Curlz!

I've always wanted to be able to make those lovely face-framing curls seen in Regency fashion plates and portraits but my stick straight hair just doesn't like to do that.  I have used a half inch barrel curling iron with some heavy duty products but the curls are lifeless by mid way through the day.

Enter cheap hair pieces from Amazon!

I bought a cheap pack of clip in extensions and a messy curly bun.  I'm fortunate in that most dark auburn hairpieces are pretty close to my hair color.

The hair extensions are quite long.  You get 8 pieces:  one with 4 clips, 2 with three clips, a double and several singles.  I decided to use the one with 4 clips and one of the triple ones.  I pinned them to my ironing board so they wouldn't move.  The 4 clip extension was trimmed to about 14 inches in length and the triple clip one was trimmed to about 10 - 12 inches long.  I divided the 4 clip one into 4 equal parts and used end papers (in this case toilet paper squares) to curl each section around a plain old sponger curler.  I divided the triple clip one into 3 sections and did the same.

I put a pot of water on the stove and brought it to a boil then I turned off the burner.  The  curled extensions were placed in my metal colander and I poured the hot water over them, making sure they were soaked through.  I let them cool, placed them on a towel and carefully removed the curlers, allowing the extensions to fully dry.  Because some of the curls tangled a little when removing the rollers, I wrapped each one (one at a time) around a 3/4 inch dowel and sprayed it with hairspray, holding it until dry, then slipping the dowel out.  That's all you need for face framing curls!

I also curled a couple of the single extensions, leaving them full length, to use for 18th century hairstyles.

Here are my Regency curls:

To do my hairstyle, I twisted my hair into a tight bun and secured it with 4 or 5 bobby pins.

Then I clipped the 4 curl extension fairly far back, knowing those curls would fall to the side.

Then I clipped the 3 curl clip closer to the front.

Then I added the bun.  It has two combs and I just stretched it out and stuck the combs on each side of the bun.

I like how the bun fills out my Regency cap and the other curls frame my face.

I think these would also work well with a scarf wrapped around leaving the curls on top to show.  I may go ahead and do some more to hang in the back for that kind of treatment.

Here they are with the finished outfit