Needlesand pins were complements of female beauty. They were made of bronze and especially of bone, with the head moulded and shaped in various forms, and were frequently used to create hairstyles (acus crinalis) by slave hairdressers (ornatrix) with the intention of holding and decorating hairstyles, similar to current hairclips.

From the Flavian era, Roman fashion creates complex hairstyles which implied the use of hair extensions and required dozens of pins, which adopted diverse forms and decorations depending on the materialused. Normally they were finished with a simple ball, or sometimes with a more complex motif.