QUICK & EASY CURL TUTORIAL
Happy Monday, ladies! I hope you’re all having a good one. Tomorrow is the day. My flight is around mid-day and I get back in the US, well, pretty much on Wednesday. So Wednesday’s post will actually probably come out in the afternoon when I’ve had some time to sleep, wake up, and review it. 🙂 Anyway, today’s post I’m sharing how I get my curls in 99% of posts. I enjoy getting ready, but I’m notoriously late, so I’ve come up with a quick way to get pretty, loose curls, in about 15-20 minutes. Although sometimes less, if I’m having a good hair day, which is rare when it’s this long. This tutorial works best and the fastest on thin hair.
STEP ONE.
The first thing I do is quickly prep with some dry shampoo or a texture spray. My hair is so fine that it really needs the extra grit to hold the curl. So, if your hair cooperates, skip this step! 😉 My favorites are Living Proof PhD Dry Shampoo and Kenra Dry Texture Spray 6.
STEP TWO.
But don’t skip brushing. There’s nothing worse than trying to curl tangled hair. Plus it just adds time as you pull apart each piece, and can make it a little too messy. So save the heartache, and give it a brush first.
STEP THREE.
The next step is to arbitrarily divide your hair in half. Because I have thin hair, I usually divide it on an angle to help fight back parting. So I start at the upper left hand corner of the back of my head, and move down and to the right to the lower right hand corner at the nape of my neck.
STEP FOUR.
Give each side a good mist with a working hairspray. I love Rusk Working Spray. This will help your curl set faster and hold longer. Just make sure the strand is totally dry before touching heat to it.
STEP FIVE.
Take about an inch to an inch and a half of hair and brush through it quickly with a comb. Section from your part, all the way down to the nape of your neck. As you move from the back of your head to your face, you’ll find that your sections can get larger because you’re curling less hair.
MORE ON STEP FIVE.
Here’s a better picture of sectioning off hair. At the back of your head, the pieces will be closer to an inch. On the side, about an inch and half is manageable. On my hair, this is the last big section I do. But more on the front piece later.
STEP SIX.
Place your curling iron about in inch from your scalp, parallel to your head and try to keep it in roughly the same place as you twist and curl the rest of the hair into the curling iron. But it’s more important to have it move smoothly across the barrel, so if you have to pull it down to meet the hair as it turns, then do that. Hold it in place until it’s warm all the way across. If you hold your hand like I am, you shouldn’t feel like your fingers are burning.
STEP SEVEN.
Let your curl out by gently pressing the clip to loosen the hair around the barrel and carefully pulling down, parallel to your head. If your hair doesn’t hold curl well, scoop it up with your palm flat and let it coil in your palm until it cools, then drop it behind your head.
STEP EIGHT.
The front section is the part I do ever so slightly different. (See the “More on Step Five” photo to see how big this section is.) Because this section is in your face, and will frame your face, you want to curl it in two pieces. A top section and a bottom section. The bottom section should cover your hair to just above your ear (~1/2 inch), and the top is the rest. After I let the top piece down, I give it a little tug at the bottom of the first spiral to keep it from being too tight.
STEP NINE.
The next step is especially for girls with hair that loses its curl easily. Before you do anything more, give everything a fine mist of a strong hairspray. Make sure to old the can as far away from you as possible, but still focus it on areas that lose curl the fastest. My favorite is Kenra Volume Spray 25.
STEP TEN.
My fine hair is prone to parting in the back, so to prevent it, I lightly tease in one inch layers from the crown of my head to the top of my occipital bone, roughly the end of the “bump” at the back of your head, at about the same level as your eyes. Before I tease, though, I spray each section with a teasing spray. I love Redken’s ____
STEP ELEVEN.
And now tease, going up about three inches into your hair and pulling down with the comb to your scalp. I make a big mess of this and smooth it out last because my hair also does not hold teasing well.
STEP TWELVE.
Give everything a good shake before smoothing it down to break up the curls that got stuck together while teasing and help everything fall more naturally.
STEP THIRTEEN.
Smooth everything out. If you can see the teasing at the top of your head, gently comb over it without putting any pressure. The goal is just to smooth out the hair that sits on top of the teasing, not comb out all your work. Add another healthy mist of hairspray. And remember, hold it as far away as possible. You’ll need a ton of hairspray to hold your curl if it falls easily, the only way to apply enough hairspray and not have it look crunchy is to let it mist on in several light layers.
What’s your favorite quick and easy hairstyle?
follow on: