FAQs on Bobby Pins

Bobby pins or kirby grip or hair grip are useful tools for our hair. Therefore, we decided to look further and come up with FAQs on Bobby Pins.

To start, I know there are several times that you get out with your bobby pins and cannot explain why they disappear or even where they go to. Most of the people have wasted a lot of money in a year on bobby pins.

Why do Bobby pins disappear?

There are several reasons why bobby pins disappear. The first reason is that they are thin and light which makes them easy to go missing without notice. They are also not very tight and hence if the hair is wet or oily, they may slip off.

Now, do you know where most of them go? Sometimes they get lost while in a car especially to your car center console where your hands cannot fit. Some are left at the beach others in beds and hotels. Some of the people think that they go to the magical world somewhere where you cannot be able to say or even explain. I bet it’s the same thing that happens to socks.

What are bobby pins?

A bobby pin is a kind of hairpin either plastic or metallic whose sole purpose in hair is to hold the hair in place. In simple terms, bobby pins are double-pronged to make it easy for them to slide into the hair with the prongs open. After that, they are closed over the hair to hold the hair in place. In its obvious state, they are plain and unobtrusively colored. However, in some other conditions, bobby pins can be silver or elaborately decorated.

What are Bobby pins used for?

Bobby pins have the ultimate purpose of holding the hair in place. They are commonly used on bobbed hair but in some other conditions; they are used in up-dos, burns and several other hairstyles. There are some of the instances where Bobby pins are used to hold head coverings in place. In the case of Bandannas, yarmulkes, and headbands, bobby pins can help.

What other ways that Bobby pins be used?

Even though Bobby pins are specifically for holding the hair in place, they can be used in several other situations. The first thing is that they are used to decorate the hair. These pins can as well be used in pairs to pick the lock in case of makeshift. Additionally, they can be used as clips to hold multi-portion packages closed between users. Bobby pins can as well be used in a library as bookmarks. There are some of the people that get several pins, straighten them and slip them in between the pages.

In places where marijuana is legal, there are some of the smokers that use bobby pins to hold the piece. This is to ensure that you don’t get burnt when you are smoking the remaining piece of marijuana. In this case, this pin is known as ‘’roach clip’’. Finally, they can be used to thread laces through heavy materials such as precut holes in leather.

Why are they called bobby pins?

Bobby pins were invented by Luis Marcus in Paris in 1899. The bobby pins were invented when most of the women kept their hair short and styled them in a style known as Bobby's hair. After the invention, many women adopted them in America and several other parts of the world. Therefore, that is how did bobby pins get their name.

In the US only, the number of beauty shops selling these pins and styling hair increased. At the time of invention, they were so inexpensive to the extent that almost every woman hands them. They got the name from the fact that they were used to hold the hair into this style. By this time they were meant to change the world and almost everyone started talking about bobby pins.

Can Bobby pins be recycled?

Yes, this is one of the wisest things to do with bobby pins. Now that there are very many bobby pins in the market and our environment, there are environmental concerns. Most of the users today are wondering whether they can recycle these pins which I have to say is very applicable.

The first good thing is that Bobby pins are made of metal and if you put them on the dustbins, you will realize that garbage collectors will get them. If you don’t have a reliable mechanism of recycling them, then bend them into L shapes and put them into recyclable cans. Because the cans can be recycled, they will be taken together with them.

Can I get non-metal bobby pins?

There are several people out there that have a hard time coping with metals in their heads or need a non-metal pin for MRI.

Some of them get serious outbreaks when the metal stays in contact with the skin for a long time. In this regard, you can get in the market and get a worry-free plastic bobby pin for your next use. You can at any time choose bobby pins made of plastic or wood. They are also very easy to reuse, recycle and dump.

Will bobby pins go off in the metal detector?

I have seen women forced to get their hairpins off when they are going through metal detectors. They are forced to get them back after bypassing the security check. However, you have to know that the sensitivity of the metal detectors varies but now you need to get plastic or wood bobby pins if you are worried about them setting metal detectors off.

How many Bobby pins are made each year?

If you are asking this question, then I have to make it open that there are several companies out there that make bobby pins. So to get a clear answer to that, we have to take into account all the companies in the market for bobby pins. No one has a clear figure as to how many bobby pins are made each year but I can say there are many manufacturers manufacturing millions of bobby pins in a year.

How many bobby pins are lost each year?

UberFact states that women lose approximately 1.73 billion bobby pins every year. How true is that? Firstly, the source, UberFacts, is founded by Kris Sanchez who He committed to tweeting “the most unimportant things you’ll never need to know". There are millions of followers so it might be plausibly true. Second, for 1.73 billion to be lost in 365 days, that would be 4,739,726 lost in 1 day! Given that only millions of bobby pins being manufactured in a year instead of 1 day, there would no pins left by now. Therefore, we believed the number to be much lower, probably only millions being lost each year.

How Are Bobby Pins Made?

We found 2 videos of factories that produce bobby pins. It seems like the machines will just produce and bend the parts into the shape. Nevertheless, it is interesting how little is known about the bobby pins manufacturing process on the Internet. 

What Are Bobby Pins Made Of

However, from the Internet videos, it was not clear the materials used. However, we believed nickel is part of the metal used to make metal bobby pins. This is important because nickel allergic (nickel rash) is more common than you think. Therefore, most people prefer nickel-free hypoallergenic hairpins such as plastic hairpins.