I see this constantly with thick hair clients: they're using the exact same small pin someone with fine hair would use, then wondering why it disappears into the section and does nothing. A pin that's too short or too thin simply doesn't have enough length or grip strength to hold a large section of hair under real weight.
Thick hair needs a large hair pin for a simple reason: more hair means more weight, and more weight means the pin needs a longer shaft to travel fully through the section and a sturdier build to hold under that tension without bending or slipping.
Signs your pin is too small:
- It gets fully buried and you can't tell if it's actually gripping anything
- Your bun or twist holds for an hour, then starts sagging
- You're using three or four small pins to do the job one larger pin should do
What a properly sized pin does differently: it travels through the full width of a thick section instead of just skimming the surface, which means it's actually catching hair on both sides of the twist rather than one thin slice of it. That's the difference between a pin that holds and a pin that's just decorative.
For very thick, very long, or genuinely hard-to-hold hair, the Power Pin is built at the length and gauge that hair type actually needs. If your hair is thick but not in that outlier category, the Petite Power Pin is often enough on its own. And if you're building more structure into an updo first, Foundation Pins give you that support underneath before the final pin goes in.
The goal with thick hair was never to fight it into submission with more pins. It's using the right pin so one or two can do what five smaller ones can't.
Related reading: Best Hairpins for Thick Hair · The Power Pin: The Hair Pin Built to Hold a Bun · The Complete Guide to Hairpins
Shop hairpins by hair type → dayratebeauty.com/collections/pins
