Do It Yourself Secial Event Hair-Setting the Hair

If you haven't prepped your hair then please go back to part one of this series and do so.

Otherwise you are ready to set your hair. You CAN use hot rollers but this technique using a curling iron will give you a fantastic curl pattern that will be consistent and last longer. You might even decide to leave your hair down!

To get started you need a few supplies. You need a very hot 1/2 in. barrel curling iron. Really any size curling iron will do, this just happens to be my favorite. Clips are very necessary. I prefer the long clips shown above but you can also use bobby pins. Lastly you need a good shaping hair spray. It should be an aerosol and it should NOT be a finishing spray. I don't really have a favorite because they all seem to do about the same thing. I will let you know when I find one that stands out.

Get your iron nice and hot. Then grab a hunk of hair from the top of your head. It doesn't have to be parted nicely or measured. Just know that the larger hunk you take, the larger and looser the curls will be. 

Holding the hair straight up curl this section. The best way to curl is to start the iron mid section and wrap in down to the base, slowly adding the ends as you release and curl. If this makes absolutely no sense to you then just start curling at the ends and go up.

When the curl is really warm slowly remove the iron leaving the curl in tact. Hold the curl with one hand and get ready to pin with the other. It does not have to look great or feel really tight. You may have to use a couple of pins the first time you do this to get it to stay until you have a bit more practice.

Insert the pin.

This is what it should look like.

Grab a second hunk of hair behind the first and do the same thing. 

Curl.

Hold.

Pin.

Now do two on each side. 

Grab.

Curl.

Pin.

You can do three on each side too if you have more hair.

You CAN continue this throughout the whole head. I usually opt for the lazy approach and just do a few banana curls on the bottom because the curls on top will be so awesome it won't matter much. You can choose what you want to do. Setting the whole head will give you more control.

Here are my banana curls. They are also called spiral curls.

Now you can spray the hair really well. You must let the curls cool completely before you taking them out.

Shake them up with your hands.

Here is a head full of beautiful curls ready to be finished or made in to an up style. You can brush them out to get a softer look.