The aisles of department stores and beauty counters are filled with hair accessories. If you have thin hair, you might think, “Why bother?” when most clips, elastics, and pins either slide off immediately or make your hair look flatter than they already are.
This where our recommendations come in! These accessories for thin hair not only add style but volume, too—no matter what season you’re in, fall, winter, spring, or summer—and of course, they’ll always stay on.
Prepping Thin Hair For Accessorising
Thin and fine hair tend to be slippery, which is why hair accessories often slide off. While we’re going to mention a lot of great accessories for thin hair that can actually hold onto your strands, sometimes your hair just won’t cooperate and will try to “kick off” those pins and barrettes without much effort.
When that happens, you can try these tips:
- Don’t wash your hair before using an accessory – Day 2 or 3 hair means it has a little bit of oil and dirt for the accessories to hold on to. And it’s what most of us like to do when we want to perfect our “clean girl” buns and fluffy ponytails.
- Use a texture spray – If you like washing your hair every day because it gets oily easily, that’s fine. Just apply texturising spray all over your hair to give it that “dirty” feel. Your hair won’t actually be dirty, but it’ll help your ribbons, scarves, and scrunchies to stay in place.
Best Accessories For Thin Hair All Year Round
1. Skinny Silk Scrunchies
Scrunchies may remind you of thick bulky fabrics, but hair accessories have come a long way since then. Now, there are thin silk scrunchies that are designed for thin and fine hair types. They may be small, but their hold is powerful.
Whether you’re going to pilates or on a run, you can rely on this modern essential hair tie to keep your hair in place without leaving annoying creases or dents.
2. French U Pin
U pins are the secret to chic “undone” updos. They may take some practise to master, but once you do, you’ll never go a day without using it.
It comes in different sizes and designs, but we’ve found the pins with wiggly sides work best at gripping thin hair. If you find your hair still falls off, you can always go in with some texture spray to “dirty” it up a bit.
3. Claw Clip
Also known as a jaw clip, this hair accessory comes in different shapes, sizes, and designs. It’s so easy to use and won’t damage your hair!
To create volume while wearing it, take a curling iron and give your strands some waves. The extra body, secured with a claw clip, will make you look chic without putting too much effort in.
Tip: Use claw clips on the smaller side or have a mix of both small and big teeth are the perfect ones for thin hair.
4. Mini Butterfly Clips
Butterfly clips add a layer of cuteness to your overall look. By combing back sections of your hair and placing a clip to secure it in place, you create an illusion of thicker hair without having to tease or hairspray your mane!
5. Narrow Headband
We love headbands. They’re no longer the school girl accessory they used to be known for, thanks to unique designs.
While thicker headbands have a nice vintage feel to them, when we’re rocking our natural hair, the narrow one is our go-to.
It won’t add a ton of thickness like hair extensions would, but narrow headbands don’t overwhelm thin hair. By pushing it backwards, it gathers a lot of hair towards the back, giving some faux volume.
6. Banana Clips
Ever wonder if you can create a fluffy ponytail with just your natural tresses? Enter banana clips.
Thanks to its unique mechanism—if a hair tie and a claw clip had a baby, it would be this—it holds onto your hair without flattening it into a small elastic. The result? A ponytail that looks fuller and healthier.
7. Leather Barrettes
Raise your hand if putting your hair up in a pony makes you conscious over how thin your hair is. Same here.
But, when we discovered leather barrettes, we never turned back. On days we’re not looking to wear The Halo and just want to go with an au naturel ponytail, we put a leather barrette on top of the elastic to mask our thin ponytails!
8. Satin Ribbons
Want to feel like you’re in a Disney movie? Place a ribbon on your hair. Don’t worry, satin ribbons don’t look like the ones you used to wear on school picture day.
Now, they sleeker and less decoration-on-a-cake, if you know what we mean.
For thin and fine hair, thin ribbons will complement you the best. Thicker ribbons, we’ve found, veer into baby territory—which is fine, but on a day-to-day basis, it’s not very demure or mindful.
9. Silk Scarves
Silk scarves are famous for helping you create heatless waves, but did you know they make a pretty hair accessory, too? You can use it as a chic bandana, create a faux headband, or tie it around your braid to add some bulk to it. Tip: Make sure you tie the ends tight so it doesn’t slip!
10. Decorative Combs
When we hear of decorative combs, the one Rose had in Titanic is always at the top of our minds. But, in our quest to find accessories that can make thin hair look thicker, we learned it can get the job done.
Like a headband, when a comb is brushed back and secured on the hair, it creates faux volume, making hair instantly look bouncier and healthier! Plus, they make great accessories for buns.
