As if we didn't chat about pin curls enough. . .

[Kitty_Sheridan]

Mine were squishy rubber, but they work really well on my friends straight silky shiny hair. bah humbug!

I just like the name 'Spoolies' lol...

 

[SleepyTimeGal]

I put my hair up in pin curls every night. I find the trick is to only curl up dry hair, but re do it just before bed each night. I do a couple of rows around the nape of the neck, two rows of three on each side at the temple and then the bangs. All up it ends up being about 21-27 curls, which takes about 10 minutes while sitting up in bed. In the morning I brush out gently to shape the waves and run a hair gloss through to smooth it all out.

Its really quick and by putting them up again each night, the set stays lovely all week.

 

[Octavia]

Sleepy, that sounds really similar to what I do – and I can agree it definitely works! I do dry pincurls every evening and wear a satin bonnet over them to bed. It only takes me about 10 minutes. Sometimes 15 if I'm being meticulous. I do fairly large, chunky pincurls, as I have thick hair prone to frizz, and that cuts down on time a lot too. But quickly re-setting my hair every night keeps my curls looking tip-top and fresh all week (actually better as the week goes on).

 

[ZombieGirl]

I put my hair up in pin curls every night. I find the trick is to only curl up dry hair, but re do it just before bed each night. I do a couple of rows around the nape of the neck, two rows of three on each side at the temple and then the bangs. All up it ends up being about 21-27 curls, which takes about 10 minutes while sitting up in bed. In the morning I brush out gently to shape the waves and run a hair gloss through to smooth it all out.

Its really quick and by putting them up again each night, the set stays lovely all week.

[huh] I guess I'm confused...[huh] how does the set hold if you don't set the wet or with setting lotion... I'm in the baby stages of hair sets so I'm not sure how all this stuff works. Thanks!!!

 

[Scarlet Belle]

I do my sets dry too! Or sometimes I dampen them a little bit with a setting lotion first. But I find a dry pin curl makes a lovely, smooth curl and wave rather than a fluffy or frizzy one, which can happen with a wet set. I spray the hell out of it after Ive styled it... Im not sure how, but it just seems to stay if I leave the curls in over night. My hair is only mid neck length though, the curls use to fall out a lot quicker when it was long.

 

[GoddessMama]

I get the opposite results. If I do a wet set I have flawless curls. Dry is nothing but a mess. I have coarse curly hair though, I wonder if this has anything to do with it?

 

[ZombieGirl]

I suppose it probably all comes down to hair type and technique... do what works right? Right now, pin curls do not work for me, so I'm working on getting foam curlers right. I had some success the other night... they were going in really nicely and then... dun dun DUN!!! Ran out of curlers for the back of my head. So I put some pin curls in back there and as I've said I'm no good at those so the back was pretty much flat. But I was very encouraged by how the front of my hair turned out.

 

[Magpye]

This is my first post so hello everyone! I hope you don't mind me bringing up a thread that hasn't been added to for a couple of days but I thought it'd be selfish for me to start a new thread & clutter up the boards

I'm having a little trouble with my pin curls in that they seem to turn out really fluffy & flicky! I have quite short hair (just past chin length with layers) and I've been trying for a few weeks to get some nice pin curls but it just ends up with me having to wash them out in the morning because they're not good enough to go out in public with.

I've been using a dolly peg to wrap the hair around (1/2 inch strands) but I think maybe I'm curling them the wrong way. I've been putting the hair in the peg & rolling down but am I supposed to be rolling to the side? Is there maybe something else I'm doing wrong? Any help would be really appreciated!

 

[Mrs Cleaver]

Hi Magpye & welcome I'm new to pincurls myself so i'm not much help but i do reccomend watching tutorial videos on youtube by Lisafreemontstreet. Her vids are easy to follow & very helpful.She does lots of other styles too.

 

[Scarlet Belle]

Hi Magpie! Welcome!

Im sure every lady on here will have different ideas and ways of doing their curls, but for what its worth, Ill give you my 2 cents worth!

