How to use amish pins?

[RebekahE]

I just bought some 2.5 in crinkled amish hair pins. I tried putting my hair in a pony tail, english braiding it and doing a cinnabun but it started giving me a headache as soon as I had it up.
I'd really like to make these work so I can put my hair up for work instead of always wearing it in a braid. (Forks, sticks are not allowed). Any ideas? My hair is fine, tbl length and relatively thick. It is also very slippery, so it likes to escape.

[Anje]

Use them exactly like they're little hair forks.

I'll see if I can find you a video, but the big thing is that they're more like mini forks than bobby pins. You're not going to get a hold by trying to sandwich hair between the tines. If you need to hide them even better, I painted the tops of mine with brown nailpolish.

ETA: I tend to get better holds in general with lazy-wrap-style buns over cinnamon buns. Cinnamon buns always seem to slip out in the middle on me, unless I have multiple long pins going through.

ETA2: Here's an LHC member's video. She uses the Amish pins a little differently from how I do (skewering the bun with one leg, then rotating, where I just go directly in with both legs) but you can see how she inserts it, angling out a little, then rotates the pin so that both tips drag along the scalp and then enter the bun so that they're about the same distance from the scalp, instead of one leg being significantly further away from the scalp than the other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YLfH0XXPSg

[Cg]

For my slippery hair I always push one leg in, rotate and twist it 180 degrees, then push both legs in. Horizontal or 45 degrees in the bottom half of the bun so gravity doesn't work against you.

[nekosan]

I do the same "touch-rotate-insert" that i do with hair forks. I seem to have to twist and bun tighter to get them to stay in (as compared to larger forks). I had to play around with them for a while before i got them to work for me - don't take initial problems as complete failure. =)

[nekosan]

P.S. - here are a couple of bun pics held by Amish pins; i believe two 3-inch pins per bun. You can see some of the ends if you look closely. That'll hold for me if i get things right; if i don't, the pins will be spat out in less than 15 minutes. (Hence what i mean by "it takes practice".)

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=23816&d=1467768317
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=23638&d=1466616586

[Ligeia Noire]

I have an old video where I do a bun with gigantic U pins that I absolutely love, Gossamer talked about them in a video and I immediately bought them. They are amazing, strong, durable, huge and better than all, I just need two to hold a bun! I have amish pins too, my mom only uses those to hold her bun but she has to use tons of them so when I found about these I was flabbergasted. Hope I could send her these, it would revolutionize her life

I show them at the end of the video but I use them starting at 3:12, so you do not have to watch the rest, sorry for the lack of light but you get the point


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJiTPkmAe8Q

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

They look painful! I like hair screws a lot more, I do not get headaches using those while I do with other pins. I am prone to headaches.

[littlestarface]

They're not painful and hold much stronger than spin pins. They're perfect for crown braid, 1 amish pin holds it all in place very nicely.

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

They're not painful and hold much stronger than spin pins. They're perfect for crown braid, 1 amish pin holds it all in place very nicely.

I meant they look painful to me. Especially in that video, all that weight and hair being put on the scalp. I could never see myself having super super long hair and using them, I'd get headaches for sure.

[Cg]

They're not painful and hold much stronger than spin pins. They're perfect for crown braid, 1 amish pin holds it all in place very nicely.

I agree. For me, they hold a lot better than spin pins.

[littlestarface]

I agree. For me, they hold a lot better than spin pins.

Yea, I see people refer to them as work horses(?) and yes they are.

[Ligeia Noire]

I meant they look painful to me. Especially in that video, all that weight and hair being put on the scalp. I could never see myself having super super long hair and using them, I'd get headaches for sure.

Oh they do not hurt at all and they support all the weight as they are quite big, since the hair does not move, it really prevents scalp pulling, it is awesome. My hair is heavy no matter what I use, so sticks, pins, claws, no spin pins though that is a nightmare for me.

[Cherrys]

Amish pins are amazing. What you need to do is squeeze as you insert, then release, allowing the tension to hold your hair. I do a very solid, low bun like so: create a low ponytail, then create a hole in the hair above the hairband, and thread the tail down through this, pull taut. Then, just keep doing this until all your hair is wrapped up around itself. You can spread it around, making sure that the elastic is covered. Then secure with Amish pins, to make them really secure, I either hook some hair from the bun and some scalp hair going the opposite direction I need it to, then flip it around and catch more scalp hair, pushing in. Or, catch bun hair, twist 180 degrees, and then catch scalp hair and hide in the bun.

[MadelineMomo]

Is it possible to use amish pins for non-bun things? For example, pinning a crown braid in place?

Or is the reason they keep falling out that such a thing is not possible, and I should stop exhausting myself trying?

[TatsuOni]

Is it possible to use amish pins for non-bun things? For example, pinning a crown braid in place?

Or is the reason they keep falling out that such a thing is not possible, and I should stop exhausting myself trying?

I use u-pins for a coronet braid, eternal roll and well everything. So Amish pins should work. Oh and I prefer longer ones!

[Entangled]

Is it possible to use amish pins for non-bun things? For example, pinning a crown braid in place?

Or is the reason they keep falling out that such a thing is not possible, and I should stop exhausting myself trying?

Yes, I find them easier to use in my crown braids than Bobby pins. My issue is just that the bright silver color is more challenging to hide!

