Curling Your Hair: Pin Curls & Rag Curls Made Easy

Introduction

Image Courtesy Of Barbara Lhotan

Barbara Lhotan All Rights Reserved

People have been curling their hair since the beginning of time using sticks, twigs or their fingers.

One of the very first topics which was popular on HairBoutique.com back when the site was first started in 1997 was the basic tips on how to curl hair.

All types of hair from stick straight to naturally curly can benefit from being curled.

Whether you want to transform stick straight strands into an array of curls and waves or want to fine tune your natural curls, waves, kinks or coils into more refined patterns consider the following tips:

Mold Hair Bonds To Curl

Disulfide and hydrogen chemical bonds are responsible for causing hair to curl. If you're born with these bonds your hair will curl on its own. If you're not, your hair can be temporarily or chemically molded to curl either for a short period of time or until any curl enhancing chemicals wear off.

If you were born with the necessary bonds but your hair doesn't curl, wave or coil in the appropriate patterns, you can adjust the natural bonds by means of chemicals or curlers to tighten, shape or fine tune your current hair pattern.

Prepare Hair For Curling

There are three basic methods for molding hair to curl to your specifications:

1. Chemical treatments 2. Wet sets using water, styling products, curling tools and optional heat 3. Dry sets using hot hair tools such as dryers, irons and optional curlers

Curling With Chemical Treatments

All types of hair from stick straight to kinky curly can be remolded with the following chemical treatments:

1. Chemical perms to add curls to straight strands or refine existing curls 2. Relaxers to soften existing curls and waves 3. Chemical straighteners to remove existing curls and create straight strands

Chemical treatments will not permanently alter curl patterns. Once the hair grows back in at the root the hair will revert to its natural curl pattern.

Curl Hair With Wet Sets

If you wish to temporarily curl straight strands or reform curly strands you will need to first alter the natural hydrogen bonds in your hair so you can reform the curls.

Wet your hair. It doesn't have to be dripping wet, because it will take longer to dry. It just needs to be damp enough for water to come in contact with every strand.

This initial wetting serves to break the hydrogen bonds in your hair so that you can "reset" them in following steps. Applying mousse or a light gel helps your curls keep their shape because it will stiffen, although putting too much can make your hair feel hard or sticky.

Preparation Work

If you'd like to make rag curls, which are softer and even gentler on the hair than pin curls, you will need to make a good sized stock of rag strips to prepare. These strips are very inexpensive to make, as I suggest old sheets as the perfect material to use. They are usually very lint free, usually cotton, are very soft and durable and wash very well!

I cut or rip the sheets to make 6" long by 1" wide strips of rags. This leaves you plenty of rag left to tie with no matter how large a section of hair you are rolling up. This might be the best option for very long and very thick hair. I have a supply of 40-50 of these strips handy at all times.

It is safe to say that persons with hair to the middle of their back and shorter can still easily use the pin method, which is a bit quicker to do. If you choose to do pin curls, please invest in a new box of bobby pins with well-coated plastic tips. When bobby pins get old, the plastic coated tips starts to separate from the pin and will start to grab your hair and can possibly rip or tear the hair. For those who prefer them, hair pins will work well although you will need to use more of them.

Now You're Ready

In the evening, before you go to bed, wash and condition your hair as you usually would. Finger pick the tangles out of your hair and allow your hair to air dry to an almost complete dryness. The dampness/dryness ratio will depend upon how thick/long your hair is. If your hair dries very slowly, please make sure that your hair is almost completely dry before proceeding. If you do not have time or do not need to wash your hair, just dampening it slightly with a mister or wet comb should do the trick.

Then start sectioning off your hair into small sections. This may be in only one inch sections or a bit more or less, again depending upon the thickness and length of your hair. Roll the section around your finger (for pin curls) or around a strip of rag. This may take a bit more practice to do with rag curls; getting the hair to stay wrapped around the rag.

You will know that the section is too large for pin curls if you cannot easily secure the curl with 1-2 bobby pins or 3 hair pins. For rag curls, you can generally make the sections as large or small as you wish as long as your strip of rag is long enough to accommodate it.

Roll the section of hair up to your scalp (tightness and diameter of roll determining your curl factor) and secure the section with pins (coated bobby or hair pins) or by tying off the rag strip with a nice bow.

Now you're ready for a good night's rest! When you awaken in the morning and you are ready to style your hair, take it down out of the pins or rags. Your hair will be free of tangles and should have taken a very nice curl. Your hair will also feel very soft; I've noticed this every time that I've done my hair up in pin curls. The pins won't leave any marks in the hair, nor will the rags. Style as needed.

You may have fun experimenting with how tight you roll your curls up. I can get my straight hair into a huge mass of curls just below my shoulders, from my straight mid-back length and it keeps very nicely. However, keep in mind, humidity does play a factor in how long you keep your curls. If it is very humid and you spend any time outside, you may lose quite a bit of curl.

However, you will not lose the overall body in your hair. It will not go completely flat, so far as I have personally experienced. I find that pretty amazing! On the days that I am not sure of the humidity, I bring a nice barrette with just in case I need to clip my hair back due to a loss of curl.

However, if you prefer body and waves over curls, you can still pin or rag curl your hair, but do so very loosely. But an even easier way to get that body is to roll your hair up in a tight bun/twist or two (or more) and pin up on the top/back of your head while slightly damp. This works very well. Just make sure not to make your bun/twist too high up front on your head, or you'll notice a crease in the front of your hair when you take it down in the morning!

There are also, currently on the market, foam rollers that you can duplicate the basic effects of a rag curl with. I recently saw them in the Harriet Carter mail catalog. They would, theoretically, also be very gentle to the hair, although quite a bit more bulky to sleep on!

Social Media Network Information

Please follow me on Twitter at: http://Twitter.com/HairBoutique.

I look forward to meeting new people from all walks of Twitter and learning from their Tweets. Visit us at Hairboutique.com located at: http://www.HairBoutique.com, on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

Thank you for visiting us at The HairBoutique Blog and for leaving your comments. They are very much appreciated. We apologize in advance but must remove any direct advertisements or solicitations.

Original Publication Date: 1997 - Revised Publication Date: 04/20/11

If you want to talk more about this or other hair care articles on HairBoutique.com or anywhere else, please post a message on HairBoutique.com's Hair Talk Forums.