Should I straighten my hair before pin curling?

[Laraquan]

I've always wondered how a girl should prepare her hair before going for a vintage look. Should I wash and shampoo that morning? The night before? Should I have my hair perfectly straight (I have wavy hair) before putting in the pin curls? Or should I let it be wavy? How does a person make sure the pin curls set, anyway? Do you have it wet, pin curl it, and then set it with a blow dryer?

Pardon my lack of knowledge. I've been a tomboy for so long and I'm only starting to break away from that.

 

[ohairas]

Hiya! If you want to do it like the "olden days".. then you would set your pin curls in freshly washed, damp hair with a setting lotion or light gel. I would invest in a table top hooded dryer, about $30. This is for any hair type. I definitely would not straighten first.

Pin curls can be tighter than a normal roller set. You may want to just get some magnetic rollers. These are just plastic rollers and you use metal clippies to hold them in. They will give a great smooth finish to naturally wavy hair.

You can do pin curls by winding the hair around your fingers till you get to your scalp, but the real way is to comb out about an inch square section or so, nice and smooth to the tip, and start winding down tip of the ends towards the scalp. The first way will give you more of a touseled sprially effect, the second a smoother finish.

You could also let your hair air dry wavy, and set the ends with an iron. You'll have to try different things, just go for it!

There are lots of great hair threads, do a search and check out the sticky thread too.

Best wishes,
Nikki

 

[Pink Dahlia]

I set pin curls the night before with setting lotion (you can buy it at Sally's). By morning they're dry and very curly! They relax as the day wears on and the next day they still look good!

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Hi Laraquan

You ask a very good question. The Fedora Lounge and The Powder Room are great sources for vintage hair information. There are a bunch of threads in the archives in regards to pin curls and other vintage styles. You might find this thread useful and The classic style starter kit thread also has some great hairstyling info. I would recommend doing a search through the archives. You might just have to do several different key word searches before you come up with the exact thread that has the information that you need. Also, searching through Google is very useful too. Just add "The Fedora Lounge" to whatever keywords you are searching with, and archive listings will come up. There is a ton of hair info here, it may take some time to find it, but it's here. There are also a lot of resources on the web in regards to this as well.

Everybody's hair is different, so what might work for some may not work for you. IMO, your hair does not have to be straight before you set it. The best way to get curls that last is by doing a wet set. I find sponge rollers work the best, but they aren't all that comfortable to sleep in. Jitterbugdoll has introduced me to these wonderful foamy sticks, kind of like hot sticks but they are soft and more comfy to sleep in. I'm getting great curls from that. Basically spray your hair with a mixture of water and setting lotion, set, and sleep. In the morning you should have a nice head of curls.

Again, there are a ton of different options for setting ones hair. Literally hundreds of different products, wet sets, damp sets dry sets. Soooo much information. Do some digging in the powder room, there are a lot of previously existing threads on hair. Also, you're gonna have to play around a bit with different products and different sets to find the right one that will work best for you. Being that you already have a natural wave to your hair, it should hold a pin curl nicely. But, for me the key is a wet set air dried over night and a lot of setting lotion.

 

[pigeon toe]

I haven't tried pincurls yet, but I'm probably going to next week. Over at vintage_hair on livejournal someone posted a tutorial where they clipped their hair with these:

I can't imagine those are meant to be slept on though! What do you ladies use to secure your pincurls if you're going to sleep on them?

 

[ohairas]

I'm gonna have to dig out my old beauty school book and scan some pics for ya's!

Pigeon, I would use bobby pins to sleep in, tho they won't be comfy and can leave indention marks on your curls.

Also, you can roll pin curls down like a barrel curl, or think of a reverse roll.. which you can see through and it sticks out from your head. Or you roll them to be flat to your head. Of course the barrel type will dry quicker.

I could never sleep in pin curls, my hair would be a wadded mess when I awoke, haha!

Nikki

 

[ShooShooBaby]

I can't imagine those are meant to be slept on though! What do you ladies use to secure your pincurls if you're going to sleep on them?

i've always just used bobby pins, 2 on each pincurl, in an X formation. i put a scarf on my head over them, and i've never thought it to be too uncomfortable. i've never used those clips you posted a pic of, i've always been afraid they'd slide out of my hair.

