Lindsay Muscato could not find a hair tie she liked, so in 2017 she invented one, starting out of her garage in Central Florida with 500 of them. Teleties are a spiral hair tie, the coiled kind that grips hair at a few points instead of squeezing it all in one band, so it holds a ponytail without the sharp crease a regular elastic leaves. By 2023 the business had moved from the garage into a 22,000-square-foot warehouse in Maitland with 43 staff, and it still describes itself as founded by a busy mom and woman-owned. With every purchase, the company donates to FORCE, a nonprofit for people affected by hereditary cancers, a cause close to Muscato, whose grandmother died of breast cancer at 37. The jet black large size is the one I keep on my wrist, since it suits thicker hair and disappears against dark hair. Teleties wear best for a loose ponytail or bun. Mane, Jen Atkin's brand, makes the rainbow fabric ties and a soft serve mix of skinny scrunchies and fabric ties, and Alexandre de Paris makes an acetate ponytail tie in the French Jura for dressier days.

Scrunchies are the other answer to the crease problem. Slip's skinny scrunchies are covered in the brand's long-fiber mulberry silk, and the regular size holds more hair. Éliou's scrunchie is a collaboration with Moda Operandi, from two childhood friends, Cristy Mantilla and Duda Teixeira, who started the brand beside their creative agency and named it after Elio in Call Me by Your Name. Mane's Sugar Cloud is an oversized organza scrunchie for a big, soft ponytail. I use silk for sleeping and the bigger ones for daytime, when they read as an accessory. Wash them by hand now and then, since they pick up product.

Sometimes the answer is no tie at all. Chunks started in 2019 in Tiffany Ju's Seattle basement after she could not find a good-looking claw clip, and its acetate clips are spliced by hand. Emi Jay, which Julianne Goldmark started at 14, makes the Big Effing Clip for a full head of hair and the small Sweetheart clip with hand-set stones, plus the Midi Blossom. What I would skip is wearing any tie, spiral or not, on wet hair all day. Hair is weakest when it is wet, so wait until it is mostly dry, or use a clip instead. A clip also saves you the dent on the days you want to wear your hair down later.

Two Teleties on my wrist, one silk scrunchie for the car and a medium clip for when my hair is up for good. That covers a workout, a desk day and dinner. Replace ties once they stop holding. The whole kit fits in a pocket, and I think that simplicity is why a garage idea caught on. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Dr. Squatch.