It seems I have an annoying mix of really good and a lot of bad elastics in my little elastics-jar. Which is super annoying because it wasn't so long ago I cleaned up the jar and replaced them with what I assumed was good elastics!
I had bought a bunch of Glitters (Accessory chain in Denmark and Sweden) elastics, but it turned out that not all of their elastics are the same.
The small elastics that come in a little "envelope" is way stronger and more durable than the ones that come in any of their other packaging! Strange, because they should come from the same factory and "recipe", right? But there is an obvious difference.
So I bought a pile of those to replace them all.
I sorted the contents of the elastics-jar. I spent some time pulling and rubbing on the different elastics to see if I could find any sort of pattern to which ones are good. Some of them even have a very low tolerance for oil and will break apart quickly.
It would be useful to be able to spot the good elastics instead of having to buy and try them all.
I didn't feel I got a lot wiser from that. I have a vague idea that the lesser glossy/shiny elastics have some better grip then the rest. And maybe the more opaque ones are silicone instead of plastic.
But this is just my vague speculation.
I tossed every elastic that didn't look like the new batch.
Done! That took an annoyingly long time, but hopefully the elastics will not irritate me further.
I'm curious as to where they are manufactured.
ReplyDeleteI assume most come from China?
My experience is that their quality control on polymers is erratic.
(I know this from fuel tubes on small power equipment engines).
Hmm! I will have to check next time I have a package of these. Of course now I have thrown the packaging away and the website is no help.
DeleteThat would explain why the same brand has such a big difference in the quality. Super irritating no matter what!
I hate those things!! They suck for my hair but even worse, braiding horses. I have no idea how people use them unless they tie off really weak braids because I went through about 20 before I went back to using thread to braid manes. I went with a more traditional hair tie that are coated, but no metal pieces. I also find these slip off my ends way easier, but likely because my ends are slippery from product used to keep my hair looking less like a fluff ball :D
ReplyDeleteLOL so weird how different things works for different people :) Any idea what material those good ones are made out of? I don't think I've ever seen coated elastics that are small enough that they wouldn't need to go around my braid 172 times. How big are they?
DeleteThey are exactly this size, just coated with no metal pieces. I can see if I can take a photo of them for you and send via Facebook---maybe message me to remind me. I found they were stronger for my ends, and help up to the slip of my hair if I was riding and using a braid (lately I've been bunning with those phone cord type elastics)
DeletePlastic fuel tubes that soften and deteriorate plugging the carburetor has been a big problem in small engines. China as a developing country is learning the methods of quality control, but not all operations are robust.
ReplyDelete