I Tried The Bedazzled Hair Trend & I’m Low-Key Obsessed

Call it whimsy-maxxing, an exercise in free will, or even a little performative, but ever since Kylie Jenner topped her 29th birthday cake with colorful rhinestones earlier this month, everything has been getting bedazzled, from sheet masks and lip glosses to manicures and matcha cups.

It’s pretty much taken over my feed at this point — and I have zero complaints. But after slick-backs covered in gemstones started popping up recently, I decided it was time to get off the sidelines and try the trend for myself. After all, TikTok made the process look simple enough, even for someone who can barely style her own hair.

Bedazzling Is So Back

It’s no secret that everything Y2K is cool again — rhinestones included. But this time around, the look feels a little more freestyle than the bedazzling kits you probably begged your mom for in the early aughts. Instead of neat rows of identical crystals, people are piling on stars, hearts, flowers, and stones in all different colors and sizes.

Hair is getting that same mix-and-match treatment. Some creators are scattering gems through mermaid waves, bangs, or loose braids, but mostly, they’re using them to dress up slick-backs — covering the front and sides of the hair with larger stones, then dotting smaller ones throughout. Nothing is perfectly spaced or symmetrical. If anything, it looks even better (read: more extra) when the two sides don’t match.

How I Tried The Trend

So, armed with a $10 pack of approximately one gazillion gems and no real strategy, I started bedazzling. There was very little method to my madness. I basically grabbed whatever sparkly things I could find in my vicinity: a jumbo pack of gemstones from Staples and a larger rhinestone that had been sitting in the bottom of my nightstand drawer for who knows how long.

Then, I slicked my hair back into a braided ponytail — truly the extent of my styling skills — and got to work peeling the gems and sticking them on. I started around my hairline, mixing up the colors and shapes and keeping the placement intentionally uneven as I worked my way back.

Just when I thought I was almost done, I encountered a slight problem: I couldn’t exactly see the back of my head. A quick photo of my side profile revealed that I’d missed an entire section near the base of my ponytail, so I went back in with more rhinestones, adding another 10 minutes to the 30 I’d already spent.

Finally, I added a few accents down the length of my braid, going a little lighter there. And, at the last minute, I decided to attach the random heart-shaped gem — the only remotely tricky part of the whole thing. (It wasn’t self-adhesive, so I applied it with lash glue.) Otherwise, all I had to do was peel, stick, and repeat until I started looking like a human disco ball in the best way.

Did The Gemstones Actually Stick?

Surprisingly, yes. I was prepared to leave a trail of rhinestones around my apartment, but only a few stragglers ended up on the floor — and that’s mostly because I peeled the gems off my head to rearrange their placement a couple of times.

As long as I kept my hands off my hair, though, the gems pretty much stayed put. Sure, the ones on my braid were a little more finicky and prone to falling off, but on the top and sides of my head, they stuck without needing much pressure at all. Apparently, a slick-back ponytail makes a pretty good rhinestone canvas.

Removing them proved to be just as straightforward. The stick-on gems peeled right off without pulling my hair or leaving any residue behind, while the glued-on rhinestone did leave a little adhesive behind (as expected). To get rid of it, I just rubbed some coconut oil over the spot, and everything came out easily.

The Verdict

I won’t pretend covering my entire head and braid was a five-minute hairstyle. It took about 40 minutes by hand, so if I planned to do this regularly, I’d probably invest in an actual bedazzling tool. Still, the gems stayed put far better than expected, the whole look cost me around $10, and it made my normal slick-back look a million times more fun.

In fact, the only thing I’d change next time is the gems themselves. My pack had plenty of colors and shapes, but I think mixing in a few larger-sized gemstones would have made the placement feel even more random and over-the-top — which is what I wanted.

Would I do it every day? Maybe I haven’t reached that level of free will just yet. But for my next concert, I’m absolutely bedazzling my hair again. Until then, I have a lot of leftover gemstones and a skin care shelf that’s starting to look a little bare.