This is a 2 piece barrette. A tad longer then standard 100mm, 12mm wide. There is no inner tension spring at all. I had a request from a customer to look for this style barrette that has a rubber tube on it. Her claim is they do not slip in your hair. This also has what is called a rolled edge. You can see it in the second photo. I believe it is done to stiffen the top piece.   After trying this on a number of woman, our conclusion is it actually holds quite well in thinner straight hair. If you have really thick full hair this might not work, however it works great when doing a partial clip hair style. I think you will find it works on more people then you might think. Very light, low profile also. These are made by the same company that is now producing the copy of the "original made in France barrette". To me these do not seem to have quite the same quality, finish is a bit rougher, I am not sure the metal is the same but very close. They cost a lot less though and I think overall you might find they sell well and hold up fine. Worth a try.