No heat / Sponge rollers

[thisischristine]

Hi, I am reasonably new to this forum and I am totally converted in the knowledge that heat styling = bad. The thing is, I have fine, layered wavy hair and when I leave it to dry naturally, I look like worzel gummidge! So I was wondering about letting it dry in ways that styled it without heat?

I've seen the sock bun used to create waves, but my layers just spike out - my hair doesn't seem to be long enough. Has anyone got any experience with sponge rollers? Is there anything I should know before I invest?

[jasper]

I remember sponge rollers from the 1980's :blushing: but what I remember is not too hair friendly. My rollers were those pink ones with the soft sponge over a plastic center and a hinged plastic part that looped over to secure the rolled hair. The plastic loop part had rough seams in contact with the rolled hair. I wonder if they make better ones decades later. . . :rolleyes:
I always got a lot of curl, but my curl was lots tighter at the ends where the hair compressed the sponge, and I didn't like that so much.

There are some good rag curl threads and articles around the forum. And your post makes me thing of a thread where people were sharing curl results from rolling a pony tail of hair into a scarf or bandana that is first folded as a triangle. It seems like that would control/ contain layers. I tried searching for the thread, but I can't remember the title!

[MandaMom2Three]

If I want curls (like wicked curls like I just got a perm!) I'll put my damp hair in sponge rollers with a silk cap over and go to bed. Next morning take them out and presto, perfect heat free curls :D

[Alexannee10]

I'm using sponge rollers like those one, and I love them :) It is a friendly way to curl your hair. But it's kinda uncomfortable to sleep with ..

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/208989902/Foam_hair_roller.jpg

[maus]

Not that I know who worzel gummidge is :p , but I use Caruso rollers. Works good, even though the curls don't hold particularly well in my hair. But that might just be my hair.....

[Capybara]

I use sponge rollers all the time! If you're careful, and unroll them rather than pull then out, you'll be fine. I find that they make more uniform waves and curls than rag curls and sock buns, but that may just be my hair :shrug:

I also recently purchased these (although I bought a different brand, I can't seem to find the exact ones I bought): http://www.tenderheaded.com/goodpilsofro.html
They have no seams, and make the same types of curls as regular rollers. My favourite part? You can sleep in them with no discomfort! The only downside is that I've had a few come undone by themselves. It didn't affect the curl, though - they must have fallen out after a decent amount of setting time.

[thisischristine]

Thank you so much!

[shikara]

Yeah, I too remember the sponges with the plastic parts - hairs always managed to get tangled! I recently bought some sponge ones like the Goody Ones in a previous post here - mine aren't goody I don't think - I got them from Shoppers. (Is Shoppers Drug Mart in the US too?) The covering (while I don't know what the actual fabric is) is SOOO soft!! I notice the Goody ones suggest using wrapping paper over each one - hmmm - reminds me of old fashioned perms I used to see people getting YEARS ago! I wonder if cigarette papers would work:rolleyes: Anyways, I really like the curl and like someone else suggested you could contain them in a cap or scarf (there is a method of wrapping a scarf that contains hair at the nape and down). Style looks really nice just running your fingers through these curls a few times!

[Capybara]

Shikara I got mine at Shoppers Drug Mart too :) The brand was shoppers drug mart brand, it said stylize on the package. They came in a zippered bag.

The curls I get from these rollers look like this (this was my first time, and I hadn't styled them yet):
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=5323&pictureid=92830
ETA: Oh dear, that was quite large :o I'm sorry, I don't know how to resize it. I'll change it to a link to my album, if anyone is interested. Here is another picture.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=5323&pictureid=92829

[LaurelSpring]

I :heartbeat my sponge rollers. I got this idea from Spidermom and it works great.

I usually do it before bed after a wash when my hair is almost dry but just a little damp. I put it all on top of my head with a scrunchie. Then, I divied the pony into 4 or 5 pieces and I use paper end wraps on the ends so they stay nice and neat and roll it with the pink sponge rollers. Its easy to sleep in because its on the top of my head and in the morning I have great curls. Sometimes I also just mist it and do it.

[Angeletti]

I adore sponge curlers, they are the only type of curl that doesn't fall out immediately in my hair. Here are a couple pics showing what I use and the results. I usually get the best curl from leaving them in overnight on damp hair, and I don't recommend wrapping the hair too tight around the curler, when I did that once the curls were so crazy that I actually had to wear it all up in a bun because it looked strange on me. In this pic I just did the ends of my hair but you can still get an idea of the amount of curls you can get from them.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a203/genazollner/curlers.jpghttp://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a203/genazollner/3-1.jpg

[christine1989]

I'm not 100% sure what a "sponge roller" is. Is that another word for foam rollers? I have a huge set of foam rollers (much like the ones Angeletti is showing above) that come in a bunch of different sizes and I love them. They take a while to dry so I reccomend putting them in when your hair is at least 70% dry but when you take them out the curls hold all day and well into the next :).

[Nenwing]

Lol I currently have my hair in those pink foam rollers! I just bought them the other day, and this is my first try! I'll have to see how it goes!

I have heard that for some using this method (rolling damp and letting air dry) allows the curl to stay in longer than if say just a curling iron was used.

*hoping for a head of curly hair!* :D

[Nenwing]

Ok so I couldn't resist and took them out after about an hour or 2 of waiting! They sorta worked, I think I needed to leave them in longer though!

Does it work best if you use real small sections of hair? I think some of my sections might have been too thick, so as a result didn't curl as well.

[kschr2004]

My hair just always fell out of the pink sponge rollers when I was a kid. Even sleeping in them overnight gave me just a couple hours of curls. I haven't tried them much as an adult, but they have given me the same results when I have. :( Too bad, because I would love to be able to get curls that last without a curling iron!

[squintinschool]

I used ones that looked like this:
http://www.dreamstime.com/female-foam-rubber-s-hair-curlers-isolated-thumb12826747.jpg
They were from Goody, and had different diameters. My main problem was that I have too much hair. I would need to use 20-30 to get all my hair curled. I'd use the larger diameters on the bottom layer of hair, medium for the middle/back, and the smallest for around my face/canopy. They were annoying to sleep in, and since I had so much hair, I'd always end up with some pieces tangling around the plastic, especially if I tried to open it in the wrong direction. However, if you make sure to take small sections of hair they should be fine. I always did mine with damp hair that had gel in it. Haven't in ages though.