I think back to the first few times I tried to do pin curls and oh boy, what a disaster! In the morning I was greeted with a big fluffy ball of fuzz! Ive since worked out a couple of things, depending on how you want the final look to be.

If you want more defined curls, dont touch them too much when you take the pins out. Just gently tousle with your fingers and then you can very gently brush or finger comb individual curls to get them to sit where you want. If you want a more molded, sculpted wave then the trick is to brush, brush, brush! A little bit of a brush through will end up with frizz...so just keep going. Keep brushing over and over untill the hair starts to form a shape. Use your other hand and fingers to brush the waves over and to sculpt into a shape. But just keep brushing and brushing untill the frizz settles.

When Im putting the curls in (and I now do it just about every night) i only pin a curl where I want one to be when its brushed. So basically, just around the hair line, keeping the crown rather smooth. I usually roll all the curls downwards and then flatten them so that the open side of the C shape (if you imagine the root of the hair at the scalp as being the beginning of the C) is towards the front.

Hope that helps...let me know if it makes sense or if you give it a go!

 

[Magpye]

Thanks for the warm welcomes & the helpful replies!

Mrs Cleaver, I'll be sure to check out those youtube videos!

Scarlet Belle, thanks for giving me such an in detail response! It's made it a lot clearer as to which way to roll the curls when pinning them so I'll alter my method a bit & sit them with the C facing forward tonight!

I think maybe where I was going wrong is the brushing! I tend to brush them out a little bit & then I get worried because they're really frizzy so I just give up. I shall definitely give them more of thorough brushing today (Mine are waiting to come out as I type!) so hopefully it'll make them more wavy & less frizzy!

 

[Inky]

in case anyone is interested I am selling a pro-curler and some spoolies in the classifieds thanks ladies!

 

[40'sfetish]

semi success

Hi all, newbie here and as I've just trawled through 24 pages of posts I thought I'd add to it.

Had a quick try at pincurls tonight and am highly impressed (and surprised lol) with the result. I have short bobbed hair, think Louise Brookes... and I was attempting to get a fingerwave like result using the alternate direction rows of pincurls. I only did 3 rows on one side, just to have a go and set in under my bonnet dryer which I inherited from my mum (she was given it for her 21st). Unpinned and got corkscrew frizz, well brushed and brushed and beautiful moulded waves appeared like magic.

I'll try a full one one night and post the pics if it works.

 

[Tenuki]

I've been setting my hair for about 2 months now, after not doing anything other than washing it for...oh, a long, long time. I read the threads, sought professional help, set and re-set my hair, tried various combinations and here's my two cents.

Don't worry about making them perfect. Get the muscle memory first. You've figured out you can wash your hair and start again. Possibly even brush them out. The Vintage Hairstying book has a great style called The Contessa, which can be set with rollers or pin curls. It's a forgiving look perfect for your first few pin curl attempts. It's supposed to look eccentric. Who cares if your pin curls aren't perfect? You're The Contessa!

Rest those pin curls on a flat part of your head. If you rest the curl on one of those poky-out, edgy bits, you'll get an unruly curl that will drive you mad.

Cow licks. Work with them, not against them. So what if all the other curls on that row are going counter clockwise? That clockwise cow lick curl is quirky and adorable. Have fun with it.

Watch those old movies and old pics. I thought my Contessa set was not very 30s until watching a Fred and Ginger movie and saw a woman in the background with my hair style. Old photos are great and family photos are the best. My mom recently sent me a few with her as a teen in the 40s and we have the same cut and style.

 

[cherry lips]

http://suicideblonde.tumblr.com

 

[calendargirl]

Does it make any difference if you start the pincurl at the scalp?

