I have had several e-mails or comments about how to use bobby pins, or the ability to get them to stay in hair. I realized I use them in A LOT of my hair styles, so I thought it’d be helpful to some of you if I were to show you some of the ways I use them and some tips to help them stay put. Hopefully from this, you’ll find that besides just putting them in a bun, they are very useful.
My husband thought I should give a history of the bobby pin (since he is soooo knowledgeable about this type of stuff!) — that there was some guy who was tired of his wife’s hair falling into her face and looking a mess all the time. And how she was too embarrassed to leave the house with messy hair to go out to dinner. (He of course thought she looked “Fine” but she refused to leave.) So he went out to his garage and found a piece of tin that he bent into a U shaped piece of wire. He proceeded to shove a few of them into her hands and exasperatingly said “Bobby, pin your hair back with these – I’m ready to go out to eat – our reservations were 2 hours ago.” And thus, the bobby pin was born. My husband hopes you believed his story, but I highly suggest not Googling it! My husband just likes to “help” sometimes!
First, you need to know – if you didn’t already, that there are smaller bobby pins than the typical ones you can buy in just about any store. Just so you can see the difference in size I measured them (I didn’t know how big the normal ones where – so it was for me too!) The normal every day bobby is just about 2 inches long. There are bigger and bulkier ones for people with tons o’ hair, but since those probably aren’t what you’d use in your DD’s hair I didn’t include those ones.
So here is your standard 2″ bobby pin:
Then there are ones for fine/thin hair that measure in just under 1 1/2 inches (pictured below.) The ones I bought, I got at Sally’s in a pack of 24. I know you can buy them in a little container that have 100 in them, but for whatever reason, they are just a little bit bigger than the ones that come in the 24 pack. Either way, they are still smaller than the regular 2″ ones.
Sorry for the blurriness – but here they are side by side. Even thought it’s just a 1/2 inch, I do find it very helpful to have less of a bobby pin – depending on what style I am doing.
** I got a comment from Jill about “salon” type bobby pins — and I totally forgot about those. I had a few floating around in my bobby pins that I probably had from my sister who does hair. I don’t know if the top one looks like what Jill is talking about, but thinking about it now, they do hold better and can be hidden better than the regular ones. (I’d just forgotten about them & am used to just grabbing them in my “one-stop-shopping with kids in tow!) The top one in this picture is not the kind you can buy at Wal-Mart. As you can see it’s a bit curved on the bottom (that’s on purpose) and if you could see it in real life, it is slimmer than the every day pin. Jill said she has a 1lb. box that is Flamingo brand. ** You’d have to take a good look at the pins if you go to a beauty supply store to see which ones you would prefer and which might work best for your DD’s head of hair. ** So, thanks Jill for the reminder!
Over at She Does Hair, she’s done this on her oldest DD’s hair so you can see pictures of how it is done as well — she’s used 4 bobby pins to get an extra firm hold. In the video I just used 2. I do this whole “X” idea when I want to pull the girls hair up on the sides and don’t want to pull it into a full half pony with a rubber band. I find the X works very well in securing hair.
In the next video I’m showing you another way to get a bobby pin to stay anchored securely in hair. This is something I used to do in my own hair when I’d want a piece of hair pulled up out of my face. The whole idea of pushing the bobby pin towards yourself and then away from yourself (if you are doing it on your DD) works great when doing corn rows and twists – or even if you are pulling hair up from the sides. If you do it on yourself, you’d just put it in forwards and then push backwards. Somehow it grabs a bit of hair when you push it the one way and then when you reverse the direction it grabs the main part of hair you are wanting to secure.
Hopefully the videos give you an idea or two that will help hold your DD’s hair in place with the use of bobby pins. As you can see, there are plenty of things a bobby pin can be used for, other than just shoving them into a bun! They can also be used to smooth out a bump in a hairdo or hide a piece of hair that is out of place. Let me know if you have any other questions or suggestions on the use of bobby pins.
