Oring Alternatives - hair ties?

Recently I have some shrimp egg to look at from my tank, so I decided to put my microscope back together, and found that all the rubber band have broken down. And after failing to print TPC with my printer and getting some orings that are too thick, I have decided to go to the dollar store equivalent here in Japan and see what I can find.

And I found there are many types of hair ties in different sizes and material, so I got a few that looks about the right size, and they are a lot cheaper and easier to source.

From the left is the 30mm oring that is too thick, and 3 different hair tie I got to test out. The price of the oring was around $2 USD for 2, and for the hair ties it was around $1 USD for 80.

The transparent one is the one I am using on my microscope now, it has the highest tension the other 2 seems a bit too stretchy but they probably works as well. The transparent one is made in Japan but I suspect they are pretty easy to get anywhere in the world and your long haired friend probably already have a bunch? Amazon.com : transparent hair tie

My microscope seems to work well with it so far and I am happy I don’t have to pay $10 for the specific type of oring.

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A couple of weeks ago I came across a discussion between @r.w.bowman and someone about using the inside strands of bungee cord or the elastic cord from a coat. I now cannot find where it was, but it would be useful to link here.

All of these options require some trial and error, but usually something will work.

I am doing pretty good with my rubberbands i found in the drawer…
to tighten it up i just strapped them around over the top of the turret.

But i have to say,… having access to japanese rubberbands, even from daiso store would be the best!