We have 2 sweet girls who love to be girly. They love to dress up, put on high heals, have tea parties and go to dance class. One of the numerous things that make them feel special is bouncy, curly hair. Which is SO fun. Both girls hair is normally straight, and I have tried foam rollers, a curling iron and finally rag rollers to create the perfect curls. Rag rollers are the perfect solution for us. They are easy, cheap and comfortable to sleep in. This is how I curl the girls hair for dance recital and how I did it when they were flower girls. I have had great results that last all day and even a few extra days. If you are not looking for your curls to last a few days, then don’t worry about adding all the product, but my girls love having bouncy curls and if I can get them to last a few extra days with a bit of spray then I have 2 happy girls.
You will need strips of fabric, a spray bottle of water, mousse, and spray gel. Cut your fabric (I used an old cotton sheet, but any light weight fabric will work) into strips that are about 6″ by 1″. You may need to experiment with the length of the fabric, depending on how long your hair is. Tie a knot in the center of each rag roller, this will help the hair have something to grab onto.
Apply a curl mousse to wet hair before beginning. Keep the hair damp while you are working by using a spray bottle. Work in small sections starting at the top of the head.
Wrap the section of hair around the rag roller. The knot will help the hair to stay as you wind the hair around the fabric. Tie the roller into a single knot as close to the scalp as possible. Don’t worry a single knot will hold just fine, even while sleeping.
Be careful when you are rolling the ends. I find that it is easiest to spray the very tip of the hair with water before I roll it. This keeps all the stray end together and makes for a smoother curl when you take the rags out.
Continue rolling small strips of hair until you have a cute little head of rags. I love how it looks at this point.
My girls have no problem sleeping on them and they stay in really well. When they wake up in the morning untie and unroll each rag, but starting at the bottom this time. The curls should look something like this when you take out the rags. Don’t worry, I promise after the next step the curls will be beautiful!
After you have all the rag rollers out, pick up one curl spray lightly with a flexible spray gel and then GENTLY run your fingers through the curl. Only pull gently at the hair if there is a tangle. If you try to pull to hard you will either frizz the curl or straighten it and we are not going for either of those looks!
One last spray and your curls are all set to go. So cute and bouncy and they look perfect hanging upside down from the monkey bars. Sorry, we were having so much fun taking fun pictures I forgot to take a picture of how the curls really turned out. You will just have to take my word on it.
This last picture was taken at the end of day two. These curls were slept on, played in outside and in the gym and still going strong. LOVE it!
I will be linking to these parties.
I remember my Mom would put these in my hair! and those pink foam curlers too! My daughter will never need these! She has beautifully naturally curly red hair! LOL She will want hair straighteners! Oh well!
Wow, didn’t know you could do that with rags, when I was a kid we used those foam rollers, but what a great and thrifty alternative!
just like Laura ingalls! Both of my kids have natural curls, maybe I’ll have to do this for myself though!
Cute! I remember doing that with my hair when I was a kid. Wonder if my oldest will sit still long enough for me to do this! I will have to give it a try 🙂
I remember doing that with friends when I was in… wait…. high school 🙂 We were goofy and I have the pictures to prove it.
The girls look beautiful in their curls 🙂
Jamie @ hands on : as we grow
What a cute idea, and the fact that they can sleep with them in is fantastic. We will definitely try this. Thanks for sharing.
Well how cute is that?!?! I love this! Thanks for linking up at Texas Monkey… that’s how I found you. I’m definitely going to try this with my little girl. TOO CUTE!!
Oh wow, how neat is this idea! I have five daughters…and while my teenage girls wouldn’t go for this look, my younger daughters will – especially the 6 year old 🙂 She’s a real “girly girl” with very straight hair! I can’t wait to try this on her!
Saw your link on the Tuesday Time Out blog hop – thanks for the idea…and I’m your newest follower 🙂
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I just peeked in at your blog. You have a beautiful family. I am excited to spend some time reading some more!
Can’t wait for my daughter to be able to stay still for more than 2 sec, so that I can do all kind of crazy things with her hair.
Visiting from Reasons To Skip The Housework’s link party!
These rag curlers look so much more comfortable to sleep in than what my mom used on my hair–sponge curlers. Maybe someday I’ll have a daughter with hair to curl. For now, I don’t think my relatively bald one year old son would appreciate them 😉
I tried this a few weeks ago with my little girl, but she only sat still long enough for me to do the section around her face LOL! You’ve got brilliant results; maybe I should try again.
