How to make vintage long-lasting curls that last all day, No drooping!

Does this sound like a familiar senario?

You spent a good hour or two carefully rolling your hair, then another good solid hour under the dryer to set. You imagine Rita Hayworth curls as you carefully un-furl those precious curls....  Hmmm, they look kinda alright, something that Rita herself would be proud, as you smugly brush out the curls and congratulate yourself. Alas, half an hour later, your worst horrors are confirmed: curls are drooping! All that hardwork is coming undone. Why does this always happen to me?!

This is one of the most frustrating part of doing vintage hair. Vintage hair styling is all about shaping hair into desirable swirls. One of the hardest things is to make them stay.

It's crucial to first understand the curling process: Moisture, heat and styling products put hair in an easy to manipulate, malleable state. You shape hair at this stage by waving, putting in rollers, pincurls etc. Once hair is shaped,  it needs to retains that new shape by reverting back to non-malleable state, usually by drying. 

Therefore:

-  Do the old fashioned wet set. Whenever possible. ( A wet set is using water to set hair. Usually with some setting lotion.) In my experience the process of hair going from wet to dry is one of the most potent for hair setting. After a proper wetset curls last incredibly long. The trick is: Curls needs to be completely dry before taken out.

- Make sure hair is completely cool before taking the curls out, if you are using heat to curl hair. Heat setting does not last as long. It's good to clip wind-up curls, and leave them in for a while before taking out.

- Use small diameter curlers for hard to curl hair, tight curls unravel slower than loose curls.

- Stragglers at the nape of the neck must be wind very tightly, as they tend to unravel the quickest and easiest.

- Apply good holding products to mid hair shaft and ends. That's where you need the most hold. You can buy specific curl enhancing products. Various holding gels, sprays, mousse all sort of do similar things.

 - Hairspray underneath curls as well as on top. Making sure all areas are covered.

- Back combing helps, especially if you have flat straight hair. Back combing adds volume, and that helps to disperse moisture, and hold hair hair better.

Enemies of long lasting curls:

- Humidity, rain and anything that makes your hair wet! it brings hair back to that malleable state, which reverts back to natural shape.

- Excessive brushing. It is like slowly straightening hair, enough said.

- Putting too much hair on roller because you are lazy or ran out of rollers. This lead to loose curls with not much structure.

- Wind messes up hair. Therefore may possibly lead to misshapen curls, and you have to brush them again and again.

- Badly placed clothing, scarf or handbag strap that puts pressure on and flatten shoulder curls. Make sure they are out of the way of your hairdo!

- Brush curlers and velcro curlers are worst curler types to use for hard to curl hair. When you un-furl the curls, the teeth on them literally brushes out the curls.

- Greasy hair has too much oil and weighs hair down. Therefore is hard to curl and won't hold well. This is often due to too much hair conditioners or gloss serums. Or the hair is just plane dirty. 

Tips for different hair types

Straight hair - your hair is hard to curl and hold. you need to use good strong holding hair styling products and a wetset is strongly reccomened.  

Very curly hair - you may need to straighten hair before shaping 

Thick hair - you need to use more rollers, don't put too much hair on one roller. 

That's all I can think of now, will add more later when I think of more.

Feel free to add to this list.