There's more than one way to do it, but the basic idea is to clip the alligator clip to one's hair and let the chain hang. Because this chain was so heavy (next time definitely using anodized aluminium) I didn't want to feel as if my hair was being yanked out, so I put my hair in a ponytail and attached the chain to the hair elastic; that meant that the load was spread a bit more and it didn't hurt. Then I split the ponytail into two and used the chain as the third strand in a braid. That worked nicely. Though it turned out that the chain was a little too short for that, I was left with about six inches at the end when I ran out of chain. I made that mistake because I'd been comparing the length of the chain with the length of my hair when it was in plaits, not when my hair was loose. I'll know better for the next one.