Hair Curling Techniques: A Review

My hair is...awkward. That's a good word.

It's stick straight and flat until it gets to the bottom, at which point is gets a little fluffy and the ends start to flip out every which way. This happens no matter what length it is.

A while back, after Heather posted about how she gets her beautiful, wavy hair, I tried her method. I have always loved Heather's beautiful, wavy hair and jumped at the chance to recreate her look. I was pretty happy with the result, but I didn't really enjoy the almost 2 hours it took to do it.

 

I also tried using my straightener. I got a little bit of a different curling effect. It provided a bigger, rounder curl. And I wasn't really in love with the way all the ends seemed to sick out. I kind of looked like a frizz ball. Even after a few attempts, I couldn't get the ends to look any different. I wasn't standing in front of the mirror for quite as long (maybe 1.5 hours instead), but I still wasn't getting the look I wanted in the time I wanted. I don't have that kind of time to spend doing my hair for anything other than a super special occasion. I also wish (temporarily) that my hair were longer so I could really pull off this look.

So, I wanted something that didn't require so much time in front of the mirror. Then I found another technique - mini buns. I left my hair up in these silly looking buns for most of the day and then slept on them that night. I took a picture but can't seem to find it. Anyway, when I finally took them out, my hair had taken so well to the curl that I basically had a bunch of tiny corkscrew curls sticking out of my head. Seriously, they were all probably about 6 inches  - just tiny little ringlet curls. I had an afro! Definitely NOT the look I was going for.

No pics of that monstrosity. Sorry!

So I was browsing YouTube looking for other techniques and ideas when I came across a video that talked about using mousse to scrunch the curls. I don't remember which video it was, so I can't link you to it. Sorry. But the technique only required a little bit of time with a blow dryer. Mousse happened to be on sale at Smith's, so I decided to give it a try.

 

Heather will probably laugh at me for saying this, but I seriously thought that using mousse to get curls would only work if your hair was already curly. Not so! I put a little mousse on my damp hair and then start scrunching and drying it (I don't use any kind of diffuser attachment). If I don't like a particular set of curls, I spray it with a bit of water and re-scrunch and dry it. It's SOOOO easy!

This is the mousse that I use - mostly because it was on sale. I haven't tried any others, so I can't attest to their curling power. As a plus, my hair smells so yummy all day long!

I LOVE the outcome! I can curl my hair in about 20 minutes now! This has actually become my "go-to" hair style now because it takes less time and patience than straightening and backcombing my hair (both of which are necessary to produce a hairstyle in which I feel comfortable leaving the house). Hubs says he loves it, too, which is a plus!!