I don’t know about you, but every single time I try to re-create the epic hairstyles I see in historical films like Titanic, Pride & Prejudice, and Ever After, it ends in fits of frustration and about 300 bobby pins distributed through my hair like a metallic bird nest. It’s always made me wonder what’s changed since the early 1900s. What did everyone know about hair styling 100 years ago that I, somehow, have yet to figure out? It turns out it’s hair pins.
Up until very recently I thought hair pins and bobby pins were exactly the same thing. I mean, a bobby pin is a pin… for your hair… so I never really thought much about it. Most of the women I’ve talked to about this are under the same impression. Ladies, we have been grossly misinformed.
I’ve found it’s best to start with a tight bun to get a hang of how these awesome pins work.
While bobby pins are bumpy on one side and close at the tips, a hair pin is like a big, elongated “V” (with a rounded bend, though). They’re generally 2–3″ long, but just ¼″ across at the base, and maybe ½” apart at the tips. And dude—they can get ‘er done! I need just one 2½″ hair pin to hold a bun, and it’s a great, sturdy bun. Just twist and pin. It’s pretty much unbelievable, but there you have it. It’s awesome.
Start by pinching the tips of the pin together. This way they will spring out when you insert the pin and help hold everything in place.
After you’ve got the right pin, all that’s left is application. With hair pins, it’s a bit of a weave & wiggle, rather than a simple slide. You start by inserting the pin through the outer edge of the bun, heading away from the centre of the bun. Don’t snag too much hair or you’ll have trouble with step two—go for about ¼″ in from the edge of the bun (or whatever hair style you’re working with). You’ll only want the last ½″ or so of the hair pin involved here—the rest should be sticking out of the top of the bun.
I’ve traced out the pin here so you can see the angle it goes in at. Don’t catch too much hair from the bun or you’ll have trouble with the next step.
Then, flip the pin downwards from the “U” end, bringing the length of the pin down to run along your scalp. Insert the length of the pin into the bun, giving it a bit of a wiggle as you do so. And voila! Bun!
Flip the pin downwards at the curved end, levering the tips so they point into the bun.
All nice and flat before pushing the pin in.
So, where to get them? I found one mixed into a baggie of bobby pins from my grandma—I’m pretty sure everything in that baggie was older than I am. And then my parents found one in the walls while doing renovations on their 101 year old home (I de-rusted it with salt & vinegar and used it, haha—it’s the big, wavy edged one in the photo). And I’ve never seen hair pins in the grocery store before. So—Amazon! Sally’s Beauty also has ’em, if you happen to live near one.
Wiggle the pin into the centre of the bun. Voila!
As I’m sure you can imagine, the possibilities for the hair pin are endless! Stay tuned for more hair pin updos 🙂
Thanks to my lovely friend Kara for taking all these shots of the back of my head!
One more thing…
There’s also such a thing as good bobby pins that actually work! These proper, high quality bobby pins (mine are by MetaGrip) put grocery store bobby pins and actually do the things hair tutorials tell you bobby pins will do!
Where can I buy such pins 🙂
Try eBay, your local hairstylist supply shop, or some of the online shops other readers have mentioned here 🙂 I got mine off eBay, but that shop seems to be out of stock right now.
Thanks Marie! You’ve definitely struck a chord with many women re: hatred/frustration with bobby pins. It’s been interesting reading all the responses! Now the mystery is solved, how dancers have those perfect buns when they have so much hair! I’m not ashamed to admit I loooved the movie Center Stage and could not work out why the main character’s bun always looked so perfect!
I only watched Center Stage because Mandy Moore sung the theme song, lol. I’m sure the other reason their buns always looked so perfect is because they had a whole team of hair and make-up specialists doting on them as well 😛
I’ve seen them at my local drugstore (by which I mean the place that sells shampoo and toothpaste etc). They were sold in baggies of 50 for about 2$. From a distance it looked like a bag of bobby pins, so I almost missed them. 🙂
I’m based in the UK, I just purchased 3 types of hair pins from Sally’s beauty online. Paid abit more than ebay as some look cheap from China. Hope that helps x
Etsy has lots
Hair pins can be found at a beauty supply store like Salley’s. Sold in packs or plastic bowls you get about a lot of them.
Some are not as sturdy as other brands, you kind of test different ones.
My mother was a beautician, but you don’t have to be one to shop in the stores anymore.
I was wondering if you had found the miracle of Pure Henna to color and condition your hair?
http://www.mehendi.com or http://www.thehennapage.com
Thanks, Cheryl! I should check out our local hairstylist supply shop, I’m sure I would find tons of goodies 🙂
I’ve never tried henna but I have certainly heard and read a lot about it, both from friends and on the Long Hair Community. I haven’t tried it because I’m simply not interested in that much of a colour change—I remember a girlfriend who tried it in high school. She went from brown to black and ended up having grey hair for prom, lol :/
I realize this is an old post but I am in absolute awe of what you just taught me about the direction and angle by which to insert these hair pins! Thank you so very much for your photos and drawings of the Hairpin use!
I’m so thrilled you found this helpful! 🙂
Great post! I had to laugh at your apt description of “300 bobby pins distributed through my hair like a metallic bird nest.” 🙂 I had long ago given up on trying to use bobby pins due to the same frustration. My nearly-waist length, fine-but-heavy hair spits out bobbies as fast as I can put them in!
You’ve inspired me to seek out the big pins and try again!
(Oh, and I’ve also seen these pins referred to as Amish hair pins.)
It sounds like we have twin hair—fine, thick, and looong. Have you ever tried the spiral pins? They’re very handy as well. I have found that my hair is less slippery since getting off commercial hair products and getting all the silicone out of my hair, so I’ve had better luck with bobby pins as of late, but nothing like this.
When I had long hair I always used hair pins and bobby pins in combination. My fine hair doesn’t always play nice with just one or the other. Now my hair is too short to worry about that anymore. :-\
I’ve definitely found the same thing, Nicci. I love my hair pins, but they aren’t good for everything. No leverage= no hold. So, I mix and match, and in the end it seems to work out… most of the time 😛
and hair sticks. And the spiral pins available now are awesome too.
A big YES to spiral pins! I bought mine on eBay for a fraction of the price and they are just awesome for anchoring smaller sections of hair and still keeping body, rather than having to flatten it all out with bobby pins. A brilliant hair invention!
I love the spiral hair pins. Couldn’t get a bobby pin to hold up a bun, EVER, until I tried those. I also just bought this bun contraption sold by Goodie, it’s round and spiral and you work it through your bun.
Who’d have thought there were so many awesome hair inventions left to be born?
Bunheads is the brand that I buy. They come in different lengths and colors. They have a nice curve that makes them more comfortable. I order them online from Discount Dance Supply.
Fantastic, Deborah! I love the sound of these pins—I must get myself some 🙂
i love bobboy pins never knew you can use them like that thanks fpor thye great post
Hi there! Dancers use these pins for their buns. My grandma also used these every day to fix her bun. One thing to remember about “the old days” is that women didn’t wash their hair as much as we do now, so they had more natural oil to help hold their hairdos in place!
I find it so funny that these pins are well known within the dance community as I did highland dance for 6 years and was in show choir for several years as well, and nobody ever told me about these pins (and I never saw them booting around the dressing room either). Oh well. I love a nice, high bun for the days on the end of my wash cycle, you’re right—it really does help with the hold 🙂
Hair Pins! I tend to use them when my hair’s long and when I have to do updos. They’re great!
I feel like everybody knew about this secret before I did 😛 I should go ask my Mom & Grandma what else they’ve been keeping from me, haha.
So classy and vintage! How fun 😉 Makes me want to track a few down. I’ll start by asking my grandma 😉
You could also try ripping out the walls in an old house… that worked for me! 😛
I’ve lost all of my spiral pins, so I figured I would try these ones. You make using them look really simple.
How very nifty! I have been working with pin curls, using bobby pins of course, and am now wondering what results could be achieved using “hair pins” instead. 🙂 I suppose it is time for me to do a wee bit of online shopping!
In my experience you need tension to get hair pins to work—things need to be tight and you need quite a bit of hair to wedge everything together. If you do your pin curls the way I do, I doubt you will be able to get anything to hold. However, keep me posted on the results, I’m intrigued!
my mother and aunts always had this pins but i never gave a thought that they could be so useful 🙂
Enjoy!
Good to know. I’m wondering if you can pull a bobby pin apart and use it in the same manner if you don’t have any hair pins handy. Guess I’ll try it out and see.
