Over the past several years that I’ve been blogging, I’ve had several requests for a hair tutorial and I’ve always had intentions of obliging but whoa, let me tell you, it is hard to film anything with kids running around. After a few more requests flowed in last week though, I just threw caution and perfectionism to the wind and set up my phone while I was doing my hair one morning. My thought was that I’d throw up a quick video tutorial, nothing too eloquent, that showed the basics until I could invest more time in a better video. The filming went great despite two interuptions by kids asking questions but when I went to upload, that’s when everything got a little wrangled. I couldn’t figure out how to add text, how to compress the size, how to blah, blah, blah. Suffice it to say, I spent wayyyyy more time than I had intended on this video and it still is pretty awful. Haha! But hopefully you get the gist.
The original video was eight minutes long but the file was too big to do anything with or store in any of my available storage places so I ended up chopping it into pieces that come in at just under a minute. To make up for the cuts, I figured (and hoped) some written details would suffice.
So, here goes.
If the video isn’t working here, hop, skip, or jump over to YouTube to watch it.
Just some notes:
First and foremost, it is painfully evident that I have no talent in video editing. Ahem…
From start to finish, it takes me about seven minutes to get my hair curled. It’s never perfect and because it’s curly to begin with, it hides that imperfection pretty well…and some people would dub the look “beachy” so I’ll just lean on that justification. If I’m going somewhere special, I spend a little more time on it so we’ll just say 15 minutes max.
After I wash my hair, I put a little bit of Garnier Fructis mousse in the bottom half and I blow dry my hair upside down, focusing on the roots, for about two minutes. I can’t stand wet hair on my neck and back so this gets me to dry at the top, damp at the bottom status. I usually wash it at night so by the time I’m ready to curl, it’s 100% dry. Also, about the mousse, I’m kind of a mousse snob. I don’t like mousse that leaves your hair super stiff and this stuff is the best at not stiffening for the price. I do think blow-drying after applying helps keep things soft too.
My hair isn’t thin but it’s definitely not thick. At the thickness it is, I divide it into two layers for curling. If your hair is thicker, you might want three layers. Also, my hair is cut with several layers. The way your hair is cut detemines how it will look curled…that’s probably obvious but I thought I’d mention it anyway. :)
When curling, it’s key not to adjust your grip at the base of the section you’re holding. Grab the hair and wrap. The section of hair will twist as it’s being wrapped and you want that to happen!
The iron I’m using in the video is this Hot Shot/Helen of Troy curling iron. It is amazing and I’ve had it since college (10+ years). I have it in the 1” size and a 2”. I’m using the 1” in the video. The link will take you to it at Sally Beauty Supply, where I bought mine. If you become an email subscriber with them, you’ll probably be able to nab a coupon that would make it even more affordable than it already is!
This is my hair after three days:
In the summer with all the humidity down here, it usually looks a little crazier after three days but the hairs are faring pretty well in this gorgeous fall weather.
I only brush my hair after showering and that’s it. And actually, this past summer I tried something new where I brush my hair with a wide-tooth comb while I’m washing conditioner out and that’s it. When I’m done and while it’s still pretty soaking wet, I apply mousse and then I blow dry, upside-down, for the usual two minutes. My curls stick together more and humidity doesn’t hamper them as much as it usually does. You curly-haired girls should try it. :) Sometimes it looks great as-is and sometimes just adding a few wrapped-curls here and there adds a little more form.
I didn’t have time to tack this on at the end of the video (another reason why I need to make a better one) but I usually tease my hair at the roots when I’m done to add a little extra va-voom. On normal days, I just grab a fine-tooth comb or a pick and go at it a little bit but if I’m going to a wedding or some other special occasion, I sprinkle in some Powder Play and then tease it. My sister introduced me to this stuff a few years ago and it is A+. It holds and a little goes a really long way so it lasts forever.
I’ve never went Live with Facebook but I was thinking maybe it’d be fun to run through the whole process on there one day? Maybe? Maybe not? We’ll see how much courage I can gather and how much awkwardness I can ignore to try that…
Anyway, I know I’m no hair pro but I’ve gotten pretty good at making my hair look fairly decent in the very, very little amount of time that I have to do it. If anything, I hope I prove that it’s possible to lose the bed head with very little time and effort. ;)
Questions? Leave them in the combox or email me!
Adios! 
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