What is the difference between a barrette and a hair clip?

The difference between a barrette and a clip is that a barrette is a clip or clasp that is used for holding and gathering hair. A clip is something that quite literally grasps or clips meaning that it is an object that is designed to attach an object to another object or quite literally be something that has been clipped.

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Barrettes and hair clips are typically worn near the back of one’s head or off to the side of one’s face to hold their hair in one spot.

In all actuality, a barrette is a hair clip and can have many different clasp variations. Most clasps on barrettes are featured in silver and gold tones and are made of metal; this also depends on the type of accessory it is. Don’t take the former statement to mean that there aren’t any barrettes that have a plastic clasp though, because there are. The size of the clip dictates where a barrette is worn on the head. If you’re wearing a tige boules, or a small barrette, you will typically wear it on the side of the head to hold the smaller pieces of hair away from the face. One would typically wear larger barrettes near the back of the head to keep larger chunks of hair secured.