Y2K Hair Gems Are Back And Trending This Fall

The '90s are calling, and they're happy to share their trends. The latest on the Y2K train of trends resurrected by TikTok are cute hair accessories known as hair gems (via Allure). These were widely popular during an aughts era when everything just had to have some form of shiny bedazzles, jewelry, rhinestones, or glitter in the late '90s and early 2000s. Included in that were beauty and hair accessories, and hair gems quickly became popular.

These are easy accessories that can be glued or stamped on, and offer a cute look for any hairstyle. Hair gems have the flexibility of working with any style, hair type, or length. Based on the gem size, they're something that you can do for either a subtle look or something a little bit more out there. The power to style the gems how you want is in your hands. It's the perfect Y2K-inspired accessory for a night out, a music festival, or simply because you love it.

Social media is perhaps the biggest way to see these trends pop off and come to life. In a TikTok video with one million likes, influencer Sophie Murray shows her audience that she is applying hair gems as she gets ready for a music festival. The hashtag alone for "#hairgems" has a total of almost 72 million views.

As a response to this video, many other users were enthralled by how easy it was to apply hair gems using a clamping tool, just as it existed in the past. A beauty influencer who goes by the name Mars and username yung.planet excitedly purchased her own hair gem tool after seeing Murray's video. In her own video with 9.8 million views and 1.8 million likes, she showed herself using the hair gem applicator. As she stamps the gems on using the tool, Mars says it is "absolutely my new favorite thing that I own."

Applying hair gems is usually done one at a time. You may find some hair gems in the form of a hair clip or pin of some sort, but the most popular methods come down to a hair gem stamping tool or using hair gel and doing it by hand. Either way, you have the flexibility to style it just the way you want.

The stamping tool functions similarly to the clamping notion of a stapler. With a disk of gems in between the clamps, you simply grab a strand of hair, place it in between them, and stamp down. The hair gem will automatically stick to your hair. It places one hair gem per stamp. In a TikTok video, influencer Yesenia Hipolito shows her followers how to use it as she stamps jewels onto her hair. "It just sticks right on," Hipolito says excitedly. "It makes the process super easy."

Alternatively, if you don't want to use the stamping tool, you can also do it by hand. Some hair gems will be sold as stickers that you can simply place onto your hair. Another method includes using hair gel as "glue" to put them on (via Allure).