Well I will never use any other needles than the forked, his hair came out just how I wanted 
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;Yeah, once you know how to hold them, the forks are amazing. And best of all, they rarely break. Some people say they leave a bigger hole, but mine don’t seem to or else I am just so old and blind that I can’t see them. They are fast, usually only catch one hair, and are just my “go-to” rooting needle.
I am the same as you Helen. Have been rooting with forked needles almost since I started reborning back in 2009 and I have never seen any 'bigger holes". I tended to have more problem with bigger holes and more than one or 2 hairs rooting at once with the pronged needles…not to mention I broke them about every 8th to 10th doll head…With the forked ones I think I have replaced my needle about 6 - 7 times in as many years and only because I felt they were getting a bit dull… 
I can root much faster with the forked as well…
That has been my exact experience. I have three of them set up to use and I have rooted probably ten dolls without a broken needle. I only use one of the three but originallyset them all up with rubber bands because I thought I’d break one and wanted to be ready. I haven’t needed them. I even looked carefully today at what I was rooting, and I do not find the holes large at all.
I most often use 43ga. Have used 42ga with no problem though…
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I use 42g’s and pretty much nothing else anymore.
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Thanks, Starr & Helen. I have the 42G forked and really like it when I was rooting Ruby Red hair. My first “good” hair was Alpaca and I couldn’t get any hair to pick up so I switched over to the 43G single barb. That was difficult hair to root but I LOVED the end result. The holes do seem smaller, though, with the single barb. Maybe I’ll try the forked needled with this head and see what happens. 
Alpaca does take a little getting use to because it is so fine so understand why you may have had a bit of trouble if you are not use to the forked needles…
I am going to confess here…I HATE rooting hair…no matter what needle… rooting a great head of hair takes at least 3 attributes - patience, persistence and perseverance…I possess some of the latter two but have little to none in the patience department…ha!
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I love how it looks in the end, so the process is worth it. I do get tired of it so I take many breaks. I currently have a small section in the back plus the swirl…then I’m done!!! 
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Would love to see it when you are finished!
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I use mine on alpaca too. It works fine for me. I love the soft alpaca, but boy does it collect static electricity some days. My doll behaves like there is a Vandegraf generator in the room. LOL
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