A barrette for holding hair having an improved wireform latch in which the barrette includes a top plate having upstanding pivots and upstanding receptor hooks, and the wireform being a semirigid wire in a frogleg shape which is put in tension parallel to the plate by compressing the legs together to allow hooking of the legs to the pivots and in rotary tension away from the plate by compressing hair between the plate and wireform by such hooking.