How to Make DIY Heatless Hair Curler

Using a fat quarter of satin fabric from Spoonflower, follow along with our friends at Peppermint magazine to learn how to sew your own DIY fabric heatless hair curler, perfect for healthily and easily giving your locks a blowout.

It is the nature of humanity to long for what we haven’t got—the grass is always greener et al—which is why many people born with naturally curly hair straighten it and many of us born with straight hair seek to curl it.

There are many methods offered to those who seek a beautiful bounty of bouncing curls, from voraciously eating all our bread crusts, a tragically inefficient method in the follicle transformation department despite the lies of our parents and caregivers, to ceramic hot irons and chemical perming treatments, which are generally quite effective but according to current thought are not the healthiest for your hair.

Hairdressers, scholars and TikTok innovators alike have toiled to come up with alternative options for those of us longing for low-key ways to give our hair low-key waves—and some think they’ve found the solution with a heatless hair curling set! These are sold for premium prices but it’s just as easy to make them yourself.

Silk and satin are recommended for use in pillows, hair wraps and overnight accessories because their smooth weave reduces friction against your hair, stopping it knotting, frizzing or splitting. Spoonflower’s Satin fabric is perfect for all hair related projects. Satin doesn’t absorb moisture in the same way as cotton, which helps keep natural oils in your hair keeping it luxurious and healthy, and it feels lovely and soft which helps everyone get a good night’s sleep!

Cut out one long rectangle (28” long by 4” wide, 71.12 cm long by 10.16 cm) and two smaller rectangles (18” long by 4” wide, 45.72 cm by 10.16 cm). You may want to make the large rectangle a little longer, up to 39″ (99.06 cm), if you have very long hair, as I made the curlers in this tutorial for my shoulder length hair.

Take your long rectangle and fold in half lengthways, right sides together. Pin along long edges and sew together.  

Sew one of the short edges together as well. Because satin is fairly prone to frying and these seams will be under some pressure, it is best to finish these seams with an overlocker or zig zag stitch.  

Now that you have essentially a long tube, open at one end, flip right sides out.

Using the open end, fill your tube with the stuffing of your choice. You want the tube to be full enough to hold its shape, but not so stuffed that it is no longer bendable and too stiff to sleep on.

Fold in the raw edges of the open end of the tube by 1/4″ (0.64 cm) and pin together. Topstitch or hand-stitch closed.

Take your two smaller 18” by 4” (45.72 cm by 10.16 cm) rectangles. Fold in one of the short edges by 1/4″ (0.64 cm) and press down.

Fold in half lengthwise, right sides together, and sew together. Turn right side out.

Cut 8” (20.32 cm) of 1/4″ (0.64 cm) or 1/2″ (1.27 cm) elastic. Using a safety pin, thread the elastic through your scrunchie tube. Due to the disparate lengths, the scrunchie fabric will get all scrunched up.

Stitch the ends of the elastic together securely.

Overlap the edges of your scrunchie together with the folded-in edge overlapping the raw edge (make sure your fabric isn’t twisted). Topstitch or hand stitch together.

Now that you have your hair curler, here is how to use it for the ultimate heatless blowout. For optimum results, your hair should be damp, not wet. For longer lasting curls, you can use a small amount of setting lotion or curl defining cream to each strand as you go.

1. Place the curler on top of your head making an upside down U-shape. To make things easier, you can secure it in place with a hair clip.

2. Starting near the middle of the U and going towards the ends, in small sections, wrap your hair around the curler. As you go, add more and more hair, twisting as you wrap to stop shorter hairs or layers from escaping. Once all your hair is wrapped around the curler, keep it in place with your scrunchies.

3. Wear overnight, or until your hair is totally dry. You can use a hairdryer to speed up this process.

If you have fine hair that’s likely to slip, slide and skedaddle its way right out of its curling confinement in the middle of the night, you can keep it in place with a hairnet or scarf. 

Remove the scrunchies, shake out the curls and enjoy your luscious locks!