Hair Do, Makeup Don't

Are you ready for a long post full of pictures of me without makeup on? No? Well, too bad.

Cathleya asked me (on twitter) to post about how I do my hair, so that's what this post is all about. Let's start with a little background. My hair is very thick and wavy and I have a lot of it. I don't wash my hair everyday because if I did it would be a giant frizz ball. I have a wide toothed comb in the shower that I use to de-tangle my hair with the conditioner in it. I rinse, towel dry, and put a tiny bit of another conditioner in my wet hair that I leave in. It is just regular conditioner that you're supposed to rinse out, but my hairdresser told me it was ok to use a tiny bit and leave it in, especially with my type of hair. Here's what it looks like after it has air dried for a few hours:

I told you about the lack of makeup. Scary, isn't it?

If I want to be lazy, which is most of the time, I will put my hair half up and wear it like this. It is wavy on the bottom and straight on the top which is strange, but I make it work.

The day after I wash my hair, I start the curling process. First, I brush out my hair completely and this is what I look like:

Man, I wish I was a teenager in the 80s.

Then, I put most of my hair up except a small section on the bottom. Let's call this the first layer:

Holy moly, I'm ugly. I start curling pieces closest to my face and I always curl AWAY from my face.

I get all the hair wrapped around the curling iron and hold it for a second or two. Then, I pull the iron down and slowly release the hair like so:

Once I get to the middle of the back of my head, I switch to the other side of my face and curl the opposite direction, but still away from my face. See?

When I'm done with the first layer, it looks like this:

Then, I'm ready for layer numero dos. I take some hair down and clip the rest back up and start curling the same way as before.

Now, I have a lot of hair, so I have to do about five layers, but if you have less hair you might only need three or four.

Most people have a hard time with kinks. If you clamp the curling iron down on your hair without moving it, you will get a big dent. So, don't do this:

You need to keep the iron moving until you have all the hair wound around, like this:

If your hair doesn't hold curl well, I recommend using some hairspray for each layer. Before you take down new hair, spray the finished layer. I don't really need to do this and I only use hairspray at the end if I'm going to go to a really long event like a wedding or something.

If you like the tight curl look I suppose you could stop here, but I think it's a little much.

Oh jeez, look away from the face, please.

I like to loosen the curls up, so I use my fingers like a comb and break them up.

Tada!

I really wish I had put on makeup before I did my hair that day.

Now I can make this last for a good three days. Here I am on day two:

Cute Jackson in the background and cuter Amy with makeup on. I actually like my hair better on the second day. I use a little bit of dry shampoo - I like TRESemme - and brush it all out and this is what I get.

Here I am on day three:

Much less curl, but still cute and much better than the big frizz pouf I started with.

Usually by the third day I'm ready to start over, but if you paid attention, you'd realize that I didn't wash my hair for four days. One day I left it natural and three days I had it styled. I know for some people that is totally gross, but I promise I shower and my hair doesn't smell bad. If I work out or sweat a lot, I don't let it go that long. Also, it is much better for your hair to wash it less often so the natural oils aren't stripped off. Ever heard of no poo?

If you try this or have some suggestions for how to make my process better, please comment! I looooove comments.