One of the questions I get asked the most is how I get my hair to look the way it does. As someone who has hair which of a naturally frizzy texture, I have spent many years fighting against it with an assortment of tongs, straighteners and all manner of heated torture instruments.
It took until my late 20s to realise that I just needed to work with it. Despite being neither quite curly or straight, it was still versatile and held a style when properly set. With that in mind, I looked up lots of different ways to create soft waves which didn't require the damaging heat I'd constantly attack it with.
Pin curls became my hair saviour for a variety of reasons - they are easy to sleep in, can resemble a neat up-do when setting and take little more than a handful of bobby-pins. And as for the fringe, my trick is to roll it around a cut up bun doughnut and secure in place with more pins.
Beware - make-up-less how to photos ahead!
What Do I Need?
♥ Freshly washed hair which is mostly air dry.
♥ Paddle Hair Brush.
♥ Hair serum.
♥ Hair Pins.
♥ Hair Spray.
♥ A hair doughnut cut open.
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| Make sure you're armed with lots of bobby pins to help keep the pin-curls in place. |
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| Use a cut-up bun doughnut to create a faux-bang. |
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| A little hair serum run over the ends before pining up will help reduce frizz when the curls are brushed out. |
How Do I Pin-Curl My Hair?
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| 1. Section off the front part of your hair which will later create your faux-bangs. |
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| 2. Take the doughnut and with your hair starting underneath, roll upwards towards your forehead. |
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| 3. Secure in place by pinning the ends into your hair with bobby pins. |
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| 4. Once secured, fan the hair out along the fringe so that it covered the entire doughnut. |
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| 5. For the pin curls themselves, take a section of hair and roll the ends around your fingers. The larger the section, the larger the wave created. |
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| 6. Carefully roll the hair back up towards your scalp, making sure that the ends are kept tucked in. |
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| 7. Pin the curl to your head. Cross over two pins in an x shape for maximum hold. |
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| 8. Continue this until all your hair is pinned up and spray with hairspray. Leave overnight or as long as possible |
How Do I Tie A Headscarf?
Often I'll run to a shoot with my pin-curls happily concealed under a silk scarf as it keeps my hair out of my way and ensures that it'll be freshly brushed out if going somewhere afterwards. It's become a style which I choose to wear whilst running errands as no one need know it's functional rather than just a look you were going for. I'm always amazed by how many people compliment me on my "hair" when all they can see is my faux-bangs peeking out!
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| 1. Take a large headscarf and fold it in two so that it becomes a triangle. |
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| 2. Place the "triangle over your entire head so that the longest ends are on your shoulders, and the shortest ends, your forehead. |
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| 3. Take the longest ends and bringing them upwards, tie into a knot. This should make the scarf feel tight and secure around your head. |
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| 4. Pick up the two shorter ends and pull one either side. In each hand, you should be holding one end each from the shorter and longer sides of the triangle. |
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| 5. Tie the ends into a bow and use a few hair grips to ensure the scarf stays in place. |
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| 6. If you feel inclined, add some sheer red lips and black eye-liner flicks to really go for that retro nod. |
What Next?
When you take the curls out the next day, you'll find that you have something resembling ringlets in your hair. I always feel like some sort of screen siren at this point, although the reality is I look a bit more like a cocker spaniel!
There have been times where I've sprayed insane amounts of hairspray on them and let them be, but they will sadly drop very quickly especially if it's warm.
What I do next is take a large paddle brush and start to gently break through the curls. This is the point where I always panic as for a few minutes, you will see frizz. A lot of frizz. However, keep brushing again and again, and use your fingers or the brush pad itself to create the shape of the curls. After a few minutes if doing this, your hair will magically start to look like waves again and you can breath a sigh of relief!
When happy with it, rub a tiny bit more serum over your hair to smooth any fly-aways, and you are good to go!
I really hope that helped with how to do pin curls - please feel free to leave any questions in the comments if you're not sure about something.
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