History Lesson - Rag Curls

"That night, though it was the middle of the week, Ma bathed Laura and Mary all over, and she put up their hair. She divided their hair into wisps, combed each wisp with a wet comb and wound it tightly on a bit of rag. There were knobby little bumps all over their heads, whichever way they turned on their pillows. I the morning their hair would be curly."
-Little House in the Big Woods,
Laura Ingalls Wilder