Curling your hair doesn’t have to be damaging, expensive, and challenging.
There are hair hacks that can help you achieve gorgeous, curly locks at home.
If you find yourself asking “How can I easily curl my hair minus the damage?”, the answer is simple—socks.
Believe it or not, you only need socks to get voluminous, salon-like curls.
The sock curling technique has been around since forever, but it resurfaced as a TikTok trend recently.
You can use socks to curl your hair in two different ways, by sock bun curling or sock curling.
The first one involves turning your sock into a donut bun, while the latter doesn’t require you to do something to your socks; you can use it as it is.
Read on and learn how to curl your hair with socks.
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If you find it hard to curl hair using socks, here's an easier way to do it — using a curling rod ribbon!
Best of all, you'll get more defined, heatless curls. If you want to learn more, check out our review of the heatless hair curling ribbon here!
* Prices and Images pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on 2023-01-26 at 09:50
Both techniques use socks as curlers, but each of them uses socks differently.
Sock bun curling is a heatless curling technique in which you turn your socks into a donut bun before wrapping your hair around it.
Meanwhile, sock curling doesn’t require you to create a donut bun. Instead, it is a heatless curling technique in which you, quite simply, twist your hair around socks.
It might sound weird, but we’ll talk more about the different ways to do it later.
Compared to using curling irons, the main advantage of sock curling techniques is that it doesn’t use heat at all. As a result, it doesn’t damage the hair.
Using socks is easier than using curling irons, especially for those who are not savvy when using hair tools.
Also, sock curling is cheaper because socks cost less than curling irons, and socks don’t use electricity to curl hair.
However, using socks has its disadvantages, too.
Unlike curling irons that give you instant curls, the sock curling technique takes at least 5 hours to achieve gorgeous and lasting curls. So, you can’t use this technique when you’re in a rush.
You also can’t control the curls much like you can when using a curling iron or flat iron.
But there are hair hacks you can use to get heatless curls in less than 2 hours, or even 5 minutes!
As a general rule in curling, always remember to curl your hair away from your face.
Also, it is advisable to do this technique on damp hair. You may apply a small amount of leave-in conditioner before the curling process if you want to.
Here are different ways to do sock curls overnight according to hair length and texture.
Length: Medium to Long
Texture: Any
Result: S-shaped waves
Do the same process to the remaining hair sections and leave it overnight.
Length: Medium to Long
Texture: Any
Result: Coils, thicker socks result in wider coils, and thinner socks result in ringlet coils.
Do the same process to the remaining hair sections and leave it overnight.
Length: Short to Medium, can also be done on long hair using long socks
Texture: Any
Result: Twisted curls
Do the same process to the other hair sections and leave it overnight.
READ: The Ultimate Guide on How to Curl Short Hair
Length: Long
Texture: Thick, Coarse
Result: Soft S-waves
Do the same process to the remaining hair sections and leave it overnight.
Length: Short to Medium
Texture: Curly / Natural hair
Result: Coils, use thin socks for tight coils and thick socks for bigger curls.
Do the same process to the remaining sections of your hair and leave it overnight.
Want to try a neater way of curling your hair using socks?
You’ve come to the right place. Unlike sock curls that look messy, sock buns are an elegant hairstyle on their own.
Here are ways on how to curl hair with a sock bun.
To achieve larger curls, it is ideal to use thick socks for long hair.
Consider using men’s athletic socks. For this method, you will only need one sock.
You can rock this hairstyle even during the daytime! To achieve the curls, leave your hair in a bun for more than 5 hours before removing it.
CHECK OUT this guide on How To Curl Long Hair
Note that it is ideal to use thin socks for shorter hair.
You may consider using children’s school socks or ladies’ athletic socks. For this method, you will need a pair of socks.
Repeat the same steps on the other side. You can flaunt this cute and playful hairstyle during the daytime.
To achieve the curls, leave your hair in a bun for more than 5 hours before removing it.
Sock bun curling | Sock curling |
Works better on long hair | Works well on all hair lengths |
Requires you to cut the toe part of your sock; you can’t use your sock again once you turn it into a sock bun. | You can curl your hair by leaving your sock as it is; you can reuse your socks |
Looks neat | Looks messy |
There are three basic steps to sock curling. First, dampen your hair with water. Next, wrap small sections of your hair around a sock. Last, secure it with a hair tie. Leave it overnight. The way you wrap your hair around the sock varies depending on your hair length and hair texture.
Yes, sock curling works! But it works best if you dampen your hair first and if you leave it for more than 8 hours. Also, make sure that the sock curling technique you’re using is appropriate for your hair length and texture.
Those with thicker and coarser hair may apply a leave-in conditioner first before starting the curling process to get the best results.
Ideally, hair should be damp before sock curling, especially for those with thicker hair. But people with thin and manageable hair can still see results even when starting with dry hair.
The hair should be damp but not wet before sock curling. If you try sock curls on wet hair, it will take more time to dry and won’t come out as curly as you like.
You can curl short hair with a sock by following the three basic steps of sock curling—dampen hair, wrap small sections of hair around a sock, and secure with a hair tie.
People with short hair should wrap their hair around the sock from the roots to the tips to achieve more volume.
The age-old sock curling method has seen a revival recently, in part due to viral Tiktok videos on heatless curls.
It can definitely work, no matter what hair type and hair length you have.
Give it a try and let us know in the comments below how it went for you!
Loved the curl natural hair with socks video; going to try later today