{Vintage beauty} How to do pin-curls

Welcome to a new series here on Vixen Vintage, all about vintage beauty. It'll include my own routines, as well as some guest posts now and then from some special ladies. In the near future we'll have vintage half moon nails, makeup, and even some product reviews. I do hope you enjoy!
Warning, this is a long post. I wanted to answer any questions I've been asked in the past and any you might have.

My hair is natural (no dye or chemical process's), thick, and naturally wavy. It holds curl well, takes ages to dry, and gets frizzy in humidity. This is my hair. You'll have to make adjustments for your hair   

You'll need a brush, comb, bobby pins, net for hair, and product such as setting lotion, hairspray, and pomade are optional.                                                                                

If you have short hair (around shoulder length or shorter), your hair probably dries fairly fast. Right after you shower, you'll want to pat dry your hair with a towel (don't wring it, or rub it), brush it, and begin the set. If your hair does not hold curl well, apply a setting lotion.

If you have long hair (past shoulders or longer), you'll want to towel dry as directed above, but let it air dry a bit first. Your hair should be damp, rather than wet. If you pincurl your long hair when it's wet, it probably won't dry by morning, and a pincurl set is pretty pointless if you take it out still damp. I also find my hair is very frizzy if I set it too wet, not sure the science of that, but something you might want to take note of. Like me, you might have to set the front, let the back dry a little longer, and set that. You'll have a mullet in between. But just think of the awesome hair that will come of it.

Use your comb, or fingers, to separate a lock of hair. How big? It's up to you. You can see my standard, but how much hair you use for each pin, and how tight you curl it are big factors on the outcome of the style. Do remember that too little, and you may not find room on your head for all the curls, too much, and the pins will slip off and your hair won't set, or you'll get creases from the pins in the curl.


For my bangs I use two small brush rollers to roll them up and away. These are fantastic for bangs, as they don't slip easily. But NEVER  use them on anything longer than a few inches, or they'll get tangled and you'll cry. I just roll up, and pin at the base.

{How to roll a pin curl}

Take the lock of hair, and a few inches in, pinch it between your thumb and fingers, as shown below. With your other hand, take the end and wrap it loosely around your thumb, making a loop. Then pinch the end between your thumb and fingers. See? Easy. Now you slip the curl off your fingers and roll it toward your head, pinning a criss cross over the curl, and picking up some hair underneath for anchor it.


You can choose to do upright pincurls, or just skip to the next step. The benefit of these are giving volume to the crown, for instance, this is how you can get that Marilyn look if you have chin/shoulder length hair. Take the lock and brush it up at a diagonal, then roll that loop down to the base. Here you can see a previous tutorial showing upright curls. Insert a bobby pin at the base, making sure to gather up the base of the curled lock, and some other hair as an anchor. I do this 3-4 times, this is also a great step if you are growing out your bangs, they'll have purpose! You may even like them.

Now for the standard. These curls will be in rows, generally I have three rows, not counting the upright pincurls and rollers for my bangs. And a mess in the back, but we're not there yet. The first, and top row (again, not counting the upright curls) goes in the direction away from your face. So take a lock, and comb it back. Make a loop pointing upward or downward. The direction it's pointing will determine the outcome of the style of your hair,  and today I'm showing curls pointing upward. This time, rather than have the curl stand up, it'll lay flat against your head. Take two bobby pins and criss-cross them over the entire curl and pick up some hair underneath as an anchor.


Repeat this on the other side. Once you have the top row done, start another. This time brushing the lock forward and making sure all the curls are pointing upward or downward.
Repeat the top row another time, see the pattern? Back and fourth.

I would love to tell you the back follows a specific pattern, but I generally just try my best with the front rows and the rest has its own little party.

Now you'll probably need a bit extra for holding it together. If you sleep in the set, you want to prevent them from getting frizzy and  un-pinned by having a mesh scarf around it. I used to use a thick hairnet, and it worked fine until I had to take it off in the morning and it would stick on the pins. I put a headcarf over that for being around the house, and just take it off when I go to bed and when I get up. Just for looks sake.



In the morning you have to make sure your hair is dry before taking the pins out. Un-pin a back curl and check to see if it's damp. If it is, re-curl it, and sit under a hood dryer for a bit, or use a hairdryer if you don't have a hood. Once your hair is dry, take the pins out, back to front. But remember that you need to let your hair cool completely before removing pins. I have a cool setting on my hood dryer and do that for about a minute after a heat setting, so that's a good temp to have if you're shopping around for one.
Now you have some sort of ringlet creation, and this is when we start brushing out. Brushing out is where I hear a lot of concern. You really have to tailor this to your specific hair type. Some people with finer hair simply separate and fluff the curls with fingers, I use a brush without much caution, but my hair holds the curl well.



Brush it, fluff it, and smooth it a number of ways. I like to brush the outside and under. My hair looks more 40s, but if you have above shoulder length hair, it'll probably look more 30s or 50s. After brushing I rub a little pomade on my hands and work my fingers through the ends and tame the frizz on top.

Now that you've done the set, you can leave it, or pin it and style it any number of ways. For more on wet sets and vintage hairstyles, check out this book. 
You can also simply spray your hair with a bit of water and set it. I do this on days I don't wash my hair, and this technique results in softer, more natural looking curls. 
Questions are welcome! email me at solanahraquel{at}gmail.com