A full mala has 108 beads and a guru bead, and the number is not decoration — it is a length. Strung at 8mm that is roughly a metre of beads; at 6mm it wraps twice; at 4mm it will go around a wrist four or five times. Everything about how a full-length mala is worn follows from that one fact.
What the length decides
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How many times it wraps. A 108 strand in the sizes here is built to go around the wrist two or three times before it sits right.
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How the guru bead sits. It is larger than the count beads and marks where a round ends, so it either rests on top of the wrap or hangs as the lowest point.
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Whether it can be worn at the throat. Several pieces here are long enough to sit as a necklace when they are not on the wrist.
The materials
Wood is the usual answer — sandalwood, rosewood, peach wood, ebony — because wood is light enough to carry the length. Yak bone appears often too, and several of those strands end in a carved pendant rather than a tassel. The gemstone versions, in turquoise and clear quartz, are heavier and cooler against the skin.
Counting with it
A full strand is the one you count with. If you are not going to count, a shorter mala does the same job with less weight on the wrist. Which bead to start on is a separate question from how long the strand should be.