ETA: To make them stay, I use the “squeeze the tines” technique mentioned above, and try to weave them up and down. (I don’t catch scalp hair when I use them for buns, though: too painful and they hold without it)

[MadelineMomo]

Are there any videos of how to pin up braids with amish pins? Because honestly I cannot imagine how to do it in a way that would work, and word-descriptions aren't always that easy to follow

[Cg]

Are there any videos of how to pin up braids with amish pins? Because honestly I cannot imagine how to do it in a way that would work, and word-descriptions aren't always that easy to follow

Try this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz9zJS3fEhM).

filler text

[AmaryllisRed]

Try this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz9zJS3fEhM).

filler text

Thanks for sharing this.
So apparently what I have are not Amish pins but u-pins. They look a lot more bendable than the Amish pins she shows in the video.

So when you all pin up braids, like milkmaid braids or a coronet, do you hold the pin like she does in the video, with one end on your head and one up in the air? I always insert them flat to my head and try to weave up and down as I push them in, and they always slide out. I haven't tried the squeezing technique yet, though.

Summer is coming and I would LOVE to make u-pins work for a coronet.

[SparrowWings]

So when you all pin up braids, like milkmaid braids or a coronet, do you hold the pin like she does in the video, with one end on your head and one up in the air? I always insert them flat to my head and try to weave up and down as I push them in, and they always slide out. I haven't tried the squeezing technique yet, though.
Absolutely not. I do the same as you. I don't know how, with one side up in the air like that, the hair doesn't just unbend the pin and fall right out -- even if the head half of the pin stays in the scalp hair leaving you looking like an upset porcupine!

I haven't figured out a foolproof way to weave yet, but sometimes I get lucky and it holds like a rock, and other times I'm left pushing the escapees back in periodically throughout the day. It usually holds well enough with that caveat, though. So long as you don't mind the braid slipping towards the back of the head no matter how securely it remains connected to the scalp hair. Darned slippery Houdini! I've pretty much given up on coronets that aren't based on French or Dutch braid(s) so there's something near the front of the scalp that won't slip, for that reason.

[Cg]

Absolutely not. I do the same as you. I don't know how, with one side up in the air like that, the hair doesn't just unbend the pin and fall right out -- even if the head half of the pin stays in the scalp hair leaving you looking like an upset porcupine!

I haven't figured out a foolproof way to weave yet, but sometimes I get lucky and it holds like a rock, and other times I'm left pushing the escapees back in periodically throughout the day. It usually holds well enough with that caveat, though. So long as you don't mind the braid slipping towards the back of the head no matter how securely it remains connected to the scalp hair. Darned slippery Houdini! I've pretty much given up on coronets that aren't based on French or Dutch braid(s) so there's something near the front of the scalp that won't slip, for that reason.

I do a lot of weaving too, and always I insert both points of the Amish pin in against the direction I want to go first, then flip. My slippery hair won't keep any pin in solidly so I just expect to have to repin during the day.

For a coronet braid I use crinkly Amish pins in an X pattern: one going up, one going down at the same anchor place, inserting one from the front and the other from the back. At the next anchoring point, I alternate front/back starts. Nothing is foolproof in slippery hair, but if the pins grab one another and are angled in different directions, there's a greater chance that they'll hold longer.

[TatsuOni]

Are there any videos of how to pin up braids with amish pins? Because honestly I cannot imagine how to do it in a way that would work, and word-descriptions aren't always that easy to follow

Ask and you shall recieve :p I did a video showing how I do it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=843dUQmpRRM&feature=youtu.be

[AmaryllisRed]

Cg-- thanks for posting about the x-pattern. I'm going to try that!

Tatsu-- what a terrific video! I've seen other coronet videos, like you said, but (but!) you do some things differently.

[TatsuOni]

Cg-- thanks for posting about the x-pattern. I'm going to try that!

Tatsu-- what a terrific video! I've seen other coronet videos, like you said, but (but!) you do some things differently.

But thank you! :flower: :eyebrows:

[SelenVinland]

The main thing I’ve used Amish pins for in the past was cosplay wigs. I would pin-curl my hair, then put on the wig and weave the Amish pins into the pin curls. And let me tell you, those wigs may as well have been glued to my head if I did this properly. They weren’t going anywhere. :laugh:

[MadelineMomo]

Ok, it took a few tries, but I managed to get the braid to stay in place.

[TatsuOni]

Ok, it took a few tries, but I managed to get the braid to stay in place.

How did you pin it? :)

[AmaryllisRed]

I just pinned up my sleep braid in a coronet and it feels pretty secure. I squeezed the pins as I inserted them. I started them angled away, grabbed scalp hair as I switched direction then came back up into the braid. And I tried to do half the pins more towards the back and half in the front.
We'll see how it goes.
(Actually I'm going to redo it before I go out, since it is my sleep braid and super shreddy, but if I pinned it well, it should stay until I redo it.)

[AmaryllisRed]

Thanks to the tips in this thread (and Tatsu's video) I think I've mastered pinning the coronet! I pinned it up yesterday evening and it stayed through a workout (with my headband over the bottom portion) AND while I slept! It's messy, sure, and I'll redo it if I go out, but it's still up and holding!
I do think I'll switch to the shorter pins if I redo it. I used the longer and the ends are sticking out everywhere. It's not obvious unless you look a long time or the light hits just right.

[TatsuOni]

Thanks to the tips in this thread (and Tatsu's video) I think I've mastered pinning the coronet! I pinned it up yesterday evening and it stayed through a workout (with my headband over the bottom portion) AND while I slept! It's messy, sure, and I'll redo it if I go out, but it's still up and holding!
I do think I'll switch to the shorter pins if I redo it. I used the longer and the ends are sticking out everywhere. It's not obvious unless you look a long time or the light hits just right.

That's great! :cheer:

[pisces1480]

I had never heard of these before, but am interested to try now.

[baggs30]

I have used many different hair pins to secure styles. Using Amish pins just as you would a fork makes soo much sense! I will have to try that the next time I use them.