Rose Water & Love

Beauty How-To: Victory Rolls!!

Alright, So it’s no secret I’m the walking 21st century version of Grace Kelly(hence the sarcasm).

One of the things I get most asked about, other than my clothes, is how I do my hair! Well, actually I tend to do a mix of different actual vintage hairstyles I learned on set while the hairstylist figured out the best way to make me look like Veronica Lake.

Though, in the end, we settled on a mix of hot rollers, curling, and TONS of styling, that isn’t exactly suitable for everyday wear; that is, unless you want to walk up at 4 am every morning, then be my guest! But I walked away with a lot of knowledge of how women in the 20s-50s ACTUALLY styled their hair! I fell in love with it so much, the style concept has stayed with me ever since.

Although, there are broad range of hairstyles for the time period, I’m going to focus on the one I think is the easiest for newbies!

Victory Rolls!

This is the hairstyle I’ve found gets the most compliments! From both girls and guys alike. Why? Well, I tend to think it’s because it’s a much softer and subtle version of the harsh vintage styles, people don’t often realize it’s actually a vintage hairstyle! Which is nice in case you want to look modern but different.

There are 2 ways to do this hairstyle A. being the one pictured above(my personal fave) or B. The one pictured below. Which is also, respectively known as the “pin-up” girl look!

Not bad for versatility huh? Ok, well, now to the ACTUAL how-to!

What You Will Need:

Rat Tail Comb.

Hair Gel, Volumizing Mousse, or Curl Gel.

Bobby Pins or Clips, depending on how thick and long your hair is!

Soft Bristled Brush.

Comb or A Comb Brush.

Clips, to hold hair back.

Hairspray, for styling.

One thing I want to say. Your hair MUST be damp! NOT wet. NOT dry! DAMP! If your hair is too wet it will dry very stiff or not at all! If it is too dry, you will not have enough time to finish the girls before your hair drys. This is an overnight style only so make sure you take a shower early in the evening to account for it. NOT at midnight! Also, you might want to keep a spray bottle handy in case the tips start to dry towards the end if you have long and thick hair. Do NOT drench your hair with the spray bottle! Just keep the strands damp if they start to dry fully.

Step 1:

Part your hair using the back of the rat tail comb, as desired. Tip: Part it the way you want it to dry. It’s most common for style A to have a deep side part angling closer to the head, the farther back the part is made. For style B, it is common to have a straight deep side part.

Step 2:

Comb hair until all tangles and knots are removed.

Step 3:

Apply one of the following products to the roots of hair: Hair Gel, Curling Gel, or Volumizing Mousse. Gently massage the product into your scalp all around the hair. This is to ensure your hair does not go flat overnight. I highly recommend the mousse. Tip: For style A, use a minimal amount of product. For style B, use only SLIGHTLY more! Also, remember quantity depends on thickness and length of hair. For mine(thick and waist length) I use about a golf size amount of mousse. This is a learn as you go process so do not fret the first time. Just adjust as need be with practice.

Step 4:

Brush the product, which is now fully in your roots, throughout the hair until hair is shiny and smooth. This ensures the product is distributed evenly.

Step 5:

Using the rat tail comb, part hair into three sections: right side, left side, back. The section that has the part in it will be considerably thinner than the other two. The section opposite the original side part, should be the thickest. Clip the other two sections back while leaving this one down. 

Step 6:

Using the rat tail comb, take a large section of hair from the front part of head and divide it into a slanted top and bottom section. Drop the bottom section while still holding onto the top portion. 

Now, using the toothed end of the rat tail comb, brush the section of hair until smooth. Pinch the section of hair, at mid point from your head and roll the bottom half around your thumb LOOSELY. Once the bottom half of the section is wrapped around the thumb, gently wiggle your thumb half way out of the curl. As you do this, be sure to grasp the curl that has been released with your index finger. Otherwise, it will fall out.

You should now be holding the curl in place using your index and thumb fingers. Making a rolling motion, gently continue the curl the remaining top section of the strand.

You can either do the curls downwards for style A, or upwards, for style B.

Your curl should now resemble the middle curl as pictured above. If you are doing style A, the curl will be opposite in direction(downwards).

Note: The picture is more for cosmetic styling purposes. You will most likely need to make slightly smaller curls. This is to give you an idea of how the curl should look.

Step 6:

Pin the curl in place. This is best done by sticking the clip in the middle section of the front of the curl, while catching some hair from the scalp. If need be, reinforce the clip by adding another clip or pin, this time from the back of the curl.

The pictured clips are the best ones to use for this purpose.

Now that the curl is firmly secured, take the dropped section of hair and repeat the curling process until all hair is gathered. When the entire third of your head is curled, release the third of your hair on the side with your original part. Leave the back third of your hair until last.

Repeat Steps 6-7 until all hair is curled.

Styling!

For Style A(pictured above) simply remove the pins and use the soft bristle brush to gently brush the curls out. It may looking extremely fluffy at first, but it will go down after running your palms through the hair a few times. If you would like, take a few bobby pins and gingerly arrange your bangs and pin. Hairspray lightly, but don’t over do it or it will cause the style to go flat! Walla! You have a beautiful hair-do just like Miss Hayworth!

For Style B, simply remove all pins. DO NOT BRUSH!! Run your fingers very gently through the curls to separate. After you have done this, take the sections of hair you want to pin up and brush each section individually! Next re-roll the curl and pin using bobby pins. If you want the remaining hair to remain tightly curled, I do not recommend brushing them out! If you want them to look loose, you can brush them out. That’s it!

Until next time,

Satin Gloves, Crimson Lips, and Gorgeous Curls!