Q&A for How to Curl Hair with Rags

Yes, because your curls were set overnight, they should last at least a day if you don’t use any setting spray. However, this is widely dependent upon your hair texture. If your hair is fine and doesn’t hold curls well, your curls may not last for a full day.

You can, if you want a tighter curl.

Usually quite a few hours. For best results, leave them curled overnight.

This is a way of giving your hair something to hold in the curl, like mousse or hair spray. It can also make your hair more flexible if it's stiff or damaged.

You might not get as neat of a curl if your hair is already curly, but there's no reason it shouldn't work.

Your hair must be long enough to wrap around the rag to curl. The results will also look different on shorter hair.

Use a heavy conditioner to relax your hair before curling it.

No. I tried it last night without conditioner and only a little water (from a spray bottle), and got amazing results.

It won’t flatten them, but it’s more likely to become frizzy -- especially if you have hair that gets frizzy easily. I recommend putting a wrap on your hair if you leave it in overnight.

You can buy rag rollers in any big-box store (Walmart, Target ec.) in the beauty section.

Yes it should still work. Use a smoothing serum or spray before starting to roll your hair up to help it be less frizzy.

It will be quite difficult, so you should try alternative methods.

Fill the sink with tepid water, add a few drops of shampoo, then soak the sponge curlers for a few minutes. Rinse the curlers in more tepid water, then blot as much water as you can with a towel, then lay them out to air dry the rest of the way.

Try another method, like sponge curlers, rollers, pin curls, or a curling iron.

Not very hard, depending on hair texture, and length of hair. If you have more curl-defiant hair, be sure to use hair mousse or lots of hairspray before or after rolling. And for people with naturally straight hair, be sure to check humidity before curling. Anything above 50% humidity will unravel before the day is done.

Yes, but that seems rather useless for this technique. Some wet/damp hair before rolling should do fine. If you are worried about hair texture/frizz, try using a silk pillow case or silk scarf to keep curls calm.

The direction will be crucial to good results, as rolling it the wrong way will make a difference with inverted curls, which might not look good. So yes, it does matter.