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Homemade hair tie (moño, coletero) — yarn-wrapped condom-rubber elastic

Object/Artifact

A small ring-shaped hair elastic, handmade. A stretchable core — the rubber rim ring cut from a condom (per owner) — is densely covered with rose-pink knitting yarn worked in tight, segmented bumps, giving the loop a beaded, "caterpillar"-like texture.

Homemade hair tie (moño, coletero) — yarn-wrapped condom-rubber elastic Homemade hair tie (moño, coletero) — yarn-wrapped condom-rubber elastic

2025.6.14

Made and used by Mirta Suquet Martínez

The Martínez Suquet family collection

2025.6

Mirta Suquet

Gift

circa 1994

Pinar del Río

Pinar del Río

Cuba

Caribbean

Central America

Materials: Rose-pink knitting yarn (wool or acrylic — unconfirmed) over an elastic core of rubber cut from a condom (per owner). Technique: Yarn hand-worked (wound/wrapped or crocheted) over a stretchable rubber-ring core to form a covered hair elastic.

Good

Mirta Suquet

owner

Pinar del Río

Pinar del Río

Cuba

Caribbean

Central America

manufacture, use

Cultural context: In Cuba, condoms have been widely repurposed for non-sexual uses — fishing, tire repair, balloons, securing medicines, and tying hair; a Havana hairdresser explained that, lacking proper tools, they turned to alternatives, using condoms to hold clients' hair. The elastic rim in particular is documented as a hair/braid fastener.