To quote windaura on Nappturality.com: "*sings the Transformers song* Curlformers! Rollers in disquise!" I thought that was pretty good.
Anyway, I finally got my Curlformers! Curlformers are rollers that allow people of all hair types (straight and au naturale) to spiral set their hair in a quick way and with a uniform result. Curlformers can be bought online or at certain brick-and-mortar Sally Beauty Supply stores. The rollers come in wide, narrow, long and short combinations. You can buy the starter kit, which includes the hook, short & wide and long & wide rollers, or you can buy the rollers and hook separately. I bought them separately because I wanted the long & narrow rollers for a tighter curl. Some Sallys don't carry the curlformers, so you may want to call ahead of time to save yourself some gas. Here's the YouTube video again to refresh your memory:
So, here's how I did my first set: First, I washed and conditioned my hair. Then I sectioned off pieces and began alternating colors (each color curls in a certain direction). I wet each section with a spray bottle because the YouTube girl said that the hair needs to be wet (but looking back on it, I think this may have been a bad idea, for me anyway). I also used Miss Jessie's Baby Buttercreme and Curly Meringue (in retrospect, also probably a bad idea).
I inserted the hook through the roller, coiled the root of my hair section, and put the hair section in the hook with the hook facing up.
Then, while holding onto the roller, I pulled the hook through. It wasn't hard to do and it goes pretty fast. It would have gone faster if I hadn't been watching the YouTube video and reading the Curlformers thread on Nappturality while trying to do my hair.
ABK also informs me that I spend way too much time making my parts perfect. She may have a point, especially since my latest thing has been making triangle (or diagonal) parts. They're great because you can't see the parts as well as with box parts. I think they're probably the solution to me being able to wear twists as a style before undoing them into a twistout.
See the little red rods in the front? I ran out of rollers, so I had to use about 6 flexirods along the edges. I sat under the dryer for 15 minutes to knock the moisture off a little, and then wore the rollers to bed. The next day, I sat under the dryer for another 15 minutes just to make sure that they were dry all the way. Then, I took the rollers out. To take them out, I just straightened out the roller and slipped it off the hair.
I thought it came out pretty cute! I am also amazed at how soft and smooth my hair felt. However, I got in the shower after that and they puffed up quite a bit. You can probably see that the ends were already starting to puff up even before the shower. This is because my hair was not fully dry when I took out the rollers (which is a no-no for any style set). Next time, I don't think I'll use the spray bottle. I'll just work with towel-dried hair like I usually do. Also, the Nappturality ladies have been using setting lotion and gel, like Lottabody and IC Fantasia gel, and getting a full week's worth out of the style. So, I'll probably use some type of setting lotion next time. The Buttercreme and Meringue may have been too soft for a spiral set. Finally, though I've gotten out of the practice of it, I will have to make myself sit under the dryer longer, possibly until my hair is fully dry. That will suck, but I think the results will be worth it. I don't think the ends got dry this time because I only had the top of my head under the dryer, and I only stayed under for 15 minutes at a time.
This week's featured website is the Fotki photo album of GalaxyGirl2010. I don't know her, nor did I ask her if I could post her album on this blog, but I think that she may be my hair twin (people on Nappturality are always trying to find someone who has hair exactly like theirs--their "hair twin"--so they can use their same products and hairstyles instead of using trial and error and wasting time and money. Those of us with au naturale hair know how unique everyone's texture is, so they're always excited when they think they've found their hair twin). I wasn't looking for my hair twin, but I was cruising the Curlformers thread and she happened to be on there. What do you think? Click here: GalaxyGirl2010
Another reason why I decided to go naturale: Natural hair is beautiful! Before I decided to go naturale, I was looking for pictures of twist extensions because I wanted to give my hair a rest. I did a Google search for "natural hairstyles." The search results turned up several sites of natural coils, curls, twists, and waves. The more I looked, the more I realized that maybe, instead of getting weave, I could wear my hair au naturale. I researched styles and techniques for caring for natural hair. I decided to transition out of my relaxer, and the rest is history!
Thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you've found anything interesting.
Oh, and shout out to MDR for taking some of the pictures! Love you, boo!
4 comments:
Something about this post just cracked me up. I don't know if it was you putting that girl's fotki on here without her permission, your transformers shout out, or the shout out to your boo. Either way, I was cracking up. Anyway, I think your hair turned out great! It's so beautiful. Did you feel like you had any breakage? Everytime I use them I get nervous that somehow I ripped my hair out, but it's probably just paranoia. Oh, by the way, I cut a piece of my hair off in the back to see what my natural hair may look like. I love it! Now, I'm tempted to cut some more, but I won't.
What else is new--you're always laughing at me! LOL! I'm glad you liked the Curlformers set. I'm going to try it again soon. I didn't feel like I had any breakage. I did get my hair caught a couple of times, but that usually happened when I tried to hold onto the hair instead of the roller while pulling the hook through. On one of those times, I did pull a little hair out, but that was it. The only negative was that they were too tight on my scalp, which made them hard to sleep in. I'm going to make sure that they're not right up on my scalp next time.
So you cut a little piece of hair? It would be pretty neat if one of us had the guts to do their bc early into the transition. I'm glad you liked how it turned out. You should take a picture of the section you cut so we can see it.
Your hair turned out nice! I need to check and see if they have Curlformers at the Sally's down the street from me. How long did it take for you to put them in? Also, how would you wear your hair at night in order to maintain this style?
Thanks! I didn't really time myself, so I'll be sure to do that next time. I think I'll be able to do it faster next time now that I have it down, plus I won't be distracted by watching the YouTube video and reading the Curlformers thread. I also need to break my perfect-parts habit. You can protect this style with a satin bonnet at night. If you can't find them in the Sallys near you, you can always buy them at Sally online.
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