Curls for a Gal on the Go

Wooohoooo! I got my first post from someone I don't know. That's right, folks. I'm so excited about it, that I'm writing my first post in 4 months. As the youngest girl in a large family, I think I clearly need positive reinforcement to produce. Oh, what we learn in life...

Dear Anonymous,

You may be an acquaintance only trying to facelessly cuddle my ego, and you may truly be a stranger who has stumbled upon my videos and blog. Either way, I thank you for bringing a smile to my face and a fire to my ass.

And where did I go? Nowhere, really; I just got lazy. I have a variety of creative pursuits, and seem to get ahead of myself, occasionally. I have a bunch of hair videos, waiting to be edited and posted, so if my boyfriend will help with with the tech side of that--you better believe they'll get posted :)

In regards to your questions: if you want curls that last longer than 20 minutes, I would first follow up by asking you: "What kind of curls?" That said, an extensive exercise of hot rollers or sponge rollers might be the way to go. But if you have 10 minutes to get ready in the morning, like I do, you may want something a little more efficient. For that, I suggest the following:

Preheat your curling iron. (around 1" barrel)

1. Tease your hair like a a mad woman (this is usually step one for anything).
2. Spray the teased roots from about 6 inches with a hard-hold hairspray; I recommend Hardhead by TIGI or one of the Big Sexy Hair hairsprays.
3. Brush your hair through lightly. Now you've distributed the "gunkiness" throughout, so your fine hair actually has some toughness to it.
4. By now, your curling iron is nice and hot. I suggest curing irons by Hot Tools. They're really cheap, they do the job well, and they last forever. Grab vertical sections of your hair. Since your hair is thin, Anonymous, you can grab sections about 1.5 inches wide and 3-4 inches long. If some second reader out ther has thick hair, I'd go with 1" by 2", but use your own discretion.
5. Hold hair in the iron for a good 2 or three seconds, remove the iron, and spray the curl, now from about 8-12 inches away. You can even curl a few sections and then spray 2 or 3 at once. Whatever you do, DO NOT pull the curl out. It is very important for the curl to cool in as tight a position as possible, for the integrity/longevity of it's shape.
6. Repeat all over (Note: Experiment with different directions (ie facing forward v. backward) that flatter your face. As a general rule, curls going away from your face are going to be more flattering, but this isn't 100% accurate).
7. Give your hair a final spray and position curls however they need. You may want to pin a few pieces back and out of your face, or you may want to leave it all down. I almost always find that leaving it entirely down looks dowdy, but it really depends on the cut.


Hope that was helpful, and if I'm lucky enough to receive a comment, I'll even tell you how to put your hair back if it's too short for quick manageability :)


Best,

Amanda