You were right!

[LittleSnowflake]

OK, 1st of all i want to say a big thankyou to the members of this forum.

I joined here a while back, to ask for advice on products to use with heat stylers such as hot crimpers/wavers, curling tongs etc, not realising that this forum is geared towards HEALTHY long hair, ie. not heat styling.

I was a bit upset that i didnt receive much advice regards heat styling and i said id rather have 'unhealthy' hair that looked good, rather than the flat, lifeless, unstyled hair i got when i didnt heat style.

Members of this forum warned me about heat styling, but i didnt listen! So i continued to overuse my new £75 Enrapture Deep Waving Iron, thinking it was making my hair look the best it could.

WRONG! I have just had to go to the hairdressers to have a good 2 or 3 inches cut off my now candyflossy, breaking, super dry, super damaged hair! ... After just a month or 2 of continued use of my heat styling products.

As my hair looks so flat and unsexy when i leave it to dry naturally i thought i was relagated to looking daggy if i didnt use heat stylers.

WRONG AGAIN! A couple of ladies here advised me to search youtube for no-heat styling methods, and i was sure they wouldnt work for me, especially as im terrible at styling hair.

Well i tried plaiting my hair to try and replicate the heated deep waver results and im so happy! It worked! I get a smaller tighter crimp than id ideally like, but LOADS of body and oomph that i thought i could never achieve w/o harsh heat stylers and a head full of gunky, sticky products.

Im new to all this, but id like to commit to having HEALTHY long hair. Id like to learn lots more heat-free styling tricks, and which products and practices are GOOD for my hair.

Im hoping this forum can help me.

I want to say a big 'sorry' to my hair! And thankyou to this forum.

YOU GUYS WERE RIGHT all along!!!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[jesis]

Glad to have you aboard!

If you want to get looser waves with a braid, I would recommend using wider sections of hair that are thinner lengthwise, and don't make the braid really tight. That might help. I've also seen many other videos on youtube that feature heatless curls that you can turn into big waves.

I would also recommend looking up how to hairtype yourself. Since you've used heatstyling for so long, you might actually be wavier than you thought. I know I was. I had originally pegged myself at a 2a/2b, but turns out I'm actually a 2c/3a. :)

Good luck lady!

[Amber_Maiden]

Try no heat sock curls. :)

[Lianna]

Try rope braiding for spirals! :D

[beccababesx]

We're always right :D haha, you live and you learn :p I am now obsessed with no heat curling/waving, I hate flat hair, so feel free to pm me regarding wet sets, rag curls, flexi rods, steam rollers, braids, sock buns, etc etc etc etc hahaha :)

[Inching Along]

Welcome aboard! It's so good to hear from you and what you've learned. If your hair does have some wave/curl to it naturally, you would do well to look into Curly Girl: The Handbook by Lorraine Massey and also Live Curly Live Free (http://livecurlylivefree.com). Blotting and scrunching my hair upside down when it's wet with an old T-shirt, then only touching it to get it in place and clipping up sections along my part and crown until it air dries helps my hair not look flat when it's dry, and also really brings out the curl. Also, moisture. There's a wavy/wurly thread here as well as a wurly/curly thread. I'm sure everyone on them is very helpful.

Enjoy your new hair experiences!

[spidermom]

Some have to learn by experience. I'm glad you're ready to be nicer to your hair now!

[jacqueline101]

I'm glad you're here. I like the way it has helped my hair too. This forum is great and as we've learned you can have great hair without all the chemicals and heating products. Healthy hair is its own reward.

[LittleSnowflake]

Thanks everyone!

Wow, OK, so its time to learn some heat-free curling/waving techniques.

Im going to go look up sock-curls now.

I definitely want to try to achieve a wave that is like an extra large crimp. You know, where the tips of the hair still point downwards, but with an S shape wave running down the strand rather than curls with the ends flicking up and out in all directions like traditional curls.

I tried foam rollers and i reeeeeally didnt like the 'old-fashioned' looking poodle curls that gave me! I prefer a more modern look.

