Chaos And Curls

As a hairdresser, I have seen my fair share of hair woes...cosmetology school would be the BEST reality TV show EVER created. On a side note, not only would the comedy factor be high, but the drama alone would beat out all those stuffy rich housewives in a second...and America would then know what NOT to do with their hair, it's a win win win situation. Think on it. If I ever get a decent camera, I am starting on that A.S.A.P. and will then distribute the millions I make with all of you, promise. Until that day comes however I will share with you a series of unfortunate hair Pinstrosities...we have received this one, or a variation of this one quite a bit...You might want to sit down, and if you are drinking something, set that down too, laughing and drinking are a chocking hazard, you have been warned!

The Original

http://www.lovemaegan.com/2011/09/revisiting-no-heat-big-curls-w-twisted.html

Miranda sent us this, and here is her take:

The Pinstrosity

The Original

http://theglitterguide.com/2011/10/27/1980s-hair-tutorial/

Here is Sara's take:

The Pinstrosity

The Original

From Piper: http://sherellechristensen.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/05/monkey_cupcakes.html

The Pinstrosity

From A.

The Pinstrosity               The Original          

http://borntobeblonde.com/must-have-curly-hairdo/

Another take on this pin from Sarah Rose:

The Pinstrosity

Ok is everyone still breathing? Is your computer liquid/spit logged because you didn't heed my warning and you ended up spitting your drink onto your keyboard? Bummers. 

Here is the hard part folks, and some of you may be mad, and think, what does she know?! Keep in mind I am a cosmetologist, and I have had experience with all of this and then some, but the hard truth, like we have said before is not everyone's hair will do everything, and it definitely won't do it perfect, the first time or otherwise.

Here's some good news, it also might do what you are wanting. Doing wet twisted curls with your finger and pins isn't always going to give you the same end results and here is why. Variation. Every time you do it you may be pulling harder, pinning looser, taking smaller chunks, taking bigger chunks, inconsistency is the issue a lot of times. That is the other issue with Pinterest, did any of these pictures come with directions ON them? NO. Now if you are lucky enough to have had a link to go with your picture, and smart enough to follow that link, watch the tutorial video (the first one had one), and then follow those directions, you might have had a fighting chance. However if your hair is different than the tutors, then you run into more trouble. Let's be real here also, nobody's hair is exactly the same...I have had clients whose hair does not work with heat, others who do not work without heat, others who had to wash it every single day  in order for it to anything, and others who washed it once a week or it looked like a wig on chicken. Everyone's hair is different. 

Now that I have the different hair pow wow over with I CAN give you some tips to help out.

-Some pins you need wet hair, others need dry, look at the picture, does the original pin picture have nice tight twists on top of their head or do you see "fuzzies" sticking up everywhere? If you see an abundance of "fuzzies", there is a good chance the pinners hair is DRY. If it looks slick and clean is is most likely wet.

**The one with cute little girl seems to be wet, and her picture tutorial only shows four pieces (we will touch on that in a moment), kids hair tends to be softer and easier to do things like this with because they have little to no damage**

-Using a leave in conditioner will generally help with tame the"fuzzies" for when you take your hair out, but humidity is a WHOLE nother (is that a word?it is now.) ballgame. 

-Leave it in over night. Most of these pins require you to sleep on them. Those of you who have hellathick hair, your hair will most likely NOT be dry in the morning, like I said in our last hair post, if you  MUST blow dry it, use the blow dryer gently on low heat low speed...gently...too vigorously and you will look like you put your hand in a socket. No bueno. 

-Those of you with fine limp hair, this is tricky...you don't have a ton of hair and it generally doesn't have a lot of volume, I would put a silver dollar size of muse in your roots before twisting it up, this should help add some volume. Also when you take it out tousle your roots with your fingertips while your head is flipped upside down, but don't shake like a dog, too much will ruin the effect, and definitely use hairspray. 

-Section sizes, it's hard to tell you what size to take because everyone's hair thickness is different, but I would say thick haired people use 1" by 1" squares all over if you want good defined smaller curls. For bigger more wave like curls take bigger sections, but I wouldn't suggest anything bigger than 3" by 3" or you will have a problem with it not drying in time. 

-People with short hair, these pins aren't generally your friend, unless you are going for a look like this:

http://elizabethbanks.com/blog/post/elizabeth-banks-stay-classy-glamour-shots

(Cat included)

-Another thing to think on, if you are sleeping on it, maybe use a hair net, or hair cap over it to add some security, some of us aren't still sleepers. Food for thought.

-DON'T brush it out, use your fingers to separate it, if you are desperate use a pick, again, GENTLY.

Short hair peeps: This isn't t say if you do it loose and maybe do a touch up curl or two that it can't look cute, because it can...exhibit A:

http://pinterest.com/pin/155866837074249482/

Cute no? Short, yes. Touched up? Hell yes. 

-Also, in general you will almost never see a hair style like the above styles on Pinterest that hasn't been touched up with some sort of curling iron/straightener/wig. It is just the way of the game, just like photo shop and magazines, they think no will notice and that everyone will think that's just how they look. The jig is up, America knows.

A great tutorial can be found here: http://www.lovemaegan.com/2011/09/revisiting-no-heat-big-curls-w-twisted.html

The moral of the story is, don't get discouraged, make sure you have directions, or someone who has done this before to maybe help you out, and figure out your hair, it's yours, own it! Everyone's is different, and with that will behave differently, so remember to take that into account...and don't be ashamed to do a two minute touch up. I'm not, and I am a hairdresser. 

Happy Hair Hunting Pinstrosipeeps!