How to Curl Stick Straight Hair

I've been getting requests for how I curl my hair for a long time now, and it seems I've finally acquiesced to your request. I have super straight, hard-to-curl hair so it really gets some effort to get curls to stay. I shared some tips for curling stick-straight hair a couple of years ago, but I used to use a curling iron and had to pin up my curls while they cooled to get any sort of staying power. Now I've upgraded to a curling wand I can skip that step. I don't know what's so different about a curling wand, but they just work so much better for me! I use the T3 Whirl and I love it, it's super expensive but it actually works. They sell it at Sephora, so I was able to pick it up at a discount during the last VIB sale - score!

I apologize in advance for how long this thing turned out - it turns out I have a lot of thoughts about hair ;) If you don't feel like watching the whole video, just know that my top tips are to use a curling wand like the T3, and to use way more products than you feel comfortable admitting. Here are all of the products I used in the video:

Redken Guts 10 Volume Spray Foam

Redken Pillow Proof Blow Dry Express Primer

Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo 

Kenra Thermal Styling Spray 19

Kenra Volume Spray 25

Living Proof Full Dry Volume Blast Spray

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Five Tips for the Best Second Day Hair

I've been a second day hair fan back since middle school.  That's not to say I always had "technically good" second day hair, just that I was often rocking it.  Lately though, I've been managing to get shiny, voluminous second day hair rather than second day hair that's just passable.  Note that my hair is naturally straight, and have what hairdressers describe as "a lot of thin hair."  Here are five of my tips to get the best possible second day hair:

1. Use dry shampoo the night before.  It allows the product to stop grease before it takes over, and helps you wake up with tons of volume.  I was using Suave for a long time, and well it worked and the price was right, I never liked the smell of it.  I recently switched to Batiste and have been loving it.

2. Don't rely on the ponytail.  My hair is usually greasiest along my hairline, so pulling my hair into a ponytail highlights the fact that I haven't washed it, and actually makes it look worse.  Instead, I may pull back my bangs, but leave the rest of my hair down.  The only exception to this is if I was wearing my hair up the day before.  Then my hairline seems to magically stay clean.

3. Use products when you do your hair the day before.  Sometimes I'm really lazy and just comb my hair and let it air dry.  While it looks fine on day one, it never translates into day two.  I've found that using products on day one, like Redken Guts 10, help my hair stay voluminous and keep the greasies away for day two.

4. Don't fight your day one style. If you wore your hair up, put it up again.  If you pulled back your bangs, you can try braiding them or twisting them, but don't try to wear them down.  If you curled your hair, don't try to straighten it.  My hair always looks better if I try to mimic the style I had the day before rather than fighting with it.  The one exception here would be curling your hair if you previously wore it straight, this definitely works.

5. Rinse, don't wash.  If you've been really pushing yourself at the gym, second day hair can sound kind of gross.  Sure, there's dry shampoo, but that can't make your hair less sweaty.  Whenever this happens to me, I go ahead and get my hair wet in the shower, but instead of using shampoo I just massage my scalp with my fingertips, like I'm washing my hair.  This helps to rinse away any sweat that's hanging around and can help with any grease, but won't dry out your hair.  I'll use a little conditioner after this, but I just put it on the ends of my hair to stop it from getting weighed down.

Are you a second-day girl?  Do you have any more tips for getting great second day hair?

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