Style Your Curls Like a Pro!
Working with your natural curls can get stressful and leave you with a less than frizz-free result. Luckily perfect party-worthy curls are within your reach.
According to pro hair stylist Craig Carter, who has worked with high-end designers like Donna Karen, Narcisco Rodriguez and Isaac Mizrahi, perfect curls are possible with the right prep work and products.
1. Shampoo and condition with products designed to fight frizz and smooth the hair cuticle. Drying or clarifying formulas will strip the curls of moisture and create a friendly breeding ground for frizz. Try shampoo and conditioners with the words “smoothing”, “moisturizing”, or “shine” in them. A lower concentration of Sulfates will also do the trick. These types of products will infuse the hair with moisture thus holding off frizz. Lanza’s Healing Smooth Shampoo and Conditioner would be a good choice for this to give your curl a smooth frizz-free head start.
2. Towel dry hair gently by squeezing the hair between your towel or better yet use a Turbie Twist to quickly dry without snapping your gorgeous strands. Rigorously drying the hair with a towel will ruin all of your hard work in the shower. Allow the hair to reach 50% dry and then separate the hair in to 5 sections: bottom (below the ears), left side, right side, crown to the front, and crown to the top of ears. Saturate each section with a product designed to increase hair’s natural body and tame frizz, like Urban Therapy’s Curl Activator, which is a rich cream hair moisturizer (and available at drugstores for less than $5!).
3. Without touching hair too much, (which creates frizz), use a a hair dryer and diffuser to almost completely dry hair. This step usually takes about 20 minutes depending on length. Once hair is semi-dry, remove the diffuser and aim a strong air flow directly at the roots to separate and define curls.
4. When hair is completely dry, work fingers into hair for extra definition and finish with a light shine spray, like TIGI Bed Head Camera Ready. If you have cork screw or S-shaped curls, gently mimicking the shape of the curl with the product will help your style last longer.
Bonus Beauty Cheat: Not every curl is as tight as its neighbor, especially if there has been any extensive heat damage in one area more so than others. Personally, I think rocking slightly undone curls is hot right now. But, if a few wayward curls are too loose for your liking, you can gently guide them into shape with a medium barrel curling iron to knock ’em back in line. Happy styling ladies!
How do you curly girls battle frizz? And what products and techniques do you ladies use to get perfect curls?
Photo: CelebSalon
If you have natural curls there is a product called KMS curl up balm. I used to use this when I had naturally curly hair and it was wonderful. It tames your hair and defines your curls. I now have chemically straightened hair and i find that get the best curls by spiraling my hair using a 1 inch ceramic flat iron. Its a little trick and required a slight of the wrist. I know that it sounds weird but i get the most natural looking curls this way.