Curling Hair Without Heat: Spiral Curlers

As I mentioned earlier this week, I've been in a bit of a style rut, so I've been shaking it up a little by trying new styles, and also doing some things I haven't done for a while. Today, I decided to make some curls.

In an earlier entry, I discussed making loose waves without heat. Today, I'm going to talk about making curls without heat. There are a lot of methods but today, I found use for some old flexible rubber sticks, called Hot Sticks,  that are meant to be heated and worn until they cool, like hot rollers, but they are thin and long in order to create spiral curls. 

Of course, I don't use heat of any sort on my hair anymore, but I do know that those sticks give a nice curl, so I decided to use them in a damp set. I'm sure that there are similar curlers sold to be used without heat, but since I already had these, I wanted to have use for them.

My hair was dry, and I spritzed it with a bit of distilled water to make my hair very slightly damp. I put a tiny dab of gel on the tress that I was about to roll. 

I don't use drugstore gel anymore, because I haven't found one that is not very drying, that doesn't dull my hair, or that doesn't make my hair feel crunchy.

I use Morrocco Method Blood of the Dragon Styling Gel. I first had a sample size of it that I received when I bought another product.  I was amazed at how it had great hold, but with all natural, non-drying ingredients.  It also keeps my hair shiny and bouncy.  It's perfect for use as a setting gel for damp or wet curling of the hair. Yes, it's expensive, but so little is needed, and I don't use it that often, so it's been worth it for me.

After dampening and lightly gelling my hair, I rolled each tress in a curler.  The flexible sticks  have a clasp to close them up when you're done rolling.  I only rolled my hair to about ear level.  Another time I'll try making the spirals right up to the top of my head.

I ended up just using 7 curlers.  It only took about 5 minutes to set my hair. Of course, for tighter curls, I would use smaller sections and more curlers.  I left the curlers in my hair for just over 90 minutes, as they were dry at that point.  Here is a photo of the result.

I was quite pleased with how the curls turned out and hours later, the curls are still in my very stubborn, hard-to-curl hair many hours later.  As much as I used to like heat styling, nothing beats a damp or wet set for longer lasting waves or curls.

It's Friday!!!!  I wish everyone a lovely weekend.