Rag Curls and a Wedding

Many moons ago, my mother used to put sponge curlers in my hair.  This treat was reserved for special occasions like Easter or Christmas, and I recall the intense delight and satisfaction with which I viewed my Shirley Temple-esque reflection in the mirror. I do not remember being the least bit bothered by the hard plastic jabbing my head all night, but I have always been a bit vain, so apparently I considered it unworthy of thought even then.

The girls were privileged to participate as flower girls last week in Ben's brother's wedding.  They were so excited to wear their princess dresses and shiny pink shoes.  I figured a wedding would be a fun occasion to relive the pleasures of my youth, so I decided to curl Grace's hair.  I didn't have any sponge curlers, but I remembered that ladies used to make curls with rags in the pre-curling iron days.  I came across the YouTube video below, and gave it a shot.  Baby wipes are easy to come by in our house, so this was a fabulous discovery.

Here's our photo journey:

 Grace has been insisting on making the oddest faces lately during pictures.  

The tongue-in-cheek look is a particular favorite.

 All rolled up and ready for bed.

 In the morning.

Fresh curls. Another lovely face.  

Thankfully she didn't try these faces on the wedding photographer.

5 hours later at the wedding.  I carefully combed out each curl separately so that the ringlets would stay intact.  I didn't want her to have a 'fro.

A few tips:

• Start with barely damp wipes. Let the wipes sit out for a little while and dry out.  I used them first on my hair to experiment, and my hair was soaked from the wipes.  I used the same wipes to do Grace's hair later that evening, and the moisture content was perfect.
• Start with dry hair; the moist wipes are all the moisture you need.
• Use small sections of hair.  I needed 13 wipes to wrap Grace's entire head of hair.
• You can re-use the wipes.  Just mist with water when ready to reuse.