 

[Clabbergirl]

Pin curls and bangs

Last night I too great car to do a wet pin curl set, and for as much time as it took me, I'm not seeing the payoff. I get just as much curl with sponge or pillow rollers. Come to think of it, I get the same curl no matter what I do - even with a curling iron. The only difference being the rolled curl is always a little fluffier/frizzy. This makes me think it really must be me - I'm doing something wrong with my hair and I keep doing it over and over because no matter what I do, I get either too much frizz and a big puff of curls or I brush it until it's a calmed-down wavy, curls-glopping-together-in-hanks hair and still with frizz. I'm better at controlling frizz, but it's still there, always, and gets worse as the goes on.

But I digress...
I'm focusing on the trouble with my bangs. I've rolled them toward my face, away from my face, diagonal, in all kinds of rollers, flat pin curls, standing pin curls, you-name-it. No matter what, by the time I've brushed them out, I get the same kind of roll that has a curl peak in the middle and then wants to curl back on itself. I end up compromising by brushing it toward my face and trying to form a little sausage-like curl on the side of my forehead. This isn't what I want. I've watched all these videos where they get a smooth, full-bodied wave with a big curl at the end that they can rest on their forehead, or they comb their bangs into the hair at the sides and get a nice S wave. Not happening for me. Anyone had similar problems or have any ideas? And what's with this mess in the lower side? I brush/roll/brush/roll with my hand and the only directional choice I seem to have is forward. For maybe 5 minutes it will stay in one long rolled-forward thing, but in no time it's chunking up into sections. Ugh.

 

[MissHawthorne]

I'm focusing on the trouble with my bangs. I've rolled them toward my face, away from my face, diagonal, in all kinds of rollers, flat pin curls, standing pin curls, you-name-it. No matter what, by the time I've brushed them out, I get the same kind of roll that has a curl peak in the middle and then wants to curl back on itself. I end up compromising by brushing it toward my face and trying to form a little sausage-like curl on the side of my forehead. This isn't what I want. I've watched all these videos where they get a smooth, full-bodied wave with a big curl at the end that they can rest on their forehead, or they comb their bangs into the hair at the sides and get a nice S wave. Not happening for me. Anyone had similar problems or have any ideas? And what's with this mess in the lower side? I brush/roll/brush/roll with my hand and the only directional choice I seem to have is forward. For maybe 5 minutes it will stay in one long rolled-forward thing, but in no time it's chunking up into sections. Ugh.

I was having the same trouble until just recently. Now I divide the bangs in fourths, and curl them toward the side I want them to lay. After that, all I can suggest is BRUSH! I often brush out just my bangs for as long as I brush the rest of my hair. It's been getting good results, though.

 

[Clabbergirl]

Thank you, MissHawthorne. I am about to give up on the whole idea of this kind of hairstyle, I am that frustrated. Not solely because of this, there are other problems I can't seem to figure out, but this has been the most maddening because it's in the front and I see it with every glance in the mirror. I've tried rolling bangs into very small segments as well as one big one in the hopes of getting a big curl I could brush into a wave with the rest of my hair. But all I get is flat hair straight out of the scalp which flips into a curl that turns straight upward and/or forward no matter which direction I brush it and no matter what brush/comb I use on it. Not natural looking at all. I thought maybe I was twisting the hair during the rolling process so I took extra care, and even had my daughter do it once - still getting the same thing. I've brushed my bangs for what I consider a long time, but I will take your advice and try again. What usually happens is that they get flatter and flatter, and the curl at the ends gets smoother but stays the same.

I realized this morning that I'm rolling and brushing against a cowlick at the hairline. It hasn't been a problem with my naturally curly style because I part on the opposite side and my natural curl pattern bunches together and covers it. Could that be causing the curls to fall stubbornly in the wrong direction?

Is it possible to roll too tightly and get bad results? I've been going for very tight curls in the hopes it would give me staying power and also withstand brushing, but I do not get the kinds of 'S' waves I want. I am so confused and lost at this point that I'm about to call it quits and go back to 80's curls I resigned myself to living with years ago. Very discouraged.

 

[Tatum]

Clabbergirl, have you tried standing pincurls or barrel curls on that section? I didn't see any mention of that so I wanted to throw that suggestion out there.