My mom would curl my hair around rags overnight. They weren't so soft to sleep on as the name suggests! As an adult, I had my hair knotted (fancy style for a party). The stylist tied knots in small clumps of hair all over my head, then pinned them down with bobby pins. When my hair was dry, it was amazing how the knots slipped out and left me with wildly curly hair.
Too many frizzy perms in my history!