pin curl

noun

A curl made by dampening a lock of hair, fashioning it into a coil, and securing with a hair pin or clip while it dries.

Meanings

nounpin curl (plural pin curls)

plural pin curls

  1. A curl made by dampening a lock of hair, fashioning it into a coil, and securing with a hair pin or clip while it dries.

    For daytime: Brush down into a page-boy. To set—five pin curls on top plus end curls all around.

    1948, Hughes Hair Brushes, “You’re a lovely quick-change artist”, in Ladies Home Journal, page 25
    2 more examples

    This invention relates to pin curl clips and it is primarily an object of the invention to provide a clip of this kind which will hold a pin curl in position during the drying process without mashing but in a manner to maintain the curl in its original form.

    1946, Charles R. Cochran, PIN CURL CLIP, US Patent 2,400,488

    A pin curl set with water or setting lotion will never amount to anything (here today, gone tomorrow). But the Bobbi curl will last for 8 weeks.

    1962, Bobbi pin curl wave, “Which curl is most likely to succeed?”, in Life, page 20

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

pin curl. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pin%20curl

MLA

“pin curl.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pin%20curl. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pin curl,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pin%20curl.

Source: pin curl on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.