I kind of doubt it—hair pins are thin and cylindrical, whereas bobby pins are wide and flat, so I would guess that they might break or get caught. But let me know how it goes, that’s just a guess!
I just stumbled on your blog today. Thank you for sharing all your body product recipes! I can’t wait to make some. You are a great writer. – Jen
Thanks for reading, Jen! Let me know how your DIY endeavors turn out, I just love sharing!
Awesome!! I have some of these hair pins, but did not know how to get them to work. Thanks for the blog! Enjoying your blog very much ~ Annette
Thanks for reading, Annette! Enjoy your newly useful hairpins—you should have seen me after I learned about them, I was running around with a fistfull, pinning up all my lady-friend’s hair 😛
I wish I had enough hair for these. I remmeber growing up all the ballet girl had these. When I was in school plays I would try to use them but I have fine hair so I always stuck to bobby pins. Maybe I just didn’t know how to use them!
I’ve got fine hair as well, just tons of it—my main problem with updos in the past was that my hair was super slippery from all the silicone coating my hair! I can remember trying to put my hair up for musicals and shows when I was in school and it just didn’t work at all lol. The worst was when they wanted your hair to be all curly—I’d have to re-curl my hair every time I was off stage throughout the show 😛 Anyhow, now that I’ve got the silicone out of my hair from dumping store bought products it’s a lot easier to get bobby & hair pins to do their jobs 😛
I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve run across your site! I’m always looking for natural DIY fixes and I feel like I just hit the mother-lode! I can see now that a lot of my free time will be spent trying out your recipes! Also, your hair is gorgeous!!
Yay! I’m so glad you stumbled across my site, Jennifer 🙂 I love sharing all the fun DIY projects I play with in my free time, and knowing I need something to share keeps me doing what I love in the midst of my crazy day to day life. Thanks for reading and feel free to reach out with any questions or requests, I love helping if I can 🙂 And thanks for the hair compliment, I do baby it 😉
Hi Marie, From another Marié! I have long hair as well…very long (33 inches when I was 18). But then decided to cut it a little shorter…and I have that same style for the past 43 years!! (And by the way, I have my birthday the 15th of June…61). So, don’t laugh! I think hair dressers will drop dead! But, this is my crown and glory and my trade mark! The hair pins… reminds me of the late 1970’s and the beehive. Can you imagine how many thousands of pins went into that mass of hair! And afterwards..to get them out! Unfortunately it will be difficult to wear a bun. My hair is very slippery and because the ends are not cut straigt, it tends to come loose. And a bun at my age…too much like a “Granny!!” For the young ones..beautiful!!
Hello, Marié! Between our long hair and our close birthdays (mine is August 16, though not 1961 :P), we might be cross-generational sisters 😉 I am sort of terrified to think about all the pins, hairspray, and teasing that went into the beehive! I secretly think that women must have just worn wigs, like Marie Antoinette (another Marie!). Thanks for reading 🙂 Or, should I say “merci”?
I found a big old pack of them at Walmart of all places! Cheap and good quality. Thanks for the tutorial! I bought them on a whim while shopping for bobby pins. Having thick smooth hair, I was convinced my struggle with bobby pins was endless, but alas I found a cure! Now i know how to use them too!
Awesome! I, too, have thick, smooth hair, and hairpins have been a godsend 🙂
I’ve seen a video tutorial where the stylist bent the ends of the hair pins so they could never slide out. He did warn that you probably need to straighten them again to get them out, and I imagine that constantly bending the metal will eventually break them, but when in a pinch it maybe useful?
Interesting! Mine are so sturdy that I think I’d need a pair of pliers to do that haha 😛
Don’t you have them in the US? You might find it easier to look in a dance store, as these are the pins that we use for ballet! (In the UK, we call bobby pins Kirby grips, so I think that they are more similar to clips. Anyway Kirby grips are absolutely useless, for my hair, I’ll always need to use bun pins instead. One time I had to pin a french plait back over itself. (then tuck the end in as it was a bit long, was so my CATS wig would fit!) and I tried it on the dress rehearsal with kirby grips, and it fell out pretty quick so when I had a break I redid it with bun pins and it worked much better!
I’m not sure about the US, but here in Canada they aren’t readily available at drug stores, and I can’t say I spend much time at dance or beauty stores 😛 I think I ordered my hair pins from the UK 😉