Styling Without Appliances (2)
Pin Curls:
Unless a woman had truly short hair, most finger wave styles were finished off using pin curls as accents. Generally found at the fringe area, the cheeks, and along the nape of the neck, pin curls were a staple of the "modern girl's" beauty regimen.
How To Create Barrel Curls
Pin curls can be either "carved" and shaped flat to the head or sectioned and placed "on base" like tiny disks of hair. To make the pin curl, segment the wet and product-laden hair with your comb and comb it into a ribbon. Using your fingers, shape the ribbon into a circular curl and overlap the hair as needed depending on the length of the hair.
The achievable results depend on how flat to the head the curl was made, how large the curl was, and how long the hair was (and therefore how many times it overlapped itself).
Barrel Curls:
The barrel curl is technically a pin curl, but it stands up and away from the head. It is anchored on the underside of the curl by a clip or pin and results in curls with more volume than regular pin curls. If it helps you, think of the barrel curl as a roller set without the rollers.
Take your wet and product-laden hair and segment it as you would to roll it on rollers. Instead of rollers, however, wrap the hair loosely around your finger. Once it's completely wrapped, slide a clip or bobby pin along the underside of the curl to grasp the hair and gently slide your finger free. It takes practice, but it can provide very pleasing results. In fact, I know of one woman whose family is wild about camping. She loves these techniques because she can use them on family excursions into the great outdoors and not have to worry about what she's going to do with her hair.
Our demonstration style here shows all three of these techniques in use. We have three barrel curls at the fringe area, finger waves on the top, crown, and upper nape of the neck, and pin curls along the sides and bottom of the hairstyle for added volume. You can see with the finished style that it looks like you have had all the usual tools at your disposal, but none were used.
See also: More hair styling instructions