Animal Hair Clips: What's the Cutest Pick for School Mornings?

Why animal clips keep coming back

Animal designs are easy to tell apart. A poodle, a puppy and a kitten each carry a clear shape, and a child can name it in a second. That matters on a crowded morning, when the clips are in a pouch and the bell is about to go. Patterns that look similar at a distance are the ones that end up swapped.

We would not buy animal clips for their novelty alone. Buy them for the moment they solve: the child who keeps picking the same clip because it is the only one she can find, and the parent who is tired of matching pairs at 7 am.

Poodle, puppies or kittens: which print for which day

Our opinion is that a quieter print belongs in the school bag and a bolder one belongs in the party box. The Poodle and Puppies Day designs suit a school day, because they sit well beside a uniform and do not pull the eye across the playground. The Kittens Love and Kittens Day designs are the ones we would pick for a birthday or a festive afternoon, when a bit more colour is the whole point.

If you are only going to buy one set, choose the design your child names first. Taste in a seven-year-old is a better guide than any list, and a clip she actually wears is worth more than a perfect match.

How many to buy, and in which pack

The snap clips come in packs of 2, 4 or 6, from Rs 199. A pack of two is enough for a trial: one for school, one spare. A pack of four lets a child rotate between a school day and a weekend. A pack of six makes sense for a child who loses clips at the gate, and for siblings who share a drawer. Check the product page for the current stock, since designs sell at different speeds.

The thing most parents miss: the clip goes missing at the gate

Here is the mistake that loses the most clips. The clip is not lost in class. It is lost in the rush at the gate, when a child takes off her cap, shakes out her hair and drops one on the step. The fix is not a better clip. It is a spare pair in the school bag, so that the lost one does not turn into a morning of tears.

Keep the spare in the front pocket, not at the bottom of the bag. A child who knows where the spare is will reach for it, and the clip she loses on Monday is back in her hair by Tuesday.

The fix is not a better clip. It is a spare pair in the school bag.

Wearing animal clips without the look going wrong

Two clips at the side work better than a row of six along the parting. Slide the clip in at a slight angle, above the ear, and keep the hair smooth beneath it. Animal prints are busy, so they look best against a plain hairstyle: a neat side parting, a low ponytail or a simple braid. Put the bold print in a bun and it competes with the bun.

Do not wear a clip under a tight woolly cap in winter. The cap presses the clip into the hair and the snap can slip. Take the cap off first, pin the clip, then put the cap back on.

What we would skip

Skip any clip with loose charms or small parts that a child can pull off and put in her mouth. For a young child, keep it simple: a snap clip with no loose charms is the safer pick. If a clip starts to bend or a snap loosens, replace it rather than bending it back, since a weak clip is the one that falls out in the playground.