An Analysis of Agent Peggy Carter's Hair in "Agent Carter"

If you have not yet seen Agent Carter and are at all interested in the Marvel Universe, action movies, 40's post war america, or like, good television, then you must check it out. The story centers around Agent Peggy Carter (from Captain America) and how she deals with her new post-war life in America and Captain America's death. This is a really good portrayal of women's lives in the 1940's as it doesn't try to hide the amount of misogyny inherent in this period.
On a lighter note, this show is also very good at showing accurate, or mostly accurate, 40's hairstyles and clothing which many period dramas just fudge to fit modern tastes. While I haven't seen any blaring chartreuse yet, I'm impressed my the seemingly accurate 40's hair. It's very curly, but not always perfect. in fact, Peggy's is often just gone to waves after a hard day of fighting crime. And, in episode 3, we see Peggy in actual pin curls which I haven't seem portrayed in modern television except for "Call the Midwife." So, needless to say, I set to analyzing.

Based on these images:


It appears that her curls are in two rows of large pin curls. This setting pattern is very similar to this authentic one:
The only difference is that the Jane Russel has stand up pin curls so I used them. The result was not exactly what I wanted. While Peggy's hair turned out like this:


Mine turned out like this:
Even after fixing up my wave with pins and hairspray I still couldn't get the amount of wave Peggy has. it is much to flat and straight on the sides that while favorable during the 40's is not Peggy's look. Her hair is shorter that mine so could wave up higher, but even so, not that much wave so high. I tried again with three rows of pin curls on the sides switching from front to back with all going down and four on the back and got a better look for me with more wave higher up, but still with not Peggy's wave. 
My conclusion in regards to Peggy's hair is that 1. The pin curl set used in the show is not the one used to do her hair when filming; there is at least something done additionally. 2. More than likely they don't pin curl at all. It looks to be either some sort of finger waving and curling or the use of a curling iron with very small curls and/or a waver.
While I really wish they had shown the viewers the authentic way they made Peggy's hair, I understand that pin curling is not something very possible for a TV show production. I really hope they do a feature on her hair regardless of technique.

Comments

  1. She most likely used those large alligator clips to achieve the fingerwave-like dents after the brushout :) xx

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