Irene said her curls made her look auntie.

Pink Cotton said her curls were a disaster after the salon effects wore off.

I think its about time we curly gals took charge and tell the salon people that we too, know what they’re doing behind our backs when we pay them weekly pilgrimage in a bid to get gorgeous looking locks.

For the very first time, Miracle8 will show you how to transform your limpy, lifeless locks into bouncy, lovely curls with definition.

What you’ll need:

An industrial strength hairdryer and a diffuser. A diffuser will ensure that the heat is evenly distributed when you are styling your curls, and gives your hair volume, resulting in more defined curls.

L-R: Soliz hair serum (to seal any split ends on your hair and to protect it from damage due to heat styling), styling lotion (to give curls the definition it needs without overdrying the hair) and sculpting lotion (to keep the style in place).

Step 1: Prepare the hair for styling

Apply hair serum onto your palm. Quantity used would differ from individual to individual, but I would recommend a dollop of the size of a 50 cent coin.

Apply serum liberally to damp, towel dried hair.

Pour styling lotion onto your palm.

Add styling liquid to the styling lotion.

Mix both together.

Note at this stage, your hair will still be quite straight. Fear not. The magic lies in your hands.

This step is particularly important. Gather a small section of your hair and twist it in one direction. This would ensure that you have uniform, defined curls.

This is how it looks once you have twisted all sections of your hair. (Yes its still straight)

Plug in your diffuser and set to HIGH.

Place sections of your hair in the diffuser and alternate between high and low setting. Remember to scrunch your hair in between the jets of hot air to get a bouncier curl.

And the end results, voila!

As your grow out your curl, the curls will become less defined, but with the above techniques, you can still expect to maintain a reasonably well defined wave, like this:

However, from experience, it is better to have a perm when your hair has achieved a certain length. Perming your hair will shorten the visible length at least 3 to 4 inches, so you should have a realistic expectation of how your perm will look like before you attempt the plunge. A good hairdresser will advise you against getting a perm if your length is not quite enough.

This is an example of well defined curls where the hair has attained a desired length:

Regardless of length, the styling techniques are similar. Twisting the hair into sections is absolutely imperative if you want to achieve this look. There is no way you can have hair like this if you just wash and let it dry naturally.

Tips for girls who are planning to get their hair permed:

1) If you get a body perm (i.e. big rollers curling large sections of hair), the end result will be a wavy perm, which looks romantic and feminine at first instance, and “natural”, as most hairdressers would claim it to be. However, the curls will go limp after several washes and if you’re a wash and hang loose kind of girl, the curls would look like kinky waves which are highly undesirable.

2) In order for the curls to set in, it is advisable not to wash your hair within 72 hours after you first permed your hair. Ditto if you wish to colour your hair. Ideally, you should perm your hair one week before you colour it in order to achieve maximum desired results.

3) Curling rods: The traditional plastic curling rod is still widely used today. Perming lotions have undergone a lot of improvement, which reduces damage to hair. For girls with fine hair, wooden rod perms are desirable. If you have coarse hair like I do, opt for smaller plastic curling rods (if you’re going for solution perms), or go for digital perm (which in fact, is a spinoff from the hot iron curling rods in the sixties). Just bear in mind that curls require maintenance and if you don’t take care of them, they won’t look good for you.

Hope this gives all of you a basic insight as to how to style your curls so you don’t have to run screaming to your stylist when your hair loses its salon touch!

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