Sunday Fun Day: Curl Hair with a Straightener

Pinspiration: http://pinterest.com/pin/185210603398380773/

I have really thick hair that frizzes in humidity and does not dry in a fashion that is public ready. If I want to curl my hair, I typically have to straighten it with my CHI straightener and then use a curling iron to make curls (which is hard to do after it has been straightened). If I skip the straightener, my hair is big. Very big. Not Monica in Barbados big, but pretty big.

Using my straightener to curl my hair means I'm basically leaving out a step and hopefully saving time. I wanted to do it this way for a wedding and definitely knew I needed practice first. I've tried this 3 or 4 times now, and documented it twice.

I always straighten my hair in layers. Bottom layer, middle layer, top layer. I should probably do 4 or 5, but I get bored doing my hair (and about 75% of the time, I'm kind of in a hurry), so I stick with 3 layers. This is my first layer, after the straightening. I was still trying to master the technique.

This is the middle layer before I've done any curling.

I did manage a few spiral curls.

I have my bangs pinned back with a bobby pin. It is a bit of a mess, but not bad for my first try. It did take me probably 45 minutes to an hour to do. First try, remember! I definitely, definitely recommend practicing it a few times when you have the time.

This was the day of the wedding I went to. Fresh out of the shower, pre-blow dry, pre-comb through.

These are the products I used. A detangler for blow-drying and an anti-frizz cream.

See, this is what my hair looks like without a straightener.

This is actually after the wedding, before the reception, and I had time to fix it. I was rushing around after I did my hair and it fell and got a little frizzy, but I managed to fix it. I also have a very thin headband in my hair (it's black, so it blends in). I did give my hair a light spritz of hairspray, which I almost never use. I didn't want stiff or crunchy curls.

Tip: Take small sections of hair for each curl. You'll be able to figure out what size works best for your hair and straightener. I was getting weird non-curls (I don't even know how to describe them) and couldn't figure out why.

I'll definitely be doing this again and hopefully I'll have it mastered someday.