To ask for the answer to this mystery?

[Windsofwinter]

Somewhere in the world there must be a giant sculpture made from hair grips, possibly a replica of the Eiffel Tower/golden gate bridge or similar. Where do they go? Why can I never find any, despite buying them all the bloody time? I must have owned thousands but most mornings seem to involve rooting through my make up bag or looking hopefully under the bed....

I hear you! 😆

The weird thing is, there's always one somewhere. You have a pack of 30, and 29 will vanish within days, but the final one will hang around somewhere hard to find. You will eventually find it of course, after 20 minutes of looking. This will go on for days. But you'll never find more than 1, no matter how hard you look.

I think it's Mumsnetters, nicking them all to hand to posters who need to get a grip.

I think that they are the larval form of coat hangers, of which I seem to have hundreds, on the floor of the wardrobe, under the bed, but which I never actually buy.

Yes!

Haven't you heard of the borrowers? It's true I tell you!

I think there is a small island, with a portal, and they take in turns to teleport off there and have wild, all-night parties. I imagine them clicking and un-clicking themselves as part of a strange (and slightly sweet) mating ritual. The night air - warm and heavy with the scent of jasmine and the sussurating sea - is filled with a noise like that of cicadas, as they cavort around bonfires lit along the beach.

More realistically, I think taking out hairclips is a prime example of something we do without being fully present with ourselves, the opposite of mindfulness, so we can never remember where we put them. At the same time, we take out hairclips when we are embedded in a routine, habitual, daily, in which we don't have to be fully present. So we find them as we wander through our routine. Like little markers of the places where we lose and find ourselves throughout the day. You know how hikers climb up peaks and mark their arrival at high or significant places by adding a rock to a cairn? Well, hairclips are almost the exact opposite of that - they mark the insignificant points on our journey, when we least realise we are there at all.

I have a theory that women repel hair grips and bands, whereas men attract them. The only explanation for why I can never find any and DH claims that they are all over the house.

They all come to my house. I swear to anyone who will listen that I've never bought a bloody pack and yet I find the buggers everywhere.

See also: applicator tampons

I think a to of the things we think of as mundane inanimate objects are actually alien probes.

We use them, wear them, talk openly around them but they are actually listening and recoding all our personal and species related information.

Once they're done they vanish - back to the mothership or home planet.

Items I've long considered alien probes include and are not limited to:

Hair bands
hair grips
biro pens
socks

and my personal favourite...

tea spoons.

I'm on to them though. I know THE TRUTH

Tea spoons!! Yes!! I think you could be onto something there furiosa

Hmm - A couple of months ago I decided to pick up every hair band I saw on the ground. I have about twenty of them now.* But I've not seen a single hair grip. Perhaps they dissolve.

*Washed in a net bag and used by my daughter. I won't have to buy another one until she leaves home at this rate.

Hair grips I have in abundance - why I have no idea I don't use the damn things. Forks however are another matter. And kids plates. And kids sunglasses. How such large things can just disappear is beyond me.

I think sometimes the "probes" are sent back which explains their sudden appearance on the floor or in the bed but sometimes they end up in the wrong house.

Everyone has experienced this. A tea spoon that doesn't match your cutlery and that you've never seen before found nestling in the drawer one morning?

A strange plate found in the same way?

A t-shirt you can't recall anyone in your family ever wearing before?

ALIENS!

Thecat you sound really wise! Your post made me smile.

CatfromJapan You are either very wise or completely mad.
I agree with your opposite of mindfulness theory. You couldn't remove hairgrips in a mindful way, it would be far too boring so your mind wanders and before you know it, you've binned, flushed, dropped, eaten? or chucked the grips in the washing.

All my life, from the first flat I had at 18, to now in my 50s, I have wondered where all the tea spoons go. No matter where I live, on what continent, and no matter how many I buy, they eventually all seem to disappear.

Where do they go?

Law of plenty. You buy a new pack of hair grips. They all instantly disappear, until you are left with your last two which then last for months and months.

They're all down the side of the sofa, along with all the hair bobbles. I was searching for the Apple TV remote the other day and pulled out about 50 hair clips and bobbles and a lot of disgusting crumbs

Furiosa speaks the truth...

Umm. It me

we've got a visitor staying for a few nights, who will need to stay in our bedroom. So I've Spring cleaned it for the first time in about 4 years. I found six half-packets of kirby grips and the Hoover found shed-loads of the other type.

Soz everyone!

'Larval form of coathangers' is GENIUS

scientific study of disappearing teaspoons phenomenon

(make sure to read the responses too - link on top right)

I just cleaned DD's room - they are all there. How the Hoover is in one piece is a mystery.

I am very proud to announce that I have the requiste 6 teaspoons in my cutlery canteen. after blitzing DS' room and replacing the fridge. Hair grips and bobbles are the cat's fair game if left around. I am looking at you DD