Sunday 9 June 2013

Strawberry curlers first impressions & review ♡ SEARCH FOR HEATLESS CURLS




I've been interested in heated curlers for a while, but I have a pretty big thing against using heat on my hair so one night while searching I found a brand called sleep-in rollers. They cost about £25 for 20 curlers which look around an inch and a half each. 
Being a cheap skate I obviously started a search for a cheaper alternative, plus the sleep-in rollers look quite large which unless your hair is down to your bum isn't gonna do much except make a kink.

I managed to find this person's review and decided I'd give them a go myself
I decided to get 24 of them from this ebay seller for £3.36 - they're sold in loads of places online but this is probably the cheapest you can get them (and they're exactly the same everywhere)
They took around 2 weeks to arrive but I'd rather wait a bit longer than pay triple the price!

They smell a bit plasticy when you take them out the packet so I recommend taking them out as soon as you get them and maybe waiting about a week if you're concerned about it making your hair smelly (especially as your hair is porous, although I haven't noticed any smell in my hair from the packet I opened just before putting them in)

They come with cutely translated instructions that aren't entirely clear but easy enough to follow!


The outside folds (try and) help your hair stay in place



My hair when I started was about 50% dry and my hair is naturally quite straight

When I'd put them all in I used a total of 11 (I'm still glad I have 24 because I'll definitely lose some)
I didn't go straight to bed when I had them in so some of them slipped down/nearly fell out; I'd recommend doing it right before you're about to go into bed to help them stay in place better.

These things are so nice and soft they weren't a problem to lay on at all
5 curlers fell out in my sleep, which still left a curl but you'll see in these picture's the curls are a lot looser than the ones which stayed.
As I thought, I was left with fairly tight curls which I wasn't too bothered about because you can loosen them up yourself and they'll do so naturally throughout the day.



To loosen up the curls I ran my fingers through them and pulled them apart gently. DO NOT BRUSH YOUR HAIR, I did it on one half and... just... frizz... I managed to save it by twirling about inch sized chunks of hair and applying pantene pro v split end serum to the ends (I don't know why it helped, it just did). This also helped with the kind of matted frizzy look/feel my ends had (I know, gross, but I kind of expected it)

Also as expected, the top of my hair had basically no volume so I added a bit of dry shampoo and tied bits from the front of my hair into a mini ponytail which I tucked into itself.


I think if your hair is much longer than mine you won't get away with these, they fell out of mine enough and the only curl I get is on the ends. I think the ideal length of hair for these would be just above the boob, but of course if you're curious you might as well give them a go for £1.68 for 12!

Overall I like the effect they've given my hair and I'm gonna carry on experimenting with these to figure out if there's a way of perfecting the curls. I think with any type of curl that isn't using a curling iron they'll end up a bit uneven and not perfect looking, but for a day-to-day not too much effort and 0 heat way of curling hair, this is a pretty safe bet!


Saturday 8 June 2013

Twisty buns for curly hair ♡ SEARCH FOR HEATLESS CURLS

So while I was waiting for my strawberry curlers (review coming soon) to arrive, I was being impatient and decided I wanted to try and figure out if I could curl my hair without heat. I think I'm gonna start a series of posts called "search for heatless curls" as I hate using heat on my hair but I love how my hair looks curly.

 I've previously done pin-curls, but being lazy as I am I decided I'd give it a go with two buns rather than lots of little swirls.
The only things I used were bobby pins
I know everyone knows what bobby pins are, but I've included a picture to let you know that these ones suck and you should not get them

This is my hair naturally and already dry

I did two spiral buns on the side of my head (I only got a good picture of one). I just twirled my hair around until it naturally started to form a bun then used bobby pins to put it in place. I purposely twirled my hair away from my face rather than towards. 
I then used a spray bottle with water in to dampen the hair; I think if I do it again I would do it on already damp hair

I think I slept on these and it wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but not awful either.


When I took them out I was left with a very relaxed, messy and uneven curl: 

One side had a kink from the bun


It was a bit mental at the back


To disguse the kinks and wildness I put on a headband (from H&M) which worked nicely



As much as I liked how it looked, I unfortunately forgot to put hairspray on so the curls fell within a day. As I said before, if I were to do it again I would do it on damp hair; I think it would help the curls work better.

Overall I think these are a decent, cheap and non-damaging way to get curls. I've only experimented with this once but I think if I practiced I could get the curls a bit neater - but like any wet to dry hairstyle you never really know until the end.