Awww, Leia, that's OK.  You're a sweetie to apologize and thank you, it did make me feel better. Besides, at this point, that is ancient history!

Yes, my sticks *are* more expensive than some made by those who attempt to do what I do, but without any humility whatsoever ;) I can honestly say they are worth every penny.  I don't charge more simply to make money, I *have* to charge more because not only do I buy the rarest and most beautiful beads I can find, but I put an *incredible* amount of work into every design I create and I think it does show, both in quality and beauty.  In fact, I recently hired a part-time assistant and even she can't believe how much time and effort goes into each design.  But, that's the whole point of LongLocks... to give the women (and men) who are willing to work hard to have long beautiful hair something extremely special to wear in it.  We all know where to buy cheap hairsticks or LongLocks "knockoffs" but as long as my customers keep coming back and telling me they'd much rather pay the extra money upfront to have authentic LongLocks quality rather than have to keep replacing them, then I know I'm doing the right thing.

While GeishaStix when used alone will hold up hair that can be traditonally held up with one stick (even I can do a style where all of my butt-length hair is held up by one GeisahStix hair pin in the front), they are actually more often worn as adornments rather than anchors.  Most people who wear them use them with one or two other sticks, just as the Japanese Geisha would do.

I'm glad you truly do like your GeishaStix hair pin Leia, and it took a lot of grace and maturity to apologize to me publicly.  It is truly with a large measure of integrity that you were willing to do so.