The Vine: December 5, 2007
Sars,
About three or four years ago, I found these great bobby pins at a local chain drugstore. They’re not the brown/black/brassy cheap-looking kind with the weird ridgey top. These were smooth with a slight curve. The best part is that they came about 100 to a sleeve and were in about five different bold, dark colors like rust orange, forest green, and other jeweled tones. Simple and fun.
Unfortunately, I don’t hold onto hair accessories well and have lost them all (four years is a good life span for bobby pins, though). I can’t find them anywhere.
I discovered them in the Indiana/Kentucky region, so I naturally went to neighboring cities and to the same drugstore chain to no avail. I was living in Seattle for a time and didn’t find them there, either.
I’m pretty sure they were Goody brand, but didn’t find them on the website. It’s a small, stupid thing, but oh, how my hair misses them!
Think anyone can help? I’ve tried all the major chains (Walgreen’s, CVS, Jewel, Osco, Walmart, Target) and am currently living in Chicago. Websites are probably my best bet at this point.
Thanks!Damn Hair, Get Out Of My Left Eye
Dear Left Eye,
I am not much help here; my hair is “long” enough now that, occasionally, I can use one of those eeeeeeensy little claw clips that has, like, two teeth on each side, but most of my hair accessories got pitched in ’06 and I’ve spent zero time in the Goody/Scunci aisle since then.
Try eBay or Overstock.com; eBay is really fantastic for things you love that you can’t get online or isn’t made anymore — Ikea Tindra candles (my most recent discovery), typewriter ribbons, film for discontinued Polaroid models, toys Archie McPhee stopped selling, you name it. Not having an exact brand name makes it tougher, but 10 or 15 minutes of fiddling with the search terms will probably turn something up.
Or perhaps the readers know precisely what you mean and can link you to a retailer. Readers?
Tags: Ask The Readers health and beauty
I think you’re talking about Smoothies Bobby Pins. They are curved to fit your head, and don’t have any ridges so they lay flat. I don’t really remember the colors you’re talking about, but I still use these pins and LOVE them.
Try this…
http://smoothiesbyintuition.com/bobby-pins.html
They aren’t bold colors like you want (it’s an attempt to match actual hair color), but I use Goody’s slides bobby pins. They are nice and curvy to fit a real person’s head.
http://www.goody.com/Products/Styling%20Tools/Pins_and_Clips/Pins/Pins.aspx
I wonder if the Goody “Mosaic” ones (also on their website) used to come in different colors – because they look really close to what you want. I use them and they’re great.
I really hate when that happens – you get attached to something, and it’s like – “it was only 3 bucks! why didn’t I stock up?!”
I picked up something like that last week at Publix (Do they have those everywhere? I don’t know) But they are from Goody’s Color Collection, curved, a little more heavy-duty than bobby pins, probably closer to barrettes, actually. These only came 6 to a pack, but they do look more high end and I think they are close to what you want.
Did some ebay investigating. Here’s a couple that sound like what she’s talking about in some of the colors she’s looking for:
http://tinyurl.com/2ut46e
http://tinyurl.com/2wp4ac
I have some bobby pins like the ones described that I got at CVS. They’re made by Scunci, but I didn’t see any boldly colored ones. They’re more of the “comes in haircolor colors” kind. I do love how nicely they lie against my head when I do an updo, though.
I’m wearing my curvy ones from scunci that sound like what you’re describing, even a hundred to a card, but I’ve only ever seen them in black. Sorry! But take heart, they exist in form if not in color.
I have found that discount stores, like non-chain drugstores or beauty supply places, tend to carry older stock. If you look at a store and wonder how it’s still in business, check it out. I’ve found a lot of discontinued barrette-type stuff that way.
Hereby request that OP post back here and let us know whether any of these comments or those to follow are indeed the precise thing she was looking for. If the Tomato Nation Nation is seriously able to track down four-year-old drugstore bobby pins, then I need to know that, for purposes of restoring my waning faith in the world-changing powers of the internet.
Would it be possible to paint some black ones yourself? I think nailpolish would work rather well for that, and you could get quite a variety of colors that way, as well!
Were they like these, but colored? I used to have some like that, years ago. The picture on here is only black, but it lists several styles (in number form only, unfortunately) so maybe they do come in colors?
http://www.scunci.com/product_detail.aspx?gid=17&pid=79&lp=4
It definitely sounds like you’re describing the Goody Mosaic pins. I bought some one time that were bold colors with a little glitter, they came in dark blue, light blue, magenta, black and white.
Places like dollar stores and BigLots have out of date stuff like that sometimes. Otherwise I second the suggestion to paint them with nail polish.
How about the Goody – Elegant edge metallic bobby slides? If the link doesn’t get you there, it’s goody dot com – then go to ‘Collections’, and then ‘Elegant Edge’. It’s the first item on the 4th page of the collection. They look wider than regular bobby pins, but are curved, and come in a couple of colors.
You guys (girls, sorry) are awesome. I’m taking all these into account and finding some other cute stuff. What can I say? I look better with short hair and damn it if it doesn’t require maintenance.