So I bought a cheap fork from Etsy to try out (about 4 - 4'5 FPL, which I thought would be too short), and also have a Jeterfork from the swapboard (about 4'' FPL) - but which sadly is too short to be seen or hold up my hair . I have the feeling I need longer prongs, but then most forks are not really sold with that much longer prong lengths, so I'm wondering if maybe I'm just doing it wrong. How can I get a fork to work, or if not, what sort of prong length should I go for?

I have a similar issue with sticks - the shortest I can go is about 6 1/4 inches - which actually is shorter than I thought I could go (just managed to get a stick this length to work) - but usually it is a 9 inch chopstick that always holds my buns all day.

So I was wondering if there are any tips to get forks to work - do I need to get scalp hair in, yes or no? Are thin tines or thick tines better? Does the topper on the fork have an effect? Does the number of tines change anything?

Here are some reference pictures:

(fork is 6inches, 4 1/4 FPL) - this bun is being held up by the chopstick, as soon as I took it out the whole thing came down


(fork is 6 inches, 4,5' FPL)
and less than a second after this photo was taken, it suddenly felt so much more comfortable... oh wait, the bun has come out: