Vintage Hairpins : Just As Magical As Unicorns

I have just discovered the most amazing thing.Well, truthfully I haven't just discovered it, but have been too lazy to sort through two ominous trash bags of garge sale sewing goodies that have been parked in my living room for the better part of a month. Tired of my living room looking like the dumping ground for household trash I finally took the time this weekend to sort through the old patterns, seam binding, thread, and other goodies that have been paitently awaiting my attention.
While rummging through these bags of plenty I came across my medicine-bottle-housed vintage hair pins that I haphazarly had thrown in the bag for the sake of easy transport. These pins looked like nothing special when I picked them out of a pile of bathroom acessories, but upon opening the little orange bottles I discovered my new favourite thing...well at least my new favourite thing this week. Mixed in with some sturdy black bobby pins were old school hair pins. And by hair pins, I do not mean bobby pins, nor do I mean those modern things they label "hair pins" but are about the structural equivalent of a twist tie. I mean hair pins, those magical sturdy wonders they used back in the day to create all those nifty, twisty, updos.

Vintage Hairpins Found At Vanity Treasures
I have recently taken to growing out my hair, and I couldn't tell if this is because I want it to grow out or if I'm too lazy and poor to pay to get it cut, but regardless, I have long hair and I am often at a loss at what to do with it. I love the updos of the teens, 20s, and 30s in which the girls with freakishly long hair magange to get it up in graceful twists coiffures,and buns that are seemingly supported by nothing more than happy thoughts. I have been attempting these hair styles to try and add some casual elegance to my daily wear with some setbacks. I have been using bobbypins, lots and lots of bobby pins. While bobby pins are magical in their own way, they are not the best option for updos. A few hours into my day and my hair would be coming loose, millions of bobby pins would be raining from my hair, and the ones that were left would be poking me in the head. Needless to say, it is not the best situation.

These hair pins on the other hand are magical. While I have only used them twice, I can already attest to their affectiveness mearly by the fact that I only have to employ three of them to keep my hair up. I don't feel the need to keep checking my hair, and I'm not self conscious about obnoxiously visible masses of bobby pins.

1913 Coiffure

 

There is an awesome post on the American Duchess blog containing black and white films from the early 1920s demonstrating how to achieve these suprisingly easy and stylish coiffures that I am so fond of.