Retailers in Australia could soon be selling a $10 hairclip that is also a knife, screwdriver wrench and bottle opener.
The ingenious design allows a virtual toolbox made from reinforced steel to be clipped into onto a belt or into the hair.
The MTA clip was designed by Yaacov Goldberg, from Tel Aviv, Israel The 6cm device is designed like a traditional snap-style clip but comes with handy features, it’s also available in pink. Goldberg said he came up with the idea thanks to his Jewish friends who held their kippah – a cloth cap that is part of their religion – in place with hair clips.
At first glance, this clip looks like a standard accessory used purely to secure a hairstyle in place.
The clip is strengthened with steel and features a screwdriver, an 8mm wrench, a ruler, a nail file, a trolley coin, a bottle opener and a serrated knife.
The silver model features a screwdriver, an 8mm wrench, a ruler, a trolley coin, a bottle opener and a serrated knife.
The product was previously known as the Clippa Lady.
It measures 4.92 x 2.87 x 0.82 inches and is available in black, silver and pink.
Alongside the screwdriver function is a series of markings that can be used as a ruler, or scrape to keep nails clean.
‘They often use the clip to open boxes or screw and unscrew things so I thought ‘why not take this and make it into a real, functional multi-tool?’
‘I thought of all the useful little things people always want to be close to them and tried to incorporate them into the clip.
‘One of the hardest parts was creating all these functions in something so small.
‘The silver clip is only 6cm long and the pink and black varieties are only 5cm.
‘Trying to make everything work was difficult.
‘I made a lot of samples of each tool and then had to work out how to combine them.
Alongside the screwdriver function is a series of markings that can be used as a ruler, or a scrape to keep nails clean.
Mr Goldberg said the knife can cut ‘all sorts, from fruit to rope’, but assured wearers it won’t cut the hair while wearing it.
‘There are various tools on the market but you have to remember to take them with you,’ Mr Goldberg continued.
‘Often people will leave it in their kitchen or their bag and they don’t have it when they need it.
‘With the hairclip it’s on your head all the time, you don’t need to think about it and remember to carry it with you.
‘The feedback so far has been great. People really like it and have found it very useful.
‘I took on board what people said after I made the first one. Something people felt a bottle opener was missing, so I included that in the newer designs.’
On Amazon, one reviewer, Sarah Hubbard, wrote that she bought the gift for her friend’s 11-year-old daughter who ‘had been complaining that multi-tools were made for boys’ and revealed that she ‘loved it’.
At this stage it is not known how airport security will react to the device.
