Styling Curly Hair

Curly hair gives you one big styling advantage over straight hair. Whether your hair is naturally curly or permed, curls mean lots of volume... sometimes, too much! Curly hairstyles, while enviable for both volume and beauty, are not smooth sailing! Most curly headed people find that lying obediently in place is not a curl’s strong point. It’s second (maybe first) nature for a single curl to stick up, out... do anything to make itself the center of attention in your hairstyle.

Making Curls Behave

• Layer your curly locks. Layered hairstyles make your curls easier to shape and manage whether your hairstyle is long, medium length, or short.
• Use only moisturizing shampoos to keep your curls from drying out. Curly hairstyles naturally get more air than hair that lies flat against your scalp, a factor that makes curly heads dry more quickly, but also leads to over drying of curly hairstyles that result in frizzies and flyaway curls.
• Hair ‘defrizzing’ products help smooth hair and give you a sleeker, more pliant curl.
• To create a gentle curl, rub some wax or hair pomade into the palms of your hands after curling. Then gently comb your fingers through your hair to apply the treatment.
• When curling medium length to long hair use hot rollers to produce a well-defined, tight curl. Use a working hairspray and spray the inner part of each curl just before you begin to roll it or if you’re very sure-handed, spray as you wrap your hair onto the roller.

Curling Iron Tips
Be sure the barrel of your curling iron is the right size for both the length of your hair and the size of curl you want. Curling iron barrels may be as small as 1/4 inch to three inches in diameter. Especially for short hairstyles, it’s important that all the ends of each curl are neatly tucked away as you roll the curl.

Thinner barrels produce curlier, denser curls except in the case of long hairstyles. Wrapping long hair around a too thin barrel leads to tangles, hair breakage, and the over-drying of ends. Use thin barrels on long hair only to quickly curl your ends. Misting ends with a working spray before curling helps set the curl more quickly and provides some heat protection against over drying your curls.

Permed Hair: Preserving Your Hard-Earned Curls

• The top of a grown-out perm can make your hairstyle look as tired as a flat tire. After shampooing, pump up your hairstyle by using a volumizing product on your roots. Than create lift by blow-drying your hair, starting at the scalp.
• Hair is always at its most vulnerable when wet and this is especially true for permed hair. Scrubbing hair dry or wrapping permed hair in a turban adds friction and causes tangles. Gently blot the moisture from your hair after shampooing.
• Use a blow dryer’s diffuser attachment to dry permed hair. The prongs of a diffuser lift your hair as you dry it, providing quicker drying time as well as creating extra volume.
• Be gentle when using hair styling tools such as curling irons, flat irons, hot rollers, blow dryers and even diffusers. Give your permed hair extra protection by using a thermal protector when styling with heat.
• Perm rejuvenating products help define your curls, add shine, moisture and generally make hairstyling curly hair easier.

In fact, using the right tools and techniques to style curly hair can coax the wildest curls into a pretty and perky hairstyle!

Styling Long Hair ►