1950s pincurl set and a polka dot dress

Ah... the pin curl... something I've often strived for but never really successfully managed.

I've curled my hair ever since I was in school. It was around the time that hair straighteners became a massive trend and rebelling agains all the girls in school with polka straight hair I started wearing my hair in curls. Ever the rebel.

Actually I just thought I wanted hair like Sailor Neptune:

Who wouldn't.

My method of choice, rags and the occasional bendy roller, but I stopped using these when I was introduced to the victory roll be a friend and I started using the standard up do day set, next day bouncy curls that so many vintage fans use. Somehow though, pin curls never really worked for me.

I don't know if it was because my hair was too long or I didn't have the right pins, but I just could not get them to work.

But then I tried again after I had my hair cut a couple of months ago and guess what, they worked! I'm going to blame seeing a scene on Masters of Sex where Virginia had curls around the hair line and I decided to give it a try.

If you aren't sure what I mean by pin curling then here is a picture of Marilyn Monroe curling her hair to demonstrate:

thisismarilyn.com

It is pretty much pinning little spirals of hair close to your hear so that they set over a period of time, in my case, over night. You then remove all the pins, unravel the curls and 'brush out'. Its the brishig out I'm really bad at generally, but with a bit of persistence it seems to work out okay.

So here is the results of my first really proper pin curl set:

Its pretty far from perfect, but its my best effort so far, and the curls brushed out really nicely!

Obligatory mirror #selfie I look like a total idiot with the most bemused expression I could manage:

(On a side note my phone case is a Megan Lara design from Red Bubble, her art work is bloody awesome!)

I'm not going to pretend that I know enough about setting the curls to discuss curl direction or how to plan to create a wave shape, but I am trying to learn, one day when I am amazing at this, and less lazy, I will try to post some kind of guide... maybe.

Last but not least, here's the rest of my outfit. Its a Laura Ashley dress with a poka dot print and my favourite M&S cardigan of the moment. What do you think?

Dress: Laura Ashley

Cardigan: M&S

Shoes: Clarks

What methods of curling have you used?