hair tutor

tutor is a word that always makes me laugh. we weren't allowed to say fart growing up, we could only accuse each other of tooting. which is embarassing to say in front of non-family members. plus, it reminds me of a girl who went to my junior high. jennifer tuter. poor thing. or my homeroom teacher in 7th grade, mr. oder. or a boy from my elementary school, greg boogher.

i digress. many have asked, and i finally put together a tutorial of how i curl my hair. it's a really easy process. it just takes some practice to figure out how you want your hair to work and how to roll the curling iron. it doesn't have to be  time consuming, it's a hard style to mess up.

 i used mostly still photos because i have a hard time sitting through a tutorial that is more than 5 minutes long. i added a quick video clip at the end.

first, i'm not sure why i chose to do this with no make-up and my alma mater sweatshirt. i must have been having a pretty confident morning. this is my hair post-blow dry. since the day before was a "rest" day, or a day i didn't do/wash my hair, i didn't need to use any extra fullness creating product. otherwise i would use john frieda frizz-ease take charge curl boosting mousse. even though i don't have naturally curly hair, it still works great.

second, i pull half my hair up on top of my head. and this is my curling iron, size 1 1/2 inch barrel. it's the biggest barrel i could find for cheap. i would LOVE a chi curling iron. i have the chi flat iron and nothing compares. and at $150, nothing should compare. but cheap is fine in this case.

these are the average hair amounts i use. if i want a looser, wavier look i use larger amounts and for a tighter, more curly look, smaller amounts. it's almost like math. i never use uniform sizes. i like it to be a little messy with a mix of big and little waves.

to start the curl i make a smaller twist in my hair section. sometimes i over twist and the curl isn't very pretty. you really only need a small twist. i clamp the iron directly onto the twist. i alway curl away from my face. that's just personal preference.

after i clamp, i start twisting the iron and coiling the hair around it.

the worst picture ever of my mug, but it illustrates a good point. gently release clamp as you are coiling the hair closely to your head. if your hair is extra thick or long, you make have to roll the curling iron a bit. i have to roll a bit because my hair is both ridiculously full and it getting pretty long.

sixth, after you hold the iron for a few seconds, slowly pull the curling iron out of your hair downward, letting the hair uncoil itself from the iron. do not release clamp and let hair fall out all at once. that creates a big tangled mess.

voila! with some practice you should be able to create a spiral coil. the twist in the hair helps create a loose wavey coil with the look of a two coils, instead of just one. however, no matter what i do i can't always get each curl to coil into a double coil. that's just the way it is. life isn't always fair.

another shot of the slow motion release

after i curl all over i let the curls cool and then i finger comb them apart and finish with hairspray.

 thank goodness for make-up.

here's the clip. notice the huge stack of harry potter books? that's my bathroom tripod. literacy is helpful in so many ways. and i'm not sure why i decided not to talk. pretend it's a silent film and i'm clara bow.

the end. or the beginning. you decide.