Curly hair woes.

Hello my vintage ladies!

I am in serious need of help. I have very curly hair, as you can see from my picture (link below) - my curls are very tightly coiled, which leaves me clueless as to how I can style my hair to resemble an authentic 40s or 50s look. I've read other posts on here about other ladies with curly hair, but most have loose curls that to me would actually seem easier for achieving pin curls. But because my hair is kinky curly, I'm at a total loss of how to achieve that look without having to straighten my hair first (which I'd prefer not to do). Are there any other ladies out there with hair similar to mine who can spare some advice? Or even ladies who may not have hair like mine, but still have a pointer or two? If so, please do share! I am beginning to worry it may be impossible for me to ever achieve that vintage look I so desire

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/419014_10150566708053649_1103884115_n.jpg

I suppose your best bet would be to find out what black women used to do with their hair back then. White people will probably be unable to give you any useful tips.

My hair is a bit kinkier than yours, but it's extremely long, so I'm not sure I can be a huge help. I never blow dry or flat iron. I can't do pin curls because at my length and thickness, they take over 48 hrs to dry (I know this because I tried it one weekend). I wear an updo pretty much every day since I work in a kitchen. So, I don't know how applicable this will be to you. My routine goes something like this:

Day 1: Shampoo and Condition. Set in braided updo. I usually wear two or more because they dry faster and take the kink out.
Day 2: Maintain the braids.
Day 3: Hopefully maintain the braids. If not, brush out the roots with a boar bristle brush, then bun.
Day 4: Brush roots and bun
Day 5: Rinse with apple cider vinegar and lemon juice. Braided updo again.
Day 6: Maintain the braids.
Day 7: Brush out roots and bun.

Then, I would start over again. None of these pictures are of me, but these are very similar to ways I wear my hair. The ladies pictured all have straight hair, but I manage with my braid waves.
http://wedding-pictures-05.onewed.com/42689/twisted-crown-bridal-updo-at-carolina-herrera-vintage-wedding__full.jpg
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/530677_10151064753977282_1968241928_n.jpg
I'm actually wearing something similar to this right now and this picture is blowing my mind because you can see that she has sewn her braids to her head, which is what I do. http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn294/hsifeng/16th%20C%20Extant%20Clothing/Pig%20Tail%20Hair%20Braids/PigTailsinBraid.jpg

I apologize if this is not all that helpful due to the difference in our hair length. I too am at a bit of a loss because it's just not a hair texture you see often in photographs of the era. Women with naturally tight curls had to exist, though, so hopefully someone on this thread turns up some pictures.

I think Rene's suggestion for an up do might work, especially in the first picture. Even with your short hair, if you took it piece by piece and "rolled" it, it would look lovely and very vintage. Your curls would give great volume.

The other idea would be to try a vintage cut and see how that looks. It might look good! For instance, I can see a short middy looking good on your hair type.

I do hope you get some ideas. I'm likely going to have highly tightly curled hair when it grows out thanks to chemotherapy so I'm going to be watching this thread. My plan for now is to try a short middy when it gets long enough. So if you're willing to wait a couple of years lol I can post how that looks.

Have you tried roller setting your hair? You can use more tension with rollers than with pin curls to smooth out that kink. You'd probably need a hood dryer though for a wet set unless you can sleep in rollers or let it dry during the day.

Hello
The following hairstyles are done on natural hair.
Here is a great and helpful book on how to go natural. Recommended by Curly Chronicles

Thank God I'm Natural--The Ultimate Guide to Caring for and Maintaining Natural Hair
http://www.amazon.com/Natural--The-...2328198&sr=8-1&keywords=thank+god+I'm+natural

Youtube Videos
The Pinup Niore. I adore her videos she makes me wish I had the same hair type http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePinu...n&gl=US&guid=&persist_app=1&app=desktop&guid=
Curly Chronicles
http://www.youtube.com/user/curlych...S&hl=en&guid=&app=desktop&persist_app=1&guid=.

Bonus:
The best brush in the universe for all curly hair types is the Denman brush. This is my holy grail brush.
http://www.sallybeauty.com/on/deman...te/default/mProduct-Show?pid=DENMAN03&start=2

The larger number of rows choosen for bristles the bigger the brush will be. My Denman brush has five rows and is the small purse size.

And a handy dandy blog to boot.
The Retro Natural
Hair setting tips
http://theretronatural.blogspot.com/2011/04/hair-setting-basics-and-simple-everyday.html?m=1

Nathalie- I'm not the OP but I am bookmarking so many of those things for the future. Thank you so much!

Oh my goodness, you ladies are wonderful! Seriously! I was so distressed that I'd never be able to achieve vintage hairstyles without having to straighten my hair first, but now I'm feeling a lot more hopeful! This weekend I'm going to purchase some foam rollers and a denman brush, as well as checkout those videos for more tips (thanks MissNathalie!). Wish me luck! I will report back with my results thanks again for all the feedback and help!

Great!
Here is a very helpful video on how to correctly set your hair using foam/sponge rollers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRWb...sist_app=1&guid=&client=mv-google&hl=en&gl=US
I never knew I was using the curlers wrong until A Vintage Vanity pointed it out. No wonder the ends of my hair would get stuck on the roller. It was something so simple I just needed to spray the ends of my hair before I curled my hair. Who new wet hair ends would make a difference.