Amish women let their hair grow, so they have a lot of it.  Hair pins keep all those locks in place, up underneath a prayer covering.

I thought I’d give you a look at some plain hair pins.  I picked these up at an Amish dry goods shop (not for personal use, demonstration purposes only, ha-ha).

amish hair pins

They’re thick and sturdy, about 3 inches long, and have pointed but slightly rounded ends.  Made to hold a lot of hair.

amish hair pin end

A Lancaster Amish acquaintance of mine makes hair pins part-time.  Last year he was featured in a Time magazine piece on Amish business:

Daniel Fisher, 36, painstakingly manufactures wire hairpins at his home workshop in the village of Bird-in-Hand, Pa. The hairpins are intended for Amish and Mennonite women, who keep their hair swept up. The work is “extremely tedious,” he admits, but adds, “I enjoy being with my wife and kids so we can work together.”

Dan has a passion for pins.  Walking through his workshop, he talked up his pins’ especially rounded ends–to keep them from catching on individual strands of hair–and their durability as big selling points.

Here is Dan’s basement “pin mill”, and some of his machinery:

amish basement workshop

A contraption for every task:

amish machine

Pins by the bucketful:

amish hairpins

And packages ready for the door:

amish hairpin packages

Read more on why Amish women cover their hair.

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