News
TrendsThe “Choppy Rachel Bob” Is the Most Flattering Winter Hair Trend—How to RecreateNatural hair15 Stylish Haircuts That Make Growing Out Your Hair Look ChicNatural hairNamibian Rasta sues gov’t after locs chopped in prisonTrendsAriana Grande’s Flipped Bob Is Fall’s Sweetest TrendNatural hairJa Morant Cuts Off Signature Locs, Reveals New HaircutNatural hairHGTV Star Leslie Davis' Natural Hair Color Is So Different From Her Signature Look (But Gorgeous)TrendsThe “Bombshell Blowout” Trend Has Entered the VillaTrendsColour Melting Is The Hair Technique To Know This WinterTrendsWhy Top Hair Stylists Are Crowning The ‘Flip Bob’ Summer’s Most Wearable Hair TrendTrendsThe Waterfall Bob Is the Polished Fall Haircut That Still Looks EffortlessTrendsThe “Choppy Rachel Bob” Is the Most Flattering Winter Hair Trend—How to RecreateNatural hair15 Stylish Haircuts That Make Growing Out Your Hair Look ChicNatural hairNamibian Rasta sues gov’t after locs chopped in prisonTrendsAriana Grande’s Flipped Bob Is Fall’s Sweetest TrendNatural hairJa Morant Cuts Off Signature Locs, Reveals New HaircutNatural hairHGTV Star Leslie Davis' Natural Hair Color Is So Different From Her Signature Look (But Gorgeous)TrendsThe “Bombshell Blowout” Trend Has Entered the VillaTrendsColour Melting Is The Hair Technique To Know This WinterTrendsWhy Top Hair Stylists Are Crowning The ‘Flip Bob’ Summer’s Most Wearable Hair TrendTrendsThe Waterfall Bob Is the Polished Fall Haircut That Still Looks Effortless
EveryHairstyle

Curls and waves

Finger waves, the perm, ringlets and beach waves. 6 hairstyles on EveryHairstyle so far.

Curls and waves can be natural or set. Set curls are made with heat, with rollers and pins, or with chemicals that reshape the hair for months. The marcel wave of 1870s Paris, the finger waves of the 1920s, the permanent wave of the 20th century, the Jheri curl of the 1980s and today's beach waves are all ways of putting a bend into hair that grows straighter.

Heat and setting

Heated tongs have been used to curl hair since ancient times. In 1872 the Paris hairdresser Marcel Grateau found that turned tongs made a deep wave, and marcelling became the fashion for decades. Pin curls and rollers set curls by drying damp hair around a shape; finger waves are pressed into gelled hair by hand. Heat styles last until the hair gets wet, because water resets the bonds that heat bends.

Perms and their descendants

In 1905 the German-born hairdresser Karl Nessler showed a permanent waving machine in London that used heat and chemicals on hair wound around rods. Cold perms, using chemicals without machine heat, followed in the 1930s and 1940s. The perm was everywhere in the 1980s, along with the Jheri curl for Black hair and the punch perm worn by some Japanese men. The digital perm, developed in Japan, gives soft, loose curls.

Famous curls hairstyles

PermChemically set curlsMarcellingHeated waves of the 1870s onwardFinger waveWaves pressed in by handRingletLong, hanging spiral curlsJheri curlA glossy curl of the 1980s

Still to be written: Digital perm, Kiss curl, Punch perm.

Further reading

Hair typeStraight hairWavy hairCurly hairCoily and kinky hairFine hairThick hairAny hair
Worn byMostly womenMostly menAnyoneChildrenBrides and weddingsFaith and religious ordersUniform and workSubcultures and music
OrderBest knownA to ZOldest firstNewest firstBy length
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 WorldMarcelling A heat-styled curl technique from the 1870s.Curls · Any hair · 1872 🇺🇸 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

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: the hairstyle of the day, new pages on EveryHairstyle, and the conferences and anniversaries of the week ahead.