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Happy Valentine’s Day!!! I hope you all have a day filled with candy and flowers – I’ve certainly taken down my fair share of conversation hearts in the past 48 hours. They’re not even my favorite candy, but MAN are they addictive!
It’s been awhile since I’ve done any kind of hair or beauty post, and one question I get asked a lot on SnapChat is how I curl my shorter hair. While I’ve already done a video featuring my little routine over on YouTube, here’s a step-by-step blog post detailing everything I do from beginning to end:
STEP ONE: BLOW DRY WET HAIR WITH A ROLLER BRUSH
This part I didn’t photograph or video tape, but I always use a roller brush to blow dry my hair. I do it so it curls under and frames my face! Curling it under also helps tame fly-aways and baby hairs that may be sticking up near your scalp. I have a pretty large round brush – it’s just under 3 inches wide (from the end of the bristle to the other side). I’ve had the same round brush for YEARS and think it’s time for an upgrade, so I’m thinking about investing in this one. Anyone tried it? If not, do you have any recs? Comment below!
STEP TWO: APPLY VOLUME POWDER TO ADD GRIP AND TEXTURE
I don’t know why it took me until I cut off my hair to try this stuff, but it truly is magical! If you ever need instant volume, added grip or texture, or just want to give your hair a sexy undone look, you’ve got to order some of this volume powder. It helps hold my curls longer, gives me some volume at the root, and helps achieve that messy, bedhead look without much effort. I sprinkle it near my roots for a lift, but also sprinkle some throughout my hair all the way to the root – this helps add grip for making the curls last. A little goes a long way, so just be careful how much you sprinkle!
STEP THREE: CURL
When I first chopped off my hair, I showed my hairdresser a couple of pictures of the curl I was looking to achieve and he gave me some tips that have really helped me!
- For the hair around your face, the lower the curl the better. Aka, don’t start near the root… start lower down like I do in the 3rd and 4th photos of this post.
- Change directions. Don’t curl every strand in the same direction! For the right side of my face, I always curl the closest strands towards my face (it looks thicker and has more volume this way), and on the left I curl them towards the back. Other than that, it’s just whatever way I want as I go through each strand.
- Only curl a strand around the barrel once or twice. To avoid ringlets, you want to make sure you’re only pulling the strand around the iron once or twice (but mix it up!) so you have a good amount of hair left out. If you look at the 4th photo in this post (bottom right), you’ll see there’s a section at the end that I’m leaving out straight. You don’t want to curl your hair around the barrel all the way to the end!
- The bigger the barrel the better. I purchased this 1 1/2 inch wand a couple years ago and have LOVED it! It gave me great beachy waves with my longer hair, and now it’s perfect for achieving that tousled, messy wave I like with my shorter ‘do.
STEP FOUR: TUG AT ENDS AND TOUSLE ROOTS UNTIL EFFORTLESSLY MESSY
One other tip I picked up from my hairdresser is that once your curls have had a few minutes to cool, tug at the ends to relax the curl a little bit. It helps achieve that relaxed wave vs a tighter curl. I usually go through my roots with my fingers tousling and messing it up again to add some volume and a playful, messy vibe to the whole look! While some people may need hairspray, I actually prefer it undone. With the powder play, my hair lasts all day like it would with hairspray!
