How to Perfectly Organize Hair Accessories

Do hair accessories get lost because there’s nowhere to keep ‘em? Or are they all tossed into one bin? Here are the systems that work for us.

Victoria: There are some days when I make simple organizing goals. Yesterday it was “take out all the Yom Tov leftovers in the freezer, label them, and stack them nicely in one freezer.” It only took a few minutes, but now I know exactly what I have available (vs. random unlabeled containers in 3 different freezers), and I don’t need to open the containers until I want to use them.  

Last year, at some point (perhaps when my third girl was born), I had a goal one day of figuring out the best hair accessory organizing system. I wanted one shared system, organized by color or type, so the bows and headbands could be used by all the girls (it doesn’t matter who I originally bought the item for).

I really wasn’t in the mood for a DIY like this. Besides, I wanted something that could easily scale as the collection grew.

Some of these Etsy creations look really pretty (they’re also a nice DIY Project).

But I didn’t want hair accessories on my walls. I want to be able to put them away. And while the photos of these look great when there’s just a few accessories on them, I know that when they’re full, it can look like a mess.

This modular system (intended for makeup) from The Container Store seemed very cool, but only the bigger drawers would work for hair accessories and it was way too pricy.

Here’s my solution!

My oldest daughter prefers soft headbands over hard headbands, and the younger girls only wear soft headbands. In the boxes (these are from The Custom Shoppe but you can also get these types “Lookers” boxes here), the big box is for all hair accessories and headbands that match my daughter’s school uniform. Each morning we choose from the box only (and when my other daughters enter school, they’ll have a nice supply to choose from!).

Another box is for fancier headbands that don’t fit in the other compartments.

The rest of the bows and soft headbands are stored according to color in these clear hair accessory organizers from Amazon. I also use this one for the larger compartment. They’re stackable and can be reconfigured however you like.

Often I’ll buy a specific bow to match an outfit, but I don’t need to! Each day, I can simply open the relevant color for each girl and choose the bow that’s the perfect match.

I keep these containers inside the closet (on top of the drawers). I like that the whole storage system is pretty and neat, and it’s easy to add compartments as the collection grows (the color families simply get more specific. If white and ivory shared a compartment, once there’s more bows, white and ivory each get their own).

For hard headband storage idea, I pass this post over to Esti to share her idea.

Esti: Unlike Victoria, I only have one little girl in headbands. And she has bangs and straight black hair and dimples and is missing her 2 front teeth and just NEEDS that bow on her head because it’s a crime not to have one there. So every time I walk into a hosiery or accessory store, I pick up another band or three. But how do you keep an ever-expanding collection organized and easily accessible? With paper towels and fabric!

If you have a drawer or shelf space available, measure the width. A small drawer will fit one roll and a larger one can fit two. We had room for two sets of two. I simply stacked two standard sized rolls of paper towels, wrapped a piece of scrap fabric (no, I don’t sew or stash fabrics but my mom does!) and hot-glued it closed. Slide it into the drawer and voila! You can line up those headbands in the order of your choosing. They can all be seen and reached at all times.

If you have a drawer that’s a little wide, you can use a thin tension rod and hang the roll of paper towels from that.