Can’t master the straightening your hair thing?
Maybe you are horrible with a curling iron or downright dangerous with a flat iron?
Wish you could get perfectly smooth, straight, shiny hair every time you flat iron your hair?
Or do you want fab curls to rescue your mane some mornings but can’t quite pull it off?
Been there done that. Yet most find curling and flat irons can work really well – when used correctly.
Sometimes the problem is curls can drive us a little bit crazy. And not in a good way either. Leaving us looking for ways to straighten them out even just a little.
Perhaps the really crazy part is more likely too many of us want what we don’t have. Those with curls covet stick straight locks. While those with straight hair go to great lengths at times to be a curly Q.
Like I said, either way curls drive us crazy.
Maybe torment is more like it.
So here’s three ideas for bringing a little sanity to the situation and raise the bar on living with or without curly locks. Or what you might call the ying and yang of hair.
Curling Straight Hair
If you’d like to jazz up your seriously straight hair for more of a coiled look this video is for you. It takes you step by step through the process of curling straight hair for a special occasion or you just feel like being extra pretty.
Terrific’s Take:
Before starting you want to untangle things. You can use a brush, but IHMO it’s better to use a comb when your hair is still wet from washing actually.
The curling iron of choice used in this video was one from HOT tools. It has a one inch barrel. The nice thing is the end doesn’t get hot so you can hold onto it.
As you should always be mindful of, a spray-in heat tamer was used and applied liberally to protect the tresses from the effects of the hot styling tool. It also might not be a bad idea to give that just a few ticks of the clock to soak in before starting so your strands are properly protected. You want take care to shield the locks behind your new found curls.
Her trick to audacious curls is to start in the middle of each section of hair to be curled. That means she doesn’t start curling near the scalp. This will give you a different look that if you did start the curls higher up the strands.
Another point? She twists the curling iron to take the curl away from her face. This is a good point to remember. That and away from your face on one side of your head is just the opposite on the other. When she’s done curling, the releases the hair and then pushes it up a bit to help support the curl.
She also leaves the hair on the curling iron for a good 10 seconds. Or enough time for the heat to form a proper curl.
How long this will take depends on how much hair you’ve got – obviously. In her case it was 15 minutes from start to finish.
At this point you want to separate the strands to give a more natural look to the curls. The she uses a brush to soften and separate a bit further. But you don’t want to go at your hair with so much vigor as to brush the curl out.
To get extra volume around the crown you’ll want to tease the hair. Not like a wild tease but again done more gently. So the way to get that is to section your hair, spray the underside, tease and then smooth down.
All in all this is a great way to make a styling statement and to get a long lasting, voluminous curly look for those otherwise straight strands of yours.
There. So much for the ying. Then there’s the yang.
Straightening Curly Hair
Talk about a challenge. You’re one of those with unruly natural curls galore but want to switch over to the straight hair team sometimes? Yet it can be a struggle to tame the curl. If that sounds like you, then this video is for you. It explains how to get sleek, straight, shiny hair even if yours isn’t, using a flat iron.
Terrific’s Take:
Depending on how curly your hair is it may be best to blow dry your hair with a round brush to pull out as much curl as you can before taking a flat iron to your hair. You may find your hair responds by being softer and easier to manage by doing this. Just remember this is a double heat process – blow drying and flat ironing that is. Which can be twice as damaging to your hair.
Step 1) Wash your hair to remove any product build up. Then deep condition to hydrate your hair since you are going to be using a hot styling tool to straighten it. You want to apply the conditioner to the stands ear level and below because that’s the driest.
Step 2) Depending on how much hair you have, you’ll want to section it off and pull the top most part up and keep it away with a clip. She uses a smoothing serum that has a silicon base to encourage the iron to slide nicely over each section of hair. You can spray your whole head at once but the risk is you won’t get as good coverage as you will by spraying each section. This is especially true if your hair is thick and curly.
Tip: The curlier your hair is the smaller the sections of hair you want to work with.
Step 3) Comb through the section to detangle it. Then apply the flat iron on the hair closest to your scalp, running it over that part several times if need be to insure you are removing the curl. Use the comb to apply a bit of tension to the section of hair you are working on.
Tip: Set your hot iron to only as hot as needed to do the job. If your hair is hot to the touch that suggests the setting is too high and you are possibly frying your hair.
Step 4) To polish the look on either side of your part get close to the roots to insure the hair is straight.
Tip: You may find if your turn your flat iron right at the roots you’ll get more volume. Use this trick for the hair around the crown of your head.
When finished, you’ll notice your hair seems to have picked up some length. And it sort of has because the curls are all straightened.
A few more parting tips.
- Spritz hair spray on your comb and use that to tame any fly aways.
- Since you don’t want to put any more heat stress than needed on your hair, use a dry shampoo to freshen up your hair after three days to get one more day out of your straighten mane.
- Put your hair into a tight bun and use a shower cap to keep your straightened hair dry when showering. And don’t be in a hurry to take your hair down. Nothing like the steam from your shower to cause your hair to curl up again.
- Sleep with your hair up using a soft hair tie when you sleep.
- Don’t ever let your flat iron anywhere near damp hair.
- Minimize any products you use.
- You want a good quality flat iron.
Finally here’s a heatless way to get knock out curls that’s called
Headband Curls
Ever wake up with hair so blah one look in the mirror ruined your entire day? Don’t you just hate when that happens? Well here’s a simple twist to braiding your hair and sleeping on it that all but insures you’ll wake up with gorgeous wavy hair.
I’d explain it but the idea is so simple one viewing of this video and you’ve got it.
In a few minutes you too can be creating tight curls, loose waves, ringlets or whatever kind of curl you crave. All it takes is a somewhat stretchy headband, some almost dry hair, and less than five minutes before you go to bed.
And no, it’s not cheating to wake up with luscious hair. Even though it looks like you spent hours with a curling iron perfecting your style.
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