Thank you! That helps clarify!
I guess I got confused about force reading "A force is similar to a weight, but a force can act in any direction whereas a weight is a force that always acts downwards as a result of gravity." http://www.eng.newcastle.edu.au/eof/content/pdf/module2/sect2.3 .
I haven't had physics and want to measure tensile failure in hairbands (I'm a girl) by suspending weight from them until they break. I've figured out that I can't measure ultimate tensile strength or breaking strength because I don't have cross-sectional areas (I'm comparing styles). So can I...