[Xx Tomásíona - Mháire xX]

There's been a few threads lately about how to get the glamourous look of sexy, sophisticated curls without the need for a perm or naturally curly hair.

We have a few options luckily which can help

• Ghd's
• Curling tongs
• Rollers
• Scrunching
• The 'Ragdoll' look

Ghd's

A girl's best friend. Honestly some of us can't live without them! To achieve curls, use the following example:

• Wash your hair normally, excluding conditioner
• Blow dry it out with some styling mousse
• Section your hair out
• Spray on some good heat protection spray
• Place the straightener vertical to your head as close to the scalp as possible
• Rotate it 180 degrees away from your head in one smooth movement
• The slower the action, the tighter the curl. - The faster the action, the looser the curl.
• Finish with hairspray
• If the curl doesn't work, let it cool down before trying again

This will achieve the glamourous styling of curls, which can last from experience and friends hair up to 2-3 days depending on your hair type and how well they've been put in.

Curling tongs

Curling tongs have been around for ages! Great little accessory for the girl on her night out. Personally I use a set of Nicky Clarke's curling tongs but any old pair will do.

• Wash hair normally, excluding conditioner
• Blow dry it out with some styling mousse
• Section hair out
• Spray on some heat protection spray
• Wind your hair up into the curling tongs
• Leave for up to a minute
• Blast with hairspray
• Unravel the curl
• If the curl doesn't work, let it cool down before trying again

Great thing about curling tongs is that they give you the diversity of not breaking your wrist whilst creating your curls and indeed it gives you more freedom with your sections and width of your curls.

Example of how to start curling your hair with curling tongs:







The End result:





Sorry about the quality of the pictures, taken with my rubbish webcam.

Rollers

Rollers were an old favourite of mine a few years back especially with dancing etc we had to have curly hair. The rollers I'm concerned with really here is a set called 'bendy rollers'

• Wash your hair normally, exclude conditioner
• put in a tiny bit of mousse evenly through the hair
• Section off your hair neatly
• Wind the roller like you would with curling tongs
• Now bend the roller as if you were tying it to keep it in
• Go to sleep
• Wake up the next morning and remove and seperate the curls

I found a wonderful little invention called 'Beach blonde ocean waves' that you spray on which gives the curls a lovely shimmer and beach look after you seperate them out. Brilliant if you want to go to the beach and just chill out. I'll talk more about this product later.

Scrunching

The fast approach to curls. You really do need to have a natural wave in your hair unfortunately for this to work.

• Wash your hair normally, excluding conditioner
• Towel dry
• Scrunch with mousse or curl creating and defining product like the beach blonde one I mentioned
• Work the mousse from the root down
• Leave to dry naturally or use a diffuser. Do not use a hairdryer without a diffuser attached to speed up the process. it will not work!

Scrunching is good for a night out when you've been only told an hour previously to get ready! Plus it's a good look for the beach. You can substitute mousse for that Beach Blonde stuff, works for any hair colour gorgeous smell of coconuts brilliant look for the beach and summer.

The 'Ragdoll' look

Not many are familiar with this type of curling technique. It involves using rags to tie into the hair to achieve a tight curl.

• Wash hair normally, exclusing conditioner
• Apply very little mousse through the hair as a setting agent
• Tear up some rags make at least 30 if you have long hair and keep extra in case you need more
• Section the hair
• Put your hair into the middle of the rag and fold it over, keeping it taut
• Curl the strand around the rag
• When you reach the scalp tie the ends of the rag loosely so you can reuse them but still tight enough to keep the curl in place
• Go sleep
• Seperate in the morning

The bigger the sections the bigger the curl will be. Be advised that this will create a very tight curl and would need a few days to fall out as it were to create a more softer ringlet shape. This like rollers is less straining on the hair as no extreme heat will be inflicted on the hair.

Recommended appliances

I've been asked to add this part into the guide.

If your hair is rather thick you will need to invest in a set of GHD's

GHD's

• Ceramic salon styler - £89.99 (Taken from http://www.ghdhair.co.uk)
• GHD IV styler - £119.00 (Taken from http://www.ghdhair.co.uk)
• Kodo Creative Ceramic Straighteners, these are seen as the alternative to GHD's - £59.99 (Taken from http://www.salonlines.co.uk)

If you've got fine to medium hair, alternatively you can use a straightener that heats up to at least 180 degrees, as GHD's actually heat up fully to 200+ degrees, therefore less damage is done to the hair.

I personally use Nicky Clarke's Salon Standard hairdressing kit available at Argos (However, it is a box set RRP £59.99) and my straighteners heat up to approx 200 degrees.


Straighteners
Nicky Clarke Kinder 4 Hair Straightener - £39.99 down to £19.99 (Taken from http://www.argos.co.uk)
Babyliss 2075U STR Hair stylers - £39.99 (Taken from http://www.currys.co.uk)
REMINGTON S2012 Hair stylers - £34.99 (Taken from http://www.currys.co.uk)


Curling Tongs

Remington Pro Digital Tong - £29.99 (Taken from http://www.argos.co.uk)
Nicky Clarke Pro-Ceramic Digital Curling Tong - £17.99 (Taken from http://www.argos.co.uk)
Tresemme HP469607 Hair stylers - £24.99 (Taken from http://www.currys.co.uk) This one would be more suited for people who've never used curling tongs before as it practically is a guide in itself to show how to produce curls with tongs.

If you want to find cheaper alternatives to the above prices, check out Ebay, or indeed a shopping comparison site like Kelcoo.


Happy Curling

[minimo]

ooo great post Tammy!

