Eureka!!

Last night I was planning on going out to this bar to celebrate friend's birthday. I decided to curl my hair with my curling iron, which I've done several times before. But I seemed to have a hard time getting the curls to really "stick" so, taking a magazine tip I'd recently read, I tried out this new technique: after curling each section of hair I coiled the curl back up and pinned it against my head with a bobby pin (I also sprayed each section with some of my new Paul Mitchell Spray Wax before curling). This only added a couple of seconds each time I curled a strand of hair, and it allows the hair to cool off while still curled. Which, when you think of it, totally makes sense-- when hair's hot or warm it's still very pliable and shapeable, but once it cools the style becomes more "set." This is the reason you use the cold shot button on your hair dryer after drying/styling sections of your hair-- it locks the style in place.

So I went around my whole head spraying, curling, coiling, and pinning (btw, I used a 1" curling iron). After I was done I did my makeup, then took all the bobby pins out. Here's what my hair looked like: (click on each picture to enlarge)



Pretty sweet, huh? =P As I took the pins out the curls almost stayed in place, barely uncoiling (the pictures above are after I shook my hair out a bit). I've never had them turn out so tightly coiled. It actually stayed pretty well curled throughout the night (so much so that one of my friends kept marvelling at it lol). The pictures below are of what my hair looks like this morning, after having slept on it and everything:



This is normally what my hair looks like a couple of hours after curling it, and it's still holding! It's also really nice an bouncy-- even after the wax (and light dustings of hair spray) my hair never felt sticky or hard or anything. I think the coiling helps make the curls look softer and a bit more natural (as opposed to the obvious curling iron ringlet). I think I could just wear my hair out the way it looks now-- I feel like I've got the Jessica Simpson loosely curled bob. ; )

So there ya have it, girls. Feel free to experiment with this at home!

Paul Mitchell Spray Wax

I've been trying to stay away from buying more hair products, as I already should have any type of hair styling concoction I could ever need. However I recently broke down... While in Austin I went with my sister to get her hair cut. I was watching the guy style her hair, and saw that he was spraying something on her hair before flat-ironing each section. I looked on their shelves for what it was-- Paul Mitchell Spray Wax.($15 at amazon.com, I got mine at Ulta for $12.95) "Hmm," I thought, "this looks interesting...." I noticed that her hair looked really nice afterwards, her layers looked all separated and piece-y yet still light, moveable, and soft. I couldn't resist, I had to try it for myself. So n my much-anticipated trip to Ulta (I don't have one anywehre close to me here in Cali, so I'm always very excited to go when I'm in Austin) I snagged a bottle.

I used it for the first time on fresh, clean hair the other day-- I sprayed a bit of the wax on sections of my hair before flat-ironing, trying to be careful to hold the bottle a good arm's length away. I noticed that my hands and hair felt a little sticky as I was using it and got a bit worried, but that feeling went away after a few minutes (I guess once the extra wax evaporated?) and I was left with really smooth, piece-y hair. The true test? I had 3 different friends tell me they really liked me hair that day. =) Woot! I've liked using waxes and pastes in the past, but sometimes it feels like they're better suited for short hair, and can be a bit too goopy. This spray wax gives a lighter application that's easier for the rest of us to use. Next, I'll have to try it with a curling iron... I wonder what kind of hold it'll give curls, and if it could be a less-sticky alternative to hair spray? hmm... ; )