Easy Retro Hairstyle for Short Hair

Hi all! If you follow me on Instagram (username: Gertie18) then you have seen lots of pictures of my hair. When my hair looks nice, I'm struck with an irresistible urge to document it. I'm a little embarrassed by this habit, because I know it's slightly narcissistic. But does that stop me? Nope!

Anyway, I've been playing around with hairstyles a lot lately and have stumbled upon an easy one that I really like. When I wear my hair this way, people always tell me I look like a pin-up girl or a Hollywood starlet from the 40s. I'll take it!

I've had some requests on Instagram for a tutorial on this style, so I took process pictures as I was doing my hair today. I had to use mobile technology (read: selfies!) to make this happen, as it is really difficult to do your hair and take pictures at the same time.

So here we go! First, I should tell you that my hair is thick and slightly wavy. It holds curl well. My cut is a side-parted, chin-length bob with textured layers at the end. My bangs are a couple inches long and I wear them swept to the side. Your results will vary with your hair cut and type.

1. Start the night before. These pics were taken taken when my hair was just washed. I applied some cheap hair gel throughout and blow-dried. (This looks works even better with unwashed hair, however!) Section off your bangs and roll them around your fingers into a loose pin curl. Pin in place to one side. Make sure the curl is not smushed flat, and is allowed to stand up slightly.

2. The next morning, use a 1" curling iron to curl small-ish sections of your hair. (Keep the pin curl in place for the time being.) Hold the iron horizontally and roll the pieces under, not flipped up. They don't have to be super curly, just smooth and curled-under.

3. Make two side victory rolls. Grab the section of hair above your ear and wrap it around something tubular, in a direction away from your face and up.

I'm using this cool pin curl tool (not with the comb ends, I'm just using the smooth middle part to wrap my hair around).

Sculpture Pin Curl Tool

You don't need a special tool, just something round (about 1/2"  to 3/4" wide) that you can wrap your hair around.

4. Remove the tool and grab onto the roll. Pin a bobby pin up the center of the roll so that it's hidden.

Make a second victory roll on the other side of your head.

5. Remove the bobby pin from your bangs. Brush your bangs and arrange the curl into a loop. Hairspray well.

6. Curl the lower sections of your hair if you missed any parts.

7. Spray your entire head with hairspray and you're done!

You can vary the curl in front by changing the direction of the curl. In the picture below, I curled my bangs more toward the back of my head than to the side.