How to Love Your Curls:
A Straightener-Free Guide to Having Frigging Sweet Hair
I have spent time unfathomable trying to tame my hair, and this is certainly not a unique plight. My curls were the bane of my life for a long time — Make them sleeker! Tidier! Edgier! Get rid of them altogether! JUST DO SOMETHING, PLEASE! I would have sold my soul if I could have had straight hair in return. Short hair was my answer for a while, since it can only go so crazy when it doesn't even touch your shoulders. Since I've been letting my hair grow long again, though, I've had to learn to embrace its floofy bigness once more. I've decided that I'm tired of trying to subdue it, and am making it my mission to spread the big hair love instead!A Straightener-Free Guide to Having Frigging Sweet Hair
In doing so, I've put together a list of tips — geared towards low-maintenance people who don't fancy getting up an hour early for a date with the hair straightener.
Tip 1: Above all else, look after your hair!
This is obviously good advice for anyone, but curly hair is more prone to dryness and breakage than straight hair, so be nice to it if you want it to be nice to you. I'm not talking a crazy hair-care routine here; just try not to shampoo it more often than you need to, and condition it regularly. Avoiding hair straighteners, blowdrying, and metal hairclips (because of breakage) is also advisable. The healthier your hair, the nicer it will look on a day-to-day basis... duh.
Tip 2. Just say no to masses of mousse.
A little goes a long way, is all I'm saying. There's nothing more off-putting than a head of "perfect" curls that feels as though it's been dipped in glue. I favour creams over mousse, in general, since I think they feel much more natural in the end — especially when applying to dry hair.
Tip 3: Back away from the brush.
Give your hair a good rub with a towel, then brush or comb it - parting it as you normally do - and now don't touch it with any sort of implement again until it's dry. You can run your fingers through it a few times as it dries, but don't touch that brush again! This will give you the neatest, shiniest curls with minimal effort. It took me about seventeen years to work that one out...
Tip 4: If you have to blow dry, keep it steady.
Leaving hair dry naturally isn't always an option, I know. So if you must, move the drier as little as possible as you're using it. Waggling it around makes your hair dry faster, I know, but it also separates the strands of hair and stops them curling properly.
Tip 5: Look for inspiration. Look hard.
This is really the most important part of loving your curls — it's all about accepting them, and not trying to turn them into something else.
Tips for straight hair are everywhere these days. Curly hair tips... not so much. And so many of those that do exist are about making your hair as frizz-free and close-to0-straight-hair as possible. It just gets boring (not to mention disheartening) after a while. But never fear! There is inspiration to be found, you're just going to have to take a bit more initiative and keep your mind open.
My favourite source of inspiration is vintage photos, because they remind me how fickle fashion is, and of the subjectivity of beauty. Stylish curls these days are tame and sleek, but...
Straight, sleek hair wasn't always all the rage, and it's great to look at vintage photos to remind yourself of that. Take a look at these curly ladies for some great ideas:
Louise Carbasse
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Mary PickfordSo have some fun with hairbands, clips and hats, stop worrying if your hair is as small as it can possibly be, and embrace the floof! Just maybe watch out that you don't go too far... (On the other hand, maybe there's someone out there who can look amazing like that.)
Where do you look for inspiration for your curly hair? Or, if you've got straight hair, do you ever find yourself lusting after curls? Do share!
Where do you look for inspiration for your curly hair? Or, if you've got straight hair, do you ever find yourself lusting after curls? Do share!
7 comments:
I've always wanted curly hair, it looks so romantic and stylish but unfortunately I was given thin wavy hair. If you think articles and tips about curly hair are low in supply; in the last six months, I have not seen any Cosmo, Elle or Marie Claire articles suggesting short hair as a fun summer hair style.
My curly (such a understatement) hair used to be such a nuisance until I figured out that its never going to do as I say. I just leave it now and treat it weekly with deep conditioning treatments and its fine. Clips and bows have become my new best friends as they can neatly tuck any stray hairs away and still look really stylish! ^_^ Curly hair should be embraced, not hidden beneath the straightening irons!
I'm growing out my curly hair (my curls are kind of loose, actually, so I'm glad about that), and I've started taking good care of it. I'm now using shampoo especially for taking care of long hair, which means that it conditions the ends as well. My conditioner is from the same line, although I use very little, since I also use leave-in conditioner for curly hair, which is magical. It's been about a month since I touched my hair dryer or flat iron. During winter, I use the diffuser. I've been googling Edwardian hairstyles for about a week now, and I'm preparing to try some tame versions of those soon.
My hair is...willful. I don't do anything to it besides use the recommended shampoo/conditioner from my utterly brilliant hairdresser. He has reformed it magically from its wicked dry and bushy ways :) Curly/wavy hair is only just coming back I think, growing up I copped alot of criticism for not having pin straight locks. I like it the way it is mostly, but I am still paranoid about it being hideously frizzy...Fun fact: I used to literally have Shirley Temple corkscrew curls naturally, but the length has weighted them out.
Dee - may I suggest you try youtube for some cool edwardian inspired tutorials? There are some good ones :)
My hair is wavy, and I try to bring out the curl as much as possible! I think waves and curls are so much more fun than hair that just looks the same every day. My top tip: use 100% pure aloe vera gel instead of store-bought products. It tames frizz and defines curl. I mix a couple of squirts with a drop of almond oil and apply on wet hair :)
I love my curly hair, but I always keep it long and the same style, because I don't have the kind of flexibility everyone with less curly hair has - I've always wanted side-swept bangs or a pixie cut, but it is just not happening with what I have, unless I decide to kill my hair with a flatiron every morning.
I get my hair cut in a place that specializes in just curls (Ouidad) and their products are pretty good, too. A bit costly, but worth it. They have a special way of thinning out the hair when they cut, so it's not insanely voluminous, and I can have hair down to my mid-back without having it look like a pyramid. It is a bit frizzy on the weekdays when I get a little lazy at 6am in the morning, but it could be much, much worse.
I love my curls once I found out that I had them. I kept my hair really long and in a braid for the longest time. Then I cut a foot and a half off and puff it bounced right up. For the next like five years I had ching lenght hair that bounced to ear lenght... thankfully I've been keep my hair shoulder lenght, still gets curly but not scary curly. And I love all the comments I get from women who would die "to hair thick, curly hair."
For number 4 I'd say don't even use a towel to dry your hair espacially if your rubbing it, just makes everything go really frizzy. And when I really need to use a towel I pat my hair. And I sometimes use my hair dryer with my diffuser on the low setting holding to cold button. (Only in the winter cause I have thick hair that refusses to dry for hours)
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