Rag Curls! (pictures)

[Rivanariko]

The other day I was talking to my mom about how my hair refuses to accept heat styling (just another excuse not to fry my hair with it!) but hold braid waves for days. She suggested that I should try rag curls, and I said I'd been wanting to, but hadn't gotten around to it (I'm lazy...). So she pulls a bag of rag curlers out of a drawer in the bathroom and gives them to me! I was so excited! So I had to try them out last night. Started with my hair dry, put some aloe vera on it, and then put the curlers in and slept on them all night. Took them out this morning and this was the result!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/Rivanariko/ragcurls.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/Rivanariko/ragcurls002.jpg
From waist to APL overnight! Look at the difference in length from my last length shot (Oct. 1)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/Rivanariko/10-1-09.jpg

I'll have to try to get the curlers a little higher up in the back next time I try them, looks kind of funny to go from pin-straight right to ringlets.
I'm remembering how annoying it is to have hair shorter than my shoulders (the front bits are when curly). They won't stay out of my face! Makes me all the more glad to have long hair!

[Willheit]

Your curls look great! Healthy and shinny :D

[LaurenH]

Those are gorgeous curls! I love your hair! :)

[eadwine]

It is not really a strange thing. I know a few people who start out pin straight and get curls as of about just below the chin. It happens :)

[Rivanariko]

Really? Maybe it just looks funny to me because I'm used to seeing my hair so straight.
They're fun to play with though. I keep pulling on them (gently!) and watching them sproing back. Teehee, I'm easily amused.

And thank you for the compliments everyone! :inlove:

[friskybiznus]

Wow!! Gorgeous! You have great hair!

[Naamah]

Those curls look so nice! I'll have to try this sometime. :)

[mellie]

Oh my heavens!!! They are soooo pretty! You are such a cutie too!!

[Amara]

Those curls are lovely!

[longhairedfairy]

Neat! I bet it would look good in a Victorian/earlier updo.

[Yayasmurf]

Oh you look like a real live baby doll... so cute :D I love the curls!

[linda g]

Pretty, glossy curls!

My mom used to make rag curls for us (using real rags :), strips of flannel from old nightgowns) and they made beautiful long-lasting curls like yours.

[little_acorn]

Those curls are awesome :D

[Armelle]

That looks sooo pretty! I've got to figure out how to do rag curls at some point!

[Anywhere]

Your hair is so beautiful and shiny, and the curls turned out great!:D

[SandyStar]

Your curls are amazing! Your hair is so pretty and shiny! I tried rag curls too. My ends didn't look very good, but your curls go all the way to the ends. My ends were curly but all crooked. How were you able to get them all nice?

[Ryanne]

Lovely, glossy curls!

[Yozhik]

Beautiful hair! Congrats on your success with the curls :)
Are you planning on separating the curls or leaving as is? I think both options would look wonderful.

[GlassEyes]

I wouldn't worry about the straight-into-curls thing. My hair sort of does it, and I'm FAR from straight. A lot of 3a's are like that.

[windinherhair]

The curls look beautiful. I like this a lot better over heat styling. :)

[Indigosails]

Beautiful curls! Having the straight hair then curly hair looks fine. I have often seen that happen in natural curly hair.

[shadowclaw]

Beautiful! As others have said, you don't need to worry about it looking unnatural. A lot of people have hair like that. However, if you think it would look better with curls starting further up, then by all means, try it out!

I'm not quite sure how rag curls are made... I assume you tie your hair into a ring or something using a strip of fabric and leave it in for a while. I imagine that's how they did it in the old days. My hair is similar to yours, too. It holds heat styling great... for about 30 minutes, then all the curls fall out, even if I use a ton of hair spray. At best, nice tight curls will turn into waves using heat styling. But those good old braid waves stay all day.

[beachwaves]

Pretty! I love your first picture...the curls around your face look vintage 1940's! So beautiful...I can't wait untill mine gets longer to do that.

[maegquare]

Your curls look so pretty! Have fun playing with them! :)

[Moldilocks]

I love the curls. Super pretty and shiny!

[Gumball]

Those curls are magical! It is very cool that, because heat styling doesn't really do much for your hair, rag curler make such defined and lovely curls! Hopefully they were comfortable enough to sleep in where you weren't tossing and turning.

[JamieLeigh]

Those are gorgeous! And they really pop with your hair color. :flower:

[hmmm]

Ooh I love these! Your hair is so gorgeous, and the curls look great on you. :)

[JCFantasy23]

Looks very nice, I love rag curls. My hair won't curl with a curling iron, but it will do ringlets similar to yours with rag curls and such.

[Margeaux]

Hee, it looks like my hair. And to think, I had mine straightened last week in order to get your natural texture!

[PurpleRays]

Wow, what beautiful curls - they look great on you !

[GoddesJourney]

Looks great!:cheese:

[Rivanariko]

Thank you everyone for the wonderful compliments! :inlove:

My hair is back to straight now, butt he curls were fun while they lasted. They relaxed pretty far by the end of the day, but I think if I tried it a few days after a wash, instead of that night, they might hold better, and if I tried it when my hair was just barely damp so that they could dry in. I'll try that next time I get the urge to do something fun and different. :)

SandyStar - I'm not sure how I got the ends nice... I just tried to star wrapping as low as I could and not let them get crunched around the curlers. I also wasn't using just strips of fabric, my mom found a bag of "rag curlers" in the bottom of a drawer. look kind of like cotton balls in a gauze sleeve with little bits of wire, so you don't tie them in, you just twist the wire together. Kind of weird, but they worked pretty well.

Shadowdaw - You do it just like you would have with a curling iron, only use a strip of fabric instead. A lot of people use flannel, and apparently you can get actual "rag curlers", because my mom did at some point in her life. I find the weirdest things in her hair drawers...
Basically, just start at the ends of your hair and roll the strip of fabric up the length. When you get as high as you want to go, tie the strip in a knot and it should stay. Leave it in for a while (I slept in mine) and when you take them out, voila! curls! Different people's hair seems to take to it differently. I added some aloe vera to get mine to hold better, and I think it'd be even better if I started with my hair a little wet, but some people might not need that, or might not need to leave them in as long.

[Elfe]

Great curls! :inlove:
I tried this once, but it tourned out really frizzy...

[fleurdelis]

Love it!I want to try it too :)

[BritishBraider]

gorgeous, you should try black and white pictures with hefty ear makeup and you'll look like Ginger Rogers or equivalent....

[Tomato]

I queue up in the "gorgeous" row...it's absolutly fantastic!
And thanks for the instructions, I didn't know rag curls before, I think I might try that once.

[AnneAdeline]

Boing-boing curls! Your color is really showed off with curls--so beautiful!

I've tried rag curls before, and went from waist to APL. Crazy how curls eat up length.

[marikamt]

Ooooo!!!!! Now I want some!!!!! They look excellent.... how did you do it?? was your hair wet or damp?? How long did you leave them in??
Do you think I can come up with another question?? :lol:

oops!! Maybe I should actually read the whole thread... back to the thread skippers thread.... :D

[Freija]

It is not really a strange thing. I know a few people who start out pin straight and get curls as of about just below the chin. It happens :)

They're not nearly as pronounced, but my curls do that from about ear-height.

Rivanariko: They look lovely! I bet they bounce nicely. :)

[Bonkers57]

Very nice! I definitely want to try it when mine's grown out more.

Great to have the curls without the damage!