It has been busy busy around here lately. If doing last minute Christmas shopping/gift making, and working on top of dance rehearsals wasn’t crazy enough, both Meg and I thought it would be a great idea to do an apartment swap within our building. It has been a lot of moving boxes up and down stairs in an old pair of sneakers and jeans with my hair in a messy sweaty bun. Needless to say, there has not been much time to take true care in my appearance. I finally decided Sunday evening I would take some time to myself, drink some tea and rag roll my hair. I thought I’d share a little tutorial on how to do these rags and rolls.

What you’ll need:

• A head of hair
• Old t-shirt or towel etc.
• Scissors
• Tape measure (if you would like to be precise)

First Step: Making the rags!!! You need to cut up that old – unloved – t-shirt into strips. I did mine about 1″ in width and 7″ in length. This can vary depending on how loose (or tight) you want your curls to be and how long your hair is. I have longer hair, so I cut mine to a longer length and I like smaller ringlets, so I did thin strips. I probably cut the t-shirt into about 25 rags in total. You never really know ahead of time how many you’ll need, but that’s okay! You can always go back and cut more.

Second Step: Wash dem hairs! Personally, I like to have damp hair to roll with. To be honest, the outcome is about the same with dry or damp, but I find it far easier to actually roll my hair when it’s damp. So that is always something to consider.

not often I take selfies…was having a moment

Third Step: Let the rolling begin! Make sure you are wearing a shirt you do not have to remove at any point, or that does not require removal via head…I think the reason for this is obvious. I like to part my hair from bottom to top, starting with bottom layer to do my rolls. Take your desired amount of hair to be rolled, whether that be a clump, chunk, piece, strands or bundle does not matter, this is your life! Wrap the end of your bundle around the rag, and roll it up. Once you are at the top, tie your rag into a single knot. Voila! First roll, a success. Now continue on with your entire head.

Eventually, you will look darling like this. I like to call her spider head.

Fourth Step: After I’m all done I like to sleep with my rags in and take them out the following morning. Once I take them out, I tend to look like this, so personally, I like to brush out my curls to give a more voluptuous 1970’s look. But if  you don’t suffer from Annie syndrome, you can leave them as perfect little ringlets if you so desire.

Now go forth and take on your day, anything is possible with a head of curly locks!