The Lazy Fashionista: Quick curls for “straight” girls

Posted by alexa on February 1, 2011 · 1 Comment 

STEP TWO: I do my looser and in larger chunks, but this is a beautiful example of pin curls

You know the story: girls with curly hair, covet lustrous, straight locks. And girls with straight hair, desperately wish their hair was curly. The grass is greener on the other side, etc. etc.

I am one of those girls with straight hair, who spent many hours as a teenager, in vain, trying to get my hair to curl. You can even see one of my attempts in my high school senior photo — a vague curl down there in the corner! The problem for me was always effort vs. outcome. I would spend hours with my hair in curlers, or using a curling iron, then shellac my hair in three layers of hairspray, only to have the curls fall within a few hours. Living in the very humid Atlanta suburbs probably wasn’t doing me any favors. I eventually gave up on my quest and embraced my hair as it was.

Then the weirdest thing happened. MY HAIR STARTED GETTING WAVY. I’m 27 now, and when I was about 23, I noticed my hair sometimes getting wavy, or CURLY! I would enthusiastically exclaim, even though anyone with *real* curly hair would laugh at the notion. It usually happened after I fell sleep on wet hair, or left my hair up in a towel too long. I’d try to replicate it the next day and it would never work the same way — I’d end up with hair sticking in weird directions and look like I’d got caught in a wind storm. Regardless, I began to enjoy my new hair. But it was never properly wavy or curly. Just kind of messy.

Enter Michelle at Salon Luxe in L.A., who specializes in curls and like a miracle worker knew what to do with my  hair. She confirmed that half of my hair was doing a wavy thing, but the other side was still pretty ramrod straight. She gave me a hair cut that would encourage my hair to fall into waves and not straight, and with a little work, I could manipulate the straighter side and have “beach curls” every day! For the first time, I’m actually using product in my hair, and have taken my “wash and go” routine of simply letting my hair air try to a new, but not much more complicated level. This is my how-to for the girls out there with straight hair that, with a little coaxing, could have the body — and maybe even waves — that you’ve always wanted.

DevaCurl AnGel is a non-sticky, light curling gel that will help your hair find curl definition

Let’s start with the miracle product that we straight-girls have probably never heard about: DevaCurl. Curly hair needs special treatment, and shampoo is actually not good for properly curly hair. I had no idea! DevaCurl is a line of products for every permutation of curly hair, that helps women tame their locks and make them as beautiful as they can be. Naturally, those of us with straight hair are like “buzzuh?” It’s easy to take our hair for granted — we can go into the store and buy any product we want. Most of the DevaCurl line isn’t useful to me, since I don’t have *real* curly hair… I just want to manipulate my hair into being as curly as it possibly can be.

STEP ONE: DevaCurl AnGell

Michelle used DevaCurl AnGell on me in the salon. Apply roughly two “quarter-sized” dollops (more or less if you wish) to your hair damp (post towel-drying) and then as your hair dries, it evaporates. There’s no stickiness, or crunchy hair, but it DOES help your hair hold form. I was flabbergasted — days when I use DevaCurl, I can air dry my hair with NO extra effort (no pin curls or curling iron) and it has a light, vaguely wavy body. It’s delightful. I had a friend visiting whose hair also is on the fence between wavy and straight. She used AnGell and voila! She had cute finger waves.

Should you use special shampoo and conditioner in the shower? I haven’t been, BUT I already am someone who skips heavy conditioners. I find they weigh down my hair and make it greasy. If you’re using anything “ultra moisturizing,” you might want to skip it, or buy something lighter (I use Aussie daily Cleanse & Mend), because heavy conditioners will weigh your hair down and discourage curls. DevaCurl shampoo products don’t lather, as the ingredient that does that — sodium lauryl sulfate — dries out curls and just isn’t good for hair. It’s totally up to you whether you want to ditch normal product.

You can buy AnGell on Amazon, like I did: I got a two-pack of 12 ounce bottles for about $33.

STEP TWO: air-dry with pin curls

There’s a reason this is called the lazy fashionista. I may love my hair, but I am not going to spend hours styling it. I don’t want to always blow dry, curl or straight-iron it. Heat treatments are not good for your hair, and they also require time spent standing in front of the vanity that I’m not interested in. I like just letting my hair dry while I watch TV or do other activities. I warned Michelle that I was wash-&-go, and she told me I’d have to find a happy medium — if your hair wants to be straight but you want it to be curly, you have to work for it.

So after a towel dry and application of AnGell, I separate my hair into 7-8 chunky sections, twist them round my finger, and pin them to my head using curl clips. You can do small sections for tighter curls, but I like to make them larger and a bit more casual.  Best of all, I do this while I watch TV — don’t have to stand in front of a mirror or think about it too much. Then I go about my business for a few hours. If I don’t have a few hours to let it air dry, I blast the pin curls with the hair dryer, or skip that step and just go out w/ my hair a bit wavy from the AnGell. However, if I don’t dry with pin curls, the waves generally don’t last more than 12 hours (or into the next day).

I couldn’t find a reasonable number of curl clips for a good price online (you can get them either in bulk on Amazon, from sellers w/o Prime or from Deva Curl but for a crazy price — $26?!?!), so I just went to Target and bought a pack of 12 Conair brand curl clips. You can get them at pretty much any drug or beauty supply store.

STEP THREE: finish with curling iron

Don’t curl before you go to bed, or if you’re not going out — those of us with (secretly) straight hair know very well that our hair defiantly won’t hold a curl if you sleep on it, and why uselessly heat treat your hair if you’re not going anywhere? I do 5-10 minutes of “surface curling” before I go out for the day or evening. You’re not doing your whole head, because that would take forever and isn’t easy to do yourself (especially with short hair) – just do the top “visible” bits. I do strands around my face, a few in back and a few on the sides. I wait for them to cool down, then run my fingers through them so they blend into the rest of my hair. If your hair set nicely drying with pin curls, the curling iron will simply finish the look.

What's blather without photo evidence? Not a perfect day, but a pretty good one! Taken last week.

It’s your choice what kind of curling iron you use. Because my hair is short (mid-way between chin & shoulders w/ short layers), I opted for a 1 inch barrel — it isn’t so thin I get ridiculous looking corkscrews, but it’s not so wide the shorter strands of hair don’t get curled at all. If you have longer hair, a 1&1/2 inch curling iron may suit you better.

Key tip: DON’T BRUSH YOUR HAIR. My standard used to be a round, soft bristle brush. I’ve barely used it since I started my short & wavy routine. I use a wide-toothed comb instead, as the bristle brush pretty much decimated any curl definition. (proof that my hair is a fickle, fickle witch! XD)

Now that I’ve walked you through the super easy steps, let’s manage expectations: this may not work. Heck, I’ve also been using the term “curly” liberally. I don’t come out of this with curly hair. It’s slightly wavy with some manipulated curls, which is the best I can ask for, really. I got a haircut that encourages my hair to do this, and my hair was of a condition that it can handle waves/curls (fine hair, lots of it, with some natural movement). But I hope that these tips, which weren’t obvious to me at all before someone with curly hair clued me in, that you may achieve the hair you’ve always wanted, at least in part.

Good luck! And anyone with tips I don’t know – comment! I’m fairly novice at this routine, and always looking for new information!

Filed under beauty & fashion, hair care, product recs · Tagged with angell, curly hair, deva curl