I didn’t always have short vintage hair like I do now. When I was a senior in high school I cut off two feet of hair. Yes, you heard that right. TWO FEET of hair. When I was in 3rd grade my sister thought it would be fun to perm my hair. After a couple of years, it had grown out enough that it looked pretty funky having it straight at the top and curly at the bottom, so we cut it into a pixie. All that year people were constantly calling me a boy, so I didn’t cut it again for seven years. Seriously. Not even a trim.
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Once all that hair was gone, it was honestly kind of life changing.
I felt free, I felt confident, I LOVED it. I haven’t let it get even as long as my shoulders ever since.
But of course, as you know, I’m all about the retro look. Typical pin curls, even for what look like pretty short hairstyles, start with medium to long hair. The curls bring it much shorter when it’s styled.
As much as I love full-on vintage hair and make-up, it’s just not practical for me to do every day.
I have gone back and forth so many times between slightly longer hair that’s better for 1950s styling or the super short hair that is so much easier for me to maintain, and I don’t know that I’m quite settled even now.
But in the meantime, I’ve finally found a way to have my cake and eat it too. I can have my hair nice and short so on days where I don’t have much time I can just do my 5-minute makeup and my hair is wake-up-and-go without any styling, but I can still curl it when I want to feel a bit more vintage.

Supplies for setting your hair:
I got mine at Dollar Tree, but these foam rollers are about the same price because they come in a much larger pack. Lottabody setting lotion is a concentrated liquid formula that you dilute with water and spray on with a spray bottle. Motions styling lotion is applied as a foam and has multiple uses beyond setting your hair.
Play around and have fun with it.
You can try different patterns of rolling your hair and different methods of brushing it out to get different looks. If you try it, tag @finch.hollow on Instagram, I’d love to see it!