 

[Miss Sis]

No, I wouldn't straighten your hair. Having wavy hair is an excellent basis to give you a good set.

I find the best way to get a decent set (and I have straight, fine hair) is to wash it, not condition as it stops my hair from holding a curl, but this might be different for you, comb through setting lotion when it is really wet then set either on soft rollers or pin curl with at least two bobby pins to hold it. Then I sit under a hood hairdryer for a bit (as long as possible - at least an hour for shoulder length hair) and then sleep on it. It will be dry in the morning and hold the curl.

 

[Pink Dahlia]

I haven't tried pincurls yet, but I'm probably going to next week. Over at vintage_hair on livejournal someone posted a tutorial where they clipped their hair with these:

I can't imagine those are meant to be slept on though! What do you ladies use to secure your pincurls if you're going to sleep on them?

I use those because I can't get bobby pins to stay in. They are not uncomfortable. I fall asleep quite easily.

 

[RetroMom]

I have used both the pin curl (double prong) clips and bobbie pins. I like the clips best because they have the spring and are easier to open when you are holding the pin curl in place. They are faster too, because you use just one instead of two bobbie pins.

 

[Miss Sis]

Us girls sure must have tough old heads!

One friend of mine can't even sleep with bobby pins in because she says it's so uncomfortable it keeps her awake all night.

I have slept with hard plastic rollers in. Just need a soft pillow and no problem....

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I haven't tried pincurls yet, but I'm probably going to next week. Over at vintage_hair on livejournal someone posted a tutorial where they clipped their hair with these:

I can't imagine those are meant to be slept on though! What do you ladies use to secure your pincurls if you're going to sleep on them?

They actually sell a clip very similar to these, yet they have double prongs, so they kind of mimic the 2 pins you would use in a traditional pin curl. I found mine at CVS.

 

[olive bleu]

another solution to the painful pin-head lol when you are sleeping...my mother had a scarf that was slightly padded, almost like 2 nylon scarves with a thin layer of foam between them.I made my own, and tie it over my head when i sleep( yes, sexy, i know) very comfy..it also helps keep them in place.

 

[BitterEpiphany]

This is my current favorite pincurl tutorial. I've given up - too much hair and i'm just not getting the result I want. But, the technique she uses is the only one that ever worked for me when I was doing it.

http://community.livejournal.com/vintage_hair/1245765.html

The advantage to the much discussed pincurl pin, however, is that your hair wont crimp like it sometimes can wtih bobby pins and they're cleaner to pull out

 

[Small Town Girl]

Daisy, I think that I use something very similar to what you're talking about. I think that they are very comfortable to sleep in, but my head isn't really that sensitive and I have quite a threshold for pain I would say that the bobby pins are great--that's how my grandmother used to do it!! I don't carry the torch for that tradition because I find the other clips to be easier. I'm not sure which way is more authentic, but I would say that if you get the same results than the most sensible thing would be to use the most comfortable method.

 

[ohairas]

http://community.livejournal.com/vin...r/1245765.html

What a great method! Thanks for posting the link! The second curl she did would be a barrel curl.. this would be great if you do have time to dry it, or sit under a hooded dryer. You'll get more lift out it, and will probably dry faster.

Wow. I can't believe I never thought of doing them that way, because I've done updo's like that on dry hair before without curling it. One more reason to love message boards. I love learning things from y'all!

Nikki

 

[BitterEpiphany]

The girls at vintagehair are a lot of the same girls from the lounge (i know you're over there!) and the tutorials, pictures and insight is extremely useful - plus, everyone is super sweet

http://community.livejournal.com/vintage_hair/

It's a fantastic hair resource.

 

[Adelaidey]

Thanks so much for the link BitterEpiphany!!! I've never seen that technique done before, and I just tried it-- it worked like a charm! Yay! No more hour-long struggles to pin up my gigantic head of hair! (Now maybe a half-hour?lol )

 

[Helen Troy]

I found this hair spools and thought they may be an easy way to make pin curls. Wha do you think, ladies, would it work?

 

[BitterEpiphany]

Those look like they'd be useful for the hair inept like me. However, because they appear to be so closed, i'd be worried about my hair not drying on time and, the fact that the curl is of a defined size gives you less flexibility (which translates to consistency, of course)