[ßlαcksωαn]

Very good stuff.
The whole "exclude conditioner" thing was new to me

[Adarah]

Thanks for that! Great post!

[Tweety-Bird]

great post!!! Always wanted my hair curly but could never do it properly

[Vohamanah]

Great post

But I still don't get the hang of curling tongs Do I keep the tongs still and wind the hair around with my hand? Or clip the end of my hair in the little clippy bit and twist the irons till they reach the root? I'm so stoopid...

[x mel x]

great post! - i'm going to have to try each one of them out lol!!!

[Xx Tomásíona - Mháire xX]

(Original post by pinkpinkuk)
Great post

But I still don't get the hang of curling tongs Do I keep the tongs still and wind the hair around with my hand? Or clip the end of my hair in the little clippy bit and twist the irons till they reach the root? I'm so stoopid...

Put the hair into the clippy bit and wind them up and keep the tongs vertical for achieve the ringlet effect

[Xx Tomásíona - Mháire xX]

(Original post by blackswan)
Very good stuff.
The whole "exclude conditioner" thing was new to me

For some types of hair washing with conditioner can lead for curls to fall out easier than others. But if you still want to use conditioner put a little bit on the ends of your hair.

[Tweety-Bird]

(Original post by Xx Tomásíona - Mháire xX)
For some types of hair washing with conditioner can lead for curls to fall out easier than others. But if you still want to use conditioner put a little bit on the ends of your hair.

You know my hair type . . . i think its straight or something because i had curls put in by professional hairdressers using straightners and they usually don't last or do not come out the way i want them to i mean they do not look like nice curls, if that makes any sense and they do not last long. What do you reckon will make curls last long because my hair never seems to go curly and is always straight.

[ßlαcksωαn]

(Original post by Xx Tomásíona - Mháire xX)
For some types of hair washing with conditioner can lead for curls to fall out easier than others. But if you still want to use conditioner put a little bit on the ends of your hair.

ah yes I see now good idea, especially because my hair usually gets very soft/smooth, so yeah that would help thanks

[Xx Tomásíona - Mháire xX]

(Original post by mani -x)
You know my hair type . . . i think its straight or something because i had curls put in by professional hairdressers using straightners and they usually don't last or do not come out the way i want them to i mean they do not look like nice curls, if that makes any sense and they do not last long. What do you reckon will make curls last long because my hair never seems to go curly and is always straight.

I'd be in the same boat as you really. Only way mine will stay in is a good heated up curling tong and lots of hairspray or the ragdoll look.

[Tweety-Bird]

(Original post by Xx Tomásíona - Mháire xX)
I'd be in the same boat as you really. Only way mine will stay in is a good heated up curling tong and lots of hairspray or the ragdoll look.

Are GHD straightners the best to use for getting perfect curls or can you use other straightners as well would they do any good. What curling tongs are the best? - babyliss ones or any others do you know any good ones to get lol soz about the questions. . .

[Xx Tomásíona - Mháire xX]

(Original post by mani -x)
Are GHD straightners the best to use for getting perfect curls or can you use other straightners as well would they do any good. What curling tongs are the best? - babyliss ones or any others do you know any good ones to get lol soz about the questions. . .

You don't 'need' GHD's per se, just as long as they would heat up roughly to the same temperature as GHD's you'd be fine.

Well, Babyliss are a good make but I prefer to use Nicky Clarke's 'Salon Standards' curling tongs. (Only because I got it for a box set for christmas for £30 out of argos....brilliant though)

Anyone can achieve 'perfect curls' with any of the techniques above with quite a bit of practice.

[Jsk]

My aunt is a hairdresser and she told me its best to wash your hair one day and do the curling the next because the hair is too clean to keep the curls in.

Great post though! Im actually familiar with all of your methods because my aunt curled my hair for prom and before hand, she tried all of the above to test them to see which were best.

I would aadvise the rags if you wanto tight curls, curlers for really nice curls. I had curling tongs for prom but GHDs are great. Not too keen on curlers.

[Vohamanah]

Ah My curls failed miserably.

I sectioned my hair, put the top bit in a band and used my curling tongs to roll small bits of hair up. But the curls were really tight and ringlet like. I tried to separate them a little with my fingers, but then may hair was sticking out in all directions and I panicked and straightened it

What a disaster. Honestly I haven't got a clue how to do anything with my hair! Maybe I'd be better trying some other method. I have bendy rollers somewhere... <searches for rollers>

[Adarah]

maybe you should leave them in for a little less time next time, then they won't be as tight. or make a tight curl, then take a comb or brush to it and then put some hair spray on it.

[Anonymous.]

also if possible can you also add some good recommendations for hair electrical products, such as nice GHDS, or curling tongs etc...that would be a bonus as well

[Xx Tomásíona - Mháire xX]

(Original post by pinkpinkuk)
Ah My curls failed miserably.

I sectioned my hair, put the top bit in a band and used my curling tongs to roll small bits of hair up. But the curls were really tight and ringlet like. I tried to separate them a little with my fingers, but then may hair was sticking out in all directions and I panicked and straightened it

What a disaster. Honestly I haven't got a clue how to do anything with my hair! Maybe I'd be better trying some other method. I have bendy rollers somewhere... <searches for rollers>

I think I know what you did...

Did you roll them up vertically or horizontally into the curling tong?

[Xx Tomásíona - Mháire xX]

(Original post by Anonymous.)
also if possible can you also add some good recommendations for hair electrical products, such as nice GHDS, or curling tongs etc...that would be a bonus as well

I usually just use anything that's about... but i'll sort out a list if you want.