This is a riot! We did this 60+ years ago when our mothers curled our hair. Only we didn’t have gels or styling sprays waaaay “back in the day” ! Love it!
I wonder if this would work in my daughter’s hair. Her hair will not hold any curl. I’m going to have to give this a try. Does it turn out if you use bigger sections of hair? I can’t see her holding still long enough for me to do such small sections.
My girls hair has a hard time curling as well, but the rag rollers work really well in their hair. I have tried using larger sections, but it is usually still a bit damp in the morning. As long as it is dry when you remove the rollers, I don’t see why it would not work. Good-luck!
My mom used to curl my sister & my hair using our little white ankle socks. We had the biggest banana curls that you ever did see! I tried this on my own daughter and she felt so glamorus!
Hi there I am a new follower and love your blog
My mom used to do that to my hair.
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So pretty! I was a victim of sponge rollers when I was little… too poky to sleep on! This is adorable, I’m definitely going to give it a try with my littlest… she’ll love matching sissy’s curly locks!
My daughter Irish Step-Dances, and at a certain point curls are a “Requirement”. I did this a couple of times but using twisted paper towel strips (I was being “REALLY” thrifty … they worked for a “trial run”). My only trouble is that her hair is SO long, and is so fine and thin that it required SO much product. (So… so… so) We ended up buying a wig (ICK!), but now I think your post has inspired me to try again… 😉 (We shall see)
Gosh, your girls are adorable! I remember doing this with my sister’s hair when we were little. I haven’t done it in years. I may have to try this with my girls! Thanks so much for sharing this at For the Kids Friday!
This makes me giggle because my daughters are biracial and we spend equal amounts of time getting the curls OUT of their hair via a straight iron. Guess the grass always seems greener on the other side….lol. When I was young I had poker straight hair. I would have LOVED for my mom to rag roll my hair!
We used to have this done except we used longer rag strips and wrapped the hair around the rag lengthwise then at the bottom wrapped the rag around it all to the top. Tie the ends together and then wait till morning. It eliminates the separating step when you relax the curls
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I tried this out last night with my daughter, to go with her Princess Halloween costume! It was so easy, and turned out perfectly! We used strips of an old t-shirt I had ruined whenever I dyed my hair. No cost, easy, and simple. We will definately be using this idea again for her dance recitals, etc. Thanks so much!
This is the perfect princess hair! I’m sure she was adorable.
This looks so much easier than what my mom used to do to my hair. She did rag curls, but the effect was more like Shirley Temple curls, where they grouped together a little instead of ringlets.
She used to cut the pieces of t-shirt long, tie one end to the base of a chunk of hair… wrap the hair around and down the cloth… then wrap the cloth around up over the hair to cover it… then tie a knot at the top again.
They looked like big white dreads. lol
Then you just take them out and actually, didn’t need to do much separating. But the process was painstakingly long, which is why I haven’t bother with my daughter’s hair (plus hers is pretty curly naturally). I think I will try this with her hair though, hers only curls toward the bottom, it would be nice if all of it did again like when she was little.
THANKS FOR SHARING THIS! 🙂
I love this! But am I totally weird for wanting to do it in my own hair? According to the comments, it seems like this is something you do for little girls, but my daughter is only 18 months old, and doesn’t have enough hair to do anything with yet. However, I’m always looking for fast-in-the-morning styles for my long hair, other than the good old bun. If and when I try this, and I manage to get a picture, I will be sure to blog it and link! Thanks for sharing.
So, I did this to my little girl’s hair last night and was wondering how you wind the hair without it slipping and unwinding while you are trying to keep it on the rag? I ended up with really frizzy ends because the ends (no matter how wet I kept them) didn’t stay put and were stuck every which way on the rag. Nonetheless, her hair still looks SUPER cute and I am glad I tried it!
I am not sure Sally. I wonder if you added a little bit of product to the end of her hair if that would help. For me as long as the hair is wet It does not frizz. Love to hear if you get it worked out. My girls love the bouncy curls they get from rag rollers:)
Hmmm…her hair was both wet and I used mousse in it as well. Her hair really does look great, just some of the ends are frizzed. Do you find using more hair in each roller helps or a little hair? Sorry to be asking so many questions…I have never done anything like this before and am loving the curls she has today! 🙂 (We have a wedding tomorrow so that is why I was trying this out.) Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions! 🙂
So fun Sally! I bet she will look great for the wedding:) I would try unrolling each of the rags very carefully as well. I wonder if maybe as they are untwisting they are getting a little frizzed? Sorry that I can’t be more help. Does her hair seem to frizz easy normally? Have fun at the wedding:)