Paper Curls

I don't know about paper curls, but we've used rag curls in my family for generations and they sound like they're the same idea.  You just wash your hair at night, then use narrow strips of fabric (torn up rags were what my grandmother's generation used, I use strips of bias tape now) to tie around the curls to hold them in, then sleep on it and untie the curls in the morning for a head full of curls.  The curls do tend to be pretty tight.  When my daughter's hair was down to her hips, rag curls would make it reach about mid-back once we took them out.  She just had me do more in her hair for homecoming this last month so she could have a bunch of tight curls in her ponytail.

Pper curling was used in the 30's, because I picked up a Barber Manual from that era and found a photo montage of the barber setting a young girl's hair in the paper curls. It wasnt a perm, it was a set.  Possibly because of her shorter hair, she couldnt get it done in a beauty parlour.  A man's barber was serviceing before the age of rules and regulations.