair back while eating, working on the computer, or watching TV, when a looser grip suffices.

Even if the fit was perfect, I have some concerns about the longevity of these hair ties because the material began to snag and look fuzzy after just a few wears.

Per piece, these skinny silk scrunchies were the most expensive hair ties we tested by nearly $2 per tie (our lowest cost only 8 cents).

So what’s so special about this product? Slip—which also makes the mega-popular silk pillowcases—says the hair tie is designed to “reduce those annoying ridges caused by regular hair elastics.” In my experience, it delivers on that promise. I didn’t notice any creases even when I tied my hair back shortly after running a flat iron through it. And even though the hair tie feels flimsy because it’s made of silk, it still holds my strands back surprisingly well with three easy wraps.

Despite the functionality and the elegant look, the price of this scrunchie is tough to justify. Other, more affordable hair ties on the list also gripped the hair just well (if not better) without creasing, and come in packages with more style options. These are a luxury item that I’d be more likely to buy as a gift for someone—they're made of real silk, after all—than as my everyday hair ties, which have a propensity to get lost.

If function is your main goal, this Kitsch scrunchie isn’t the hair tie for you. To hold my hair well, I had to stretch the thick band to its max of three twists to hold my low pony securely. While this is great for all-day hold, it’s not so great for comfort if you’re resting your head, whether it be on the seat of your car while running errands or on your pillow, while sleeping. And while it looks nice around a ponytail or at the base of a French braid, it’s too obtrusive and chunky for half-up styles.

Though I can’t say the same for my hair, the soft, satin scrunchie sits comfortably on my wrist and even looks attractive there. Plus, thanks to its larger-than-most size, it’s easy to dig out of your purse or drawer in a flash.

My final verdict is that this scrunchie is more of a hair accessory than a functional hair tie you might rely on to hold your hair back for any activity, from housework to exercise to sleeping.

This classic fabric-covered hair elastic from Scunci promises to offer a medium hold without damaging hair. Instead of a metal clip, the ends of the band are fused together. The company says the ties “don't snag or break strands or leave unsightly bumps.” While I found this to be mostly true—they glide in and out of hair with ease—they left creases in my hair. And the super snug hold creates a firm spot at the top of the ponytail, making it uncomfortable to wear while you sleep or for long periods of time. These elastics are tight on the wrist as well, readily leaving a painful indentation.

Despite those disappointments, these elastics are a fine standby. They come in six colors—neutrals like black and brown and brighter shades like coral and teal—and hold hair well all day. I had no trouble with slippage, no matter the hairstyle I chose.

All packs of ribbon hair ties look similar, but it was clear to me that not all are created equal after I started testing. These Kenz ribbon ties aren’t nearly as well constructed as our overall ribbon pick. The material isn’t as stretchy and the knots aren’t as solid, so the tie loosens and stretches out almost immediately, affecting the hold. I wasn't able to stretch it to a fourth turn around the hair, but three turns wasn’t solid enough to rely on for holding a ponytail during any real activity. In tests, the tie loosened after a short walk around the block and slipped out of my hair completely overnight.

The package comes with an enviable variety of models—more than 40 colors and patterns. You’d likely go through all of them, too, because of how quickly they stretch out.

There was less than a half-point difference in the scores of the Invisibobble and our overall pick for coil hair ties. Like the Kitsch coils, the Invisibobble provides a solid grip with just two turns around the hair.

Unfortunately, it also had most of the same drawbacks: the product stretched out easily, snagged my hair during removal, and was too tight to wear comfortably on my wrist.

Because the Invisibobble is firmer than the Kitsch, it had the added inconvenience of being more uncomfortable overnight. And though it didn’t lose points for this, there aren’t as many color options in each package. My advice: Go with Kitsch.

I love the look of the Teleties. The coil is much slimmer than other coils I’ve seen, and it comes in a fun, bright pink color. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite hold its own against the competition, mostly for the same reasons I didn’t love the other coil hair ties.

Though slimmer, this coil model was also too tight on my wrist and snagged my hair upon removal just as much as its counterparts. Its hold wasn’t nearly as good as the larger coils, either. With two turns around my ponytail, the hair tie stayed largely in place throughout the day, but it completely fell out of my hair overnight.

Overall, this Syleia ribbon hair tie was the most comfortable product to wear on my wrist. It had that perfect Goldilocks fit—not tight, but not at all loose enough to shift. You can’t beat the variety in the package, either. The set includes 100 hair ties in 10 different colors.

I wish I could praise its primary function of holding hair back in the same way, but the product fell short in those tests. Though the fabric is very comfortable, it isn’t as stretchy as our overall pick, which limits the flexibility you have for getting the right tension for your hair. I could only wrap the hair tie around my ponytail twice, but I needed a third wrap to get a strong enough hold. Thus, the hair tie started to slip and needed to be adjusted after some light housework (in my case, cleaning up the kids’ playroom).

The Gimmie Band is one of the more unique hair ties I’ve ever seen. The wide band is made out of a stretchy woven material that rolls back on itself to create what looks like a very substantial band that you'd think wouldn’t stretch much. Surprisingly, the material readily expands to more than double its diameter to loop around for a snug hold on a ponytail.

While this may be a good thing—the band doesn’t budge throughout everyday wear—I didn’t like it, because it tugged at my hair during my 30-minute workout, indicating that prolonged wear would be uncomfortable. Plus, the big band caused a bump that made the hair tie impossible to wear overnight—it felt like a rock underneath my head! I took it out because I couldn’t get comfortable on the pillow with such a stiff and bulky ponytail. It was also too tight on my wrist.