[BlazingHeart]

Well, there's two basic ways to do the wave you're describing in that last post. One is to make thicker braids. If you're already using as much hair as you have available, you can add things like bandannas or scarves into your braid OR you can do 'snake waves' - for that, you fold a bandanna in half, and weave a strand of your hair in figure-8s back and forth around the bandanna until you run out of hair, then use a hairtie to secure.

[Annibelle]

You might try a Caruso steam set. :) No damage and they're quick and easy to use!

[LittleSnowflake]

Glad to have you aboard!

If you want to get looser waves with a braid, I would recommend using wider sections of hair that are thinner lengthwise, and don't make the braid really tight. That might help. I've also seen many other videos on youtube that feature heatless curls that you can turn into big waves.

I would also recommend looking up how to hairtype yourself. Since you've used heatstyling for so long, you might actually be wavier than you thought. I know I was. I had originally pegged myself at a 2a/2b, but turns out I'm actually a 2c/3a. :)

Good luck lady!

Hmm, im so rubbish at following verbal instructions, especially for hairstyles. I can never quite picture it until i see it being done in a video or illustration.

By "wider sections of hair that are thinner lengthwise" do you mean to part the hair horizontally in really wide sections from left to right but that are shallow top to bottom? I cant quite picture it. Where would you suggest parting the hair? And in how many sections/plaits?

At the moment ive been parting a rectangle in the top of my head, from the corners of my forhead straight back to below my crown, (to give some lift for the top part of my hair), and plaiting that in one section, and the remaining hair i part into pigtails and plait those behond my ears.- so 3 plaits in total. But this creates a quite tight crimp rather than bigger crimped waves.

I cant seem to part it into less than 3 plaits w/o forgoing the lift and body i get from sectioning a piece on top of my head. If i just plait 2 pigtails my hair is horribly straight and flat on top. And if i just plait one big ponytail the hair is flat and straight on top AND at the sides and just waved on the very end of the hair. I like BIG bouncy voluminous hair so not sure how to go about that AND get bigger crimped waves?

[LittleSnowflake]

Well, there's two basic ways to do the wave you're describing in that last post. One is to make thicker braids. If you're already using as much hair as you have available, you can add things like bandannas or scarves into your braid OR you can do 'snake waves' - for that, you fold a bandanna in half, and weave a strand of your hair in figure-8s back and forth around the bandanna until you run out of hair, then use a hairtie to secure.

Oh wow this sounds great! Can i do it in my 3 sections and still achieve fairly big waves AND body and volume at the crown? x

[LittleSnowflake]

You might try a Caruso steam set. :) No damage and they're quick and easy to use!

I was looking at these, but every time ive used rollers i just get a really unnatractive old-fashioned/traditional curl (poodle curl of varying sizes) that makes me look 10 yrs older and like an 80s reject! :S x

[LittleSnowflake]

Try rope braiding for spirals! :D

Do you have any links for any particular tutorials for this? Or will any do? Ive never heard of this before. Thanks so much. x

[WaterMusic]

Oh wow this sounds great! Can i do it in my 3 sections and still achieve fairly big waves AND body and volume at the crown? x

Give it a try! This is what I was going to suggest.

[julliams]

I find two dutch braids give me really great waves, just the way I like 'em!!

[Kelikea]

I just did 2 Dutch braids and then had these waves when I took them out tonight:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?pictureid=120534&albumid=8987&dl=1323140198&thumb=1 Maybe that is what you are looking for? If so, they were easy to achieve. I just shampooed with coconut oil shampoo that was very heavy on the oil, then damp braided and left them in all day at school. They looked like this:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=8987&pictureid=120532
The oil really helped with flyaways and held the braids nicely, and moisturized the hair!

[AnqeIicDemise]

Bandana waves are my best friends. :D

[Lianna]

Do you have any links for any particular tutorials for this? Or will any do? Ive never heard of this before. Thanks so much. x

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImcPuruQMAw

Also bigger braids = looser waves.

[LittleSnowflake]

Awesome, thankyou!

Can anyone link me to a tutorial for Bandana Braid/Waves please? I cant find any on youtube for some reason!

You're all angels! *hugs* =)