Easy 1940s Brushed Out Curls Hairstyle Tutorial

Tools and materials:

• Comb
• Hair clip
• Setting spray
• Curling iron
• Bobby pins
• Dense brush
• Barrette
• Hairspray

1. Section hair

Start by sectioning your hair. Make quite a deep side parting. 

Then you want to section off a large section of hair at the front of your head, going all the way down to your ear.

Separate the front section of hair on the other side as well. Then clip away all of your hair at the back.

2. Continue sectioning

Next, continue sectioning the hair at the front by creating sections about an inch wide all the way down to your ear.

Pin them back for now, as you will work on them again later.

3. Spray hair

Next up, apply some heat-activated setting spray. This will make sure that your hair sets into a good curl that will hold.

4. Curl hair

I’m using a 19-millimeter curling iron. You want quite a small one for pin curls.

Take a section of hair and curl it towards your face.

5. Pin the curl

Slide the iron out of your hair and pinch the curl and pin it to your head like a pin curl.

6. Curl hair

Now take the next section of hair, and this section I’m going to divide it into two and make two pin curls out of it. Spray each section of hair and proceed to curl them.

I do have bangs, so I’m going to have to make a little bit more effort to incorporate those into my curl, but I'm pretty sure it's doable.

Once done, pin the curled sections to your head. Continue to curl and pin each section of hair.

Then do the same with the hair on the other side of your parting. Curl your hair away from your face rather than towards it.

7. Curl back of hair

With the front done, we’re now going to move onto the back of the hair. Let the rest of your hair down and do the exact same thing, work in rows on the back of your head.

Spray each section of hair, then curl it, pinch the curl, and pin it to your head. I recommend working from the top down as this will be easier.

With the first few curls, make sure that you don't go all the way to your roots.

You want to leave a couple of centimeters at the top before you start curling your hair.

Here is what my hair looks like with all of the pin curls done. Now wait for your hair to completely cool down and fully set into the curls.

I’m going to give it an hour or two, but if you don’t have that much time, do give it at least 15-30 minutes. The longer, the better.

9. Let down curls

Now remove the clips from the pin curls and let everything down. Start from the bottom and work your way up.

You will find that your hair is now a lot shorter through the curling process.

10. Brush out curls

Take a very dense brush and start brushing your hair out. You want to make everything combine together.

First, brush the back part so that everything is behind your front parting. Then, where your parting is, brush sideways.

You can also run your fingers through your hair to separate the curls before you brush them.

The goal is to make all of your hair combine together into one big curl.

11. Clip up side

Use a barrette to clip back the smaller side parting of your hair.

12. Spray hair

Finish by spraying down your hair. Make sure to spray underneath the hair as well.

Brushed out curls hairstyle

I think that I should have curled the section of hair right next to my face outward instead of inward. But, other than that, I am very happy with how it looks!

I have successfully recreated a 40s hairstyle on longer hair using a curling iron.

Let me know what you think of this look in the comments below!

Next up, check out my post on 15 Quick and Easy Cottagecore Hairstyle Ideas.