[Beauty] For Hair That Just Won't Curl

I have naturally curly hair. And by "naturally curly", I mean super frizzy, super poofy, refuse-to-be-defined curls. This is why I so often wear my hair straight. It's easier and it always looks great, thanks to my favorite flat iron, Helen of Troy. (Funny story, when I was in college and living in the Delta Zeta sorority house, one of my sisters found this flat iron. One by one, we all gave it a whirl and pretty soon we all had one. We used to joke that Helen was the extra sister of the house and that she deserved a photo on our sorority composite.)

When I let my hair air-dry, the volume exponentially grows. Over the years, I've been trying to find a way to let my natural curls shine through without making me look like Roseanne Roseannadanna. (And let's be frank: I come by this honestly. I am totally serious when I tell you that my father actually calls my mother Roseanne Roseannadanna. I totally and completely have my mother's hair.)

Roseanne Roseannadanna.

I've tried a ton of product cocktail combinations, but the defined curl remained elusive. Sometimes it would look good and sometimes not, and there was no telling which way it would go, so every time I let my hair air dry it was a crap shoot as to whether it would be presentable or need to be throw up in a ponytail or bun. Lest you believe this post is about figuring out how to perfectly style natural curls - it's not. After realizing that I may never figure out the exact right product concoction to get defined, natural curls, I turned to curling methods.

I started with curlers of all different kinds. Velcro rollers: these took too long. If my hair was too dry, it wouldn't take the curl, if my hair was too wet my hair would never dry. Hot curlers: the curl fell out in about 30 seconds, and the curlers themselves never wanted to stay in my hair. Steam curlers: these worked unbelievably well, however the curl was so tight I looked ridiculous. And volume. Steam curlers gave me mega volume - which was not pretty. Talk about 80s beauty queen style!

Miss America 1988

 

This is my hair after steam rollers. Eek! And if I brush it, it's even worse.

Holy cow. My hair refuses to hold non-natural curl (which seems a little bit like my hair is fighting its own natural inclination, no?). Even with product. Even with hairspray. I kid you not - I then tried at least 5 different curling irons. The curls fell out after 5 minutes. I thought my problem was that I wasn't letting my hair cool, so I started curling my hair and pinning the curls to my scalp until they cooled. They lasted about 15 minutes longer doing it that way.

But now. I've finally found my solution. For over 10 years now, I have believed my hair would not curl. I have joyously been proven wrong. Enter this:

The Remington Curling Wand

I randomly asked for one of these for Christmas. I don't know why I decided I would try it, but I did. I'm pretty sure it ended up on my Christmas list because I figured I would try it if I happened to get it and if it didn't work, I'd feel less bad because I didn't buy it myself with all this false hope.

I was so confident it would not work that I waited over 6 full weeks before I even took it out of the box and tried it. Part of the reason is I always try new hair stuff on the weekend, when I actually have time to fuss with it, and time to fix it if it looks like crap.

Ya'll, I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the super high heat? Maybe it's the pretty pink barrel? I have no idea what makes this thing so darn awesome, but it really, really is. I was gifted the 1-1.5" barrel wand and ended up with gorgeous, big, soft curls that lasted through a five hour long dinner and a movie date with the hubby.

Curled with the 1-1.5" barrel wand - photo about 5 hours post-style!

I slept on my curled hair, and woke up the next morning to hair that was still curled. I don't think anyone is aware just yet, because I haven't posted any new pics since I did it, but I chopped my hair off at my shoulders about 2 weeks ago. The big curls were awesome, but not quite suitable for hair this short. I was so impressed, and loved the wand so much, that I went out and bought the .5-1" barrel wand for my short hair to see how that looked.

Same thing, just a tighter curl. I curled my hair with the small wand, went dancing for 2 hours, slept on my curls, showered with them in a shower cap, tousled them up with my fingers after, and wore them the entire following day without losing a single bit of curl. AND, the following morning when I woke up to shower, my hair was still nearly perfect.

Curled with the .5-1.5" wand, 9 hours post-style!

This wand is amazing. I honestly have no idea if it's this wand, or any wand, but I don't care. I am so incredibly excited to be able to finally get long-lasting, defined curls with no frizz. If your hair doesn't curl easily, try this. It may not work for you, but if it did for me after all I've tried, what do you have to lose in giving it a shot??

For you ladies with natural curls (or unnatural long-lasting curls), what are your tricks of the trade?


**note: I was not provided with any compensation, product or financial, I just love these wands so much I wanted to share!!