Hair tinsel is long shiny tinsel threads that are designed to be tied into your hair at the roots. The desired effect of hair tinsel is for your natural hair to have shiny threads running through it.
The life of the installed hair tinsel can vary greatly from person to person, with the knots gradually sliding out over time. Generally, it will last at least 1-2 weeks, with many people lasting up to at least 4 weeks. Not all the hair tinsel will come out at once. One person I know lost a strand the very next day after installation but still had 5 strands left in after 9 months! With very fine and silky hair, hair tinsel is less likely to last very long, as the knots slide out easier. To remove hair tinsel that's been in a while, just gently slide the tinsel knot down your hair until it comes out.
Hair tinsel is generally less than 0.5mm wide, and is tied into a very small section of hair that's about the same width. The knots will hurt slightly for a day or two, then the pain goes away and the shiny remains. At one point, it will only hurt if you touch it otherwise you won't notice it. The pain is similar to when you have a high ponytail or bun in for many hours with hair pulled against it's natural flow and then let it down later, except it's only tiny little segments of hair instead of all of your hair at once.
Hair can be washed, dyed, and cut with the hair tinsel still installed. When dying your hair, the hair tinsel doesn't accept any colour and stays bright and shiny in its original colours. Note: please remove hair tinsel if you need to have an MRI!
For maximum effect, hair tinsel should be tied along the part in your hair, so the strands can lie along the top layer of hair. If tied elsewhere with no part, you won't see the tinsel as much because it will disappear under the rest of your hair. Less is more, with 6-10 strands creating a nice highlight effect. Alternatively, you can have just a few strands all tied close together near your face as a feature. Or, if you love the shiny, more is more, and have a lot of tinsel put in!