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Okay, so I asked some professional Japanese people, and this is how they tell me to translate the phrase: あの子はほら 前髪ｸﾘ~ﾝ だから ｸﾘﾝちゃんﾋﾟｶ
The word "ｸﾘ" (it's in half-width due to television annotation grid limitations) means "chestnut". Curly can be "くるん", "巻き", and a few other ways, but it's not "ｸﾘ" unless it is being used as double meaning.
The Pikachu is called "Kurin-chan" because of the way it is written. ｸﾘ~ﾝ has that ~ because Pikala is saying "ｸﾘ" in a cutesy way. When you remove the ~, you get "ｸﾘﾝ", the name it is being referred to.
However, since the bangs look like chestnuts and are also curly, it is most likely ダジャレ (dajare) which basically means "Japanese wordplay". This is a Japanese cultural thing that DOES NOT translate well into English without the usage of long explanations explaining to the viewer.
So the correct translation is "chestnuts". However, for the sake of "who cares this show is for toddlers", the English dub team probably just went with the pun meaning and translated it into "curly" and called it a day.
Fun fact: "ｸﾘ" doesn't just mean chestnuts. It also means clitoris. Don't forget, the Pikachu being referred to is a female, so this is yet another Japanese wordplay.
