Hi, friends! Welcome back to Stylishly Good Vibes! I’m back on the blog today to share how I achieve my signature look: loose, bouncy curls!
When I was younger, I didn’t have naturally wavy hair. It was that weird, in-between-straight-and-wavy texture that I had to straighten completely or curl. To my luck, when I finished college and started growing my hair out, my natural waves started to form.
The thing about my hair is that I don’t curl it every single day. A lot of people have this idea that I wake up at the crack of dawn everyday to do my hair, but I don’t! Most weeks, I’ll curl my hair once or twice and then sleep in a silk scrunchie so it stays intact.
But, on the occasion that I do curl my whole head of hair, this is how I do it!
Let’s get started!
Step 1: Blow dry the hair straight, or sleep with wet hair in a low pony — held with a silk scrunchie.
I usually blow dry my hair once a week, or not at all. It really just depends on how much time I have. More often than not, I don’t blow dry my hair — I sleep with it wet. So many people have opinions about sleeping with their hair wet, and I get that it doesn’t always turn out great for everyone.
My best piece of advice is sleeping in a low, loose pony held together with a silk scrunchie. For some reason, my hair always comes out with a natural, wavy texture that offers a good starting point for curling. I also don’t use any product in my hair if I’m sleeping with it wet. However, you could use a leave-in conditioner on the ends if you feel so inclined. Just be careful how much you use or else it will make curling your hair more difficult.
2: Lather the hair in a heat protectant spray.
Whether you’ve decided to blow dry your hair, or you just woke up after sleeping on it wet, this is a crucial step. If you have long hair like me, you should be doing everything you can to keep your hair healthy and strong. A heat protectant spray is a simple way to do just that.
I personally like Shea Moisture’s Jamaican Black Castor Oil. If you use this oil, you don’t need much at all — no more than a quarter-sized amount, if that. I apply this to the ends of my hair and nowhere else.
3. Time to start curling!
I use either a 1-1/2 in. curling iron or a 1-1/4 in. curling iron. This helps me achieve the loose, bouncy curls that I’m looking for. Before you start curling, separate the hair into sections. I pull the hair half up and start there. Typically, I separate the hair into four total layers to curl so that I don’t miss any pieces.
I love the T3 SinglePass Curling Iron 1-1/4 in. It heats up super quick and it doesn’t require you to hold the iron on the hair for long at all. That means quick and easy curling!
For the bottom layers of my hair, I hold the curling iron perpendicular to the strand of hair — horizontally, if that makes more sense.
Once I reach the top layer of my hair, I start to play around with how I’m holding the curling iron to my hair. For the left side of my head, or the less dominant side of my part, I curl away from my face, toward the back of my head. The tip of the curling iron will be facing down toward the ground while I’m doing this.
I curl away from the face for all of the pieces on that side of my head. For the dominant side of my part, I curl my hair the same way that I did the bottom layers, holding the curling iron perpendicular to the strand of hair.
4. Finish up the look.
After I’ve curled all of my hair, I lock it into place. I personally hate using hairspray, so I opt for a volume mousse, like Matrix Biolage Whipped Mousse. I spray a golf-ball sized amount of this mousse into the palm of my hand, flip my head over, and scrunch my waves up into my head.
This helps to give my hair the volume that I’m looking for. I let the voluminous mousse dry all the way before I comb through the waves. Just a quick note, you don’t have to brush out the waves, but I think it looks more natural when you do.
Well, there ya have it! Loose, bouncy curls that will last you for days!
Until next time!
Alicia