Curly hair
Springy curls and ringlets. 13 hairstyles on EveryHairstyle so far.
Curly hair forms spirals and ringlets. Typing charts call it type 3, from loose 3A loops to tight 3C corkscrews about the width of a pencil. Curls shrink as they dry, can be drier at the ends and frizz in damp air, but they hold volume and shape well. Many stylists cut curly hair dry, curl by curl, so they can see where each one falls.
Cutting curls
Curly hair needs room to sit. Rounded layers, as in the shag and the modern curly bob, keep curls from forming a triangle and give an even shape. Stylists leave extra length because curls shrink, often by a third or more. Thinning and razoring near the roots can cause frizz, so many curl specialists use only scissors. The broccoli haircut of the 2020s set curls on top over short sides.
Curls in style history
Ringlets, long spiral curls, were fashionable for women and children in 19th-century Europe and America, often set with rags overnight. The perm brought artificial curls to millions in the 20th century, and the Jheri curl of the 1980s gave a glossy, loose curl to coily hair. Since the 2000s many people have stopped straightening their curls, part of a wider move to wear hair in its natural texture.
Famous curly hair hairstyles
Still to be written: Broccoli haircut, Kiss curl.
Further reading
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreNatural hair movement
A social and cultural campaign for wearing textured hair without chemical straightening.Natural · Coily and kinky hair · 1960
🇺🇸 United StatesDurag
Close-fitting head cloth for hair protection and style maintenance.Wrapped · Curly hair · 1960
🇸🇩 Sudan and 4 moreDreadlocks
A hairstyle of rope-like hair strands formed by matting or twisting.Natural · Coily and kinky hair · 1970
🇺🇸 United StatesAfro
A rounded style of combed-out natural hair.Natural · Coily and kinky hair · 1960
WorldPayot
Sidelocks worn by Orthodox Jewish men based on religious law.Styled · Curly hair
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 morePerm
A chemical or thermal treatment that sets permanent waves or curls into the hair.Styled · Curly hair · 1872
WorldRinglet
Curled locks of hair formed by wrapping strands around a tool or twisting them.Curls · Curly hair
🇺🇸 United StatesJheri curl
A glossy, wet-look perm popular in the 1980s among Black communities.Curls · Curly hair · 1980
🇬🇧 United KingdomVictory rolls
A 1940s women's hairstyle featuring voluminous side rolls shaped like the letter V.Styled · Straight hair · 1940
🇺🇸 United StatesFinger wave
S-shaped waves set by hand with comb and gelStyled · Straight hair · 1920
🇫🇷 FranceTitus cut
Short layered cut with curls from late 18th-century FranceCut · Curly hair · 1791
WorldWaves
A ripple pattern formed by brushing short curly hair flat.Curls · Curly hair · 1900
🇳🇬 Nigeria and 4 moreFulani braids
West African braided style with beads and side strandsBraid · Coily and kinky hair
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Dreadlocks: Richard Mortel, CC BY 2.0, source
- Titus cut: Adrien Pierre François Godefroy, Public domain, source
- Durag: The original uploader was Calliopejen at English Wikipedia ., CC BY 2.0, source
- Payot: Mark Neyman, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Perm: Louis Calvete, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ringlet: Margaret Sarah Carpenter, Public domain, source
- Jheri curl: Olugold, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Afro: Jason Melcher, CC BY 2.0, source
- Natural hair movement: livepict.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Finger wave: Unknown author Unknown author (Either deceased family member or work f, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Waves: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Fulani braids: François-Edmond Fortier (1862-1928), Public domain, source
- Shag: ABC Television Network ., Public domain, source