My mom did that and she also would hold my hair over a steaming teakettle to make it curl. Kind of risky with a wiggly kid but she held me tight.

I'm 75, and had those "Shirley Temple" curls naturally. When my hair grew longer, Mom would wrap my hair around her fingers and hold the curl with bobby pins. I was 10 before she let me have my hair "trimmed". After she stopped making those curls (thank heavens), it was years before my hair stopped splitting into curls on their own. As I grew older (and grayer) my natural curls have given way to waves. But, as you can see from my avatar picture, I keep it short.
Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to you.

Mom didn't need the rags for me. She just Combed my hair around her finger. Seems like it would stay that way for several days. My twin sister had straight hair and it wouldn't hold the curl for more than a couple hours. I did go thru a phase of hating the curl because going to beach would just make it frizzy. That was the era of the 3-cornered scarfs and they were my best friend. Now that I am older I say thank goodness for curly hair.

Oh Yes I'm 73 and that was big. That's all we had were rags and a brush. Some times we found a comb to curl the hair around our fingers. And we used the same home made soap for laundry, shampoo and bath.
Our clothes were white our hair was so shinny and our skin so smooth. There are times I wish I had some of my DM soap.:thumbup:

I have natural straight, thin and baby soft hair, I always wanted curly hair.

My mother did my hair this way. I am now 72 and remember it well. She also used brown grocery bags, she would roll my hair (damp) onto the paper strips and tie it when rolled up to my head. Kept that curl for several days.

Used the pink sponge rollers for my gdaughter Rachel, she was so cute with those ringlets!

delma

I remember Momma using rags to curl my hair also, but have no idea how she did it.

My Mom used to put my hair in rag curls. OMG I hated wearing my hair that way. The kids at school used to tease me unmercifully; telling me I had weird hair. My hair wasn't curly as a child, but it is now that I'm older, but only when it gets shoulder length.

I had a girlfiend in the 50/60's who ALWAYS wore ringlets. You can imagine my dumbfoundedness when she came to my brother's funeral 50 years later, still wearing ringlets. Balder mind you. Right out of a horror movie.

MaryKatherine

This brought back memories. I, too, have naturally curly hair and if I spent the night with my grandparents, my grandmother would do this same thing to my hair before we went out shopping. I am thankful for curly hair also!!