everyday 1940s curls- for thick hair

I have very thick hair, and ever since I cut it short enough to curl, I've been scouring the web for tutorials on how to get the perfect 40s curls. Sadly, most of my findings have worked best for shorter or finer hair. This is the method I've developed from borrowing ideas from all sorts of different blogs. It doesn't take long to set, and it's not too fancy for daytime.

What you need:

 

• Hairspray (any kind will do)
• Spray bottle of water
• Rollers (I use these ones, but any sort of foam, mesh, etc. will work)

Start with clean, brushed out hair.

this is my hair as it naturally falls. sometimes second or third day hair works better than freshly washed hair, but really greasy and really silky clean hair both aren't great for curling. try to find a happy medium. you may want to dampen your hair before starting with the rollers, but I just spray each section as I roll it up.

Section off a section in the front.

this hair is my "bangs" that have grown out so much that they're not even bangs anymore. If you have any sort of section of hair in the front that's shorter than the rest of your hair, use that. If it's too thick, it won't work too well.

Spray with water and use a big turquoise roller.

roll the section at a bit of an angle. try to have your part (on the side) as sort of an edge to the curl.

Pin back all hair other than the section directly above your ear.

you may want to use a comb for this. make sure that the hair all follows one path and isn't much wider than the roller.

Divide this section into a top half and a bottom half.

try to make them as equal as possible, one directly above the other. Depending on how much hair you have, you may only need one roller here. Likewise, you may need (or prefer) three.

Roll the two sections, each with a yellow roller.

remember to spray each section with water before rolling up.

Repeat the last three steps on the opposite side of your head.

Divide the hair on the back of your head into three sections.

pin or tie up two sections. Start with one of the side sections

Divide the first of the three sections into two sections.

if your hair is thinner, you may not need to do this. try to evenly divide the hair. pin back the farther back of the two, and work with the front first.

Roll up a small section at the top of the front piece.

use the tiniest (blue) roller. spray with water before rolling. don't use more hair than the roller can handle, or there won't be any curl when you take it out. this whole front piece of hair will take three rollers, so account for that when dividing into sections.

Roll up a small section directly below the last one.

again, use a tiny blue roller. spray first.

Roll up the remaining hair in a big roller.

the less hair you use in these big rollers, the better your hair will curl. don't let the tiny rollers take too much hair, and don't let the big rollers take too little. remember to spray. it would be ideal to not use any of the turquoise rollers, but I don't have enough of the others to go around. it's best to only use anything bigger than a yellow as a bottom curl or when you just want waves.

Start with the second half of this whole section of hair.

this is the back half from when you divided one of the three back sections into two pieces. make sure it's evenly parted from the rest of your hair.

Roll a portion from the top of this section using a tiny blue roller.

don't use more hair than fits. spray.

Likewise, roll the section directly below.

use a tiny blue roller, spray- you know the drill.

Roll the rest of the hair with a yellow roller.

try to evenly distribute the hair between the three rollers in this section, so that no one roller has too much hair.

Repeat on the left what you did on the right side piece.

note: on this side, I ended up with a little more than I had on the other side. I solved this by using two turquoise rollers where I had originally used just one. this isn't going to really change anything, and it's better to use more rollers than to cram too much hair on one roller.

Repeat on the left back piece what you did on the right.

if you  don't have enough of one type of roller or have too much hair leftover, don't sweat it. the curls don't have to be completely symmetric. try to stay similar, but (like I did here), it's not going to make a huge difference if you use a yellow instead of a blue, or vice versa.

Roll a small piece from the top of the back using yellow.

sometimes, this section is much too wide to use just one row of rollers, and I have to divide it in two. if that's the case, just do something similar to what you did when dividing the right and left sections. if you don't have enough rollers for that, just use much smaller portions of hair, and you may have to use a few of the big rollers, which don't give a lot of curl.

Roll the next two pieces using yellow.

try not to put too much hair on one roller. hopefully you've been spraying all this time.

Roll the last piece using turquoise.

 if you're lucky, you might still have a yellow roller left. use that instead of the turquoise if you have it. check each roller and make sure none are crooked or missing hair or anything. they don't have to be in perfectly perfect rows for the curls to come out.

Spray your whole head with hairspray.

don't spray so much that they get crunchy, but still be sure to get every roller.

Tie a bandanna or scarf around your head.

tuck in anything that's sticking out at odd angles, and make sure everything is straight. this helps the rollers stay in place when you sleep. keep in mind which side of your head you sleep on, in case there's anything that's going to poke you when you lie down.

In the morning, take off the bandanna and spray hairspray again.

Take out the rollers.

try not to tug or pull or rip your hair. unroll gently and neatly.

your hair should end up looking something like this. this set isn't as curly as I usually like, but it still works fine. some people choose to brush their hair out at this point, but I rarely do.

Mini victory roll.

roll your bangs or the section of hair at the front around two or three fingers, making a little loop. pin from both sides with bobby pins. then hairspray the hell out of it.

Accessorize.

I usually pin back a piece on both sides, and add a bow on the left side. you can really use anything you want. here's two more examples:

spray your whole head with hairspray, multiple times. the more hairspray used, the longer your curls will last.

and that's really all there is to it. if you've got any suggestions or ideas or anything, drop a comment. :)

with love,

Julia