My twisty stem phal has finally bloomed and yes, the stem was being restrained by those plastic hair clips. I did find a support that did a good job, although it's still heavy enough to bend over the plastic support.
My Baldans Kaleidescope is sending out its strong stems now and I'm using the rubber coated twisties so I can make them as big as they need be.
(Heh, I've already forgotten how to post an image so it shows in the post, sorry. I've been out of commission due to a rootkit virus!)