I need hair help!

[mortomo]

I need help. I just got 6 inches cut off of my hair and I can't get it to look like I want. I have a lot of hair and this is the look that I got using a 1 in iron leaving about an inch or so sticking out at the ends in the iron. I finger combed it with a light hair oil. It's just so full and I didn't even leave the iron in that long. I feel like it looks out of control and not cute (it's really hard taking a picture of the back of your head!):

See post below. I can't insert a picture for some reason.


I tried a 1 1/2 in iron and it fell out right away and then looked stupid. I tried getting waves with my flatiron and I just can't do anything but a curl at the ends with that. I'm not very good with my hair. I use a heat protectant, hair oil and hairspray. I want my curls/waves to last a couple of days at least since I don't wash my hair every day. I have to get up at 4:30 if I curl/flatiron my hair, so I really don't want to add more steps to my routine. It took me about 30 mins to curl it.  I wash it at night and air dry. I have wavy/curly hair naturally (but not a nice curl/wave. It's uneven).

Help me, please!  What am I not doing that I should be doing.

[mortomo]

I can get the pic in my original post.

[mrsukyankee]

I think you are being harder on yourself/your hair than I would ever be. I think it looks fine. But I also have naturally curly hair and it never looks perfect so I wouldn't expect anyone's hair to be perfect.

[mortomo]

Dec 10, 2018 15:40:01 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

I think you are being harder on yourself/your hair than I would ever be. I think it looks fine. But I also have naturally curly hair and it never looks perfect so I wouldn't expect anyone's hair to be perfect.

Thank you I appreciate that, but trust me, the fact that the wildness is kind of muted due to how I had to take the picture actually makes it look better than it is. 

I think part of it is that I have a vision in my head and I can't get it to work like I want it to. Also, when it was long it was nice and smooth and now it's...not. 

[pantsparty]

Are you looking for more curl at the top of your head? Or do you want smoother hair? I'm confused because your post mentions both.

I might try blowdrying it at night instead of air drying and see if that helps for a better start.

[mortomo]

Dec 10, 2018 16:29:04 GMT -5 pantsparty said:

Are you looking for more curl at the top of your head? Or do you want smoother hair? I'm confused because your post mentions both.

I might try blowdrying it at night instead of air drying and see if that helps for a better start.

That's probably because I'm really not sure what I want. Lol.  I just know that I'm not happy with how it is. 

I do feel like it's more flat at the top and then just kind of poofs out midway (it's more apparent from a profile picture) .  I kind of have a more beachy wave look in my head  but I think maybe I just have too much hair for it to go in that direction without looking crazy.  Maybe you're right and blow drying will give it more of a smooth start.  I was just trying to avoid usung more heat on it than necessary. 

[mortomo]

Part of what I'm looking for I guess is advice on what I should be using for product to get my hair to stay and to look less flyaway and also what I should be using to curl my hair. When it was long I used a flat iron. I no longer get the look I want with just a flat iron. It's been ages since I've used a curling iron on a regular basis and I'm not very good at doing hair!

Sorry, my original post was kind of all over the place.

[kittycatlove]

I think it looks great, but I know what you mean. I have a lot of very thick curly/wavy hair that takes a lot of work to style. Yours is still pretty long with long layers so I'm not sure you could get more waves up top unless you went shorter/or more layers which I know with my hair would be a big poof ball, LOL.

I blow dry my hair with a round brush and then use a curling iron (1.5 barrel) on wash days. (I also use an oil and then a straightening cream on my wet hair). I try to curl more at the root and leave the ends out for a more beachy look. . I can never get my "curls" to look good on day two, so it's either touch it up with the curling iron or up in a pony tail it goes.


I'm not sure how helpful this is, but I'm right there with you

[Pippin]

I agree that your hair already looks good in the pic. My hair looks similar and I have to use high heat and small sections to get a good curl. Also I can’t use a shampoo or conditioner that makes my hair too soft or the curls fall out. Also just practice with a curling iron. I go back and forth between using the clip or not. I find I get longer lasting curls when using the clip though.

[mortomo]

Thanks for the tips, I will definitely try them.

I always have regret when I do something different with my hair and it doesn't end up looking like I had pictured in my mind. I showed her a pinterest picture for reference and I knew it wouldn't look exactly like that.

[redheadk]

Is your hair thinned at all? I know some people don't like to do that but I have my stylist thin mine about once a year and it really helps with the weight on the bottom. Also, I can't have such dramatic layers, it makes it poofy on the bottom. My hair is really thick and it gives me terrible headaches if it gets too long and hasn't been thinned.

A couple things to try:

- I like a 1.5" tapered curling wand, very hot, when my hair is long.

- I put a bit of smoothing serum in while it's wet before blowdrying.

- I section my hair out and work from bottom/back to top/front when curling it.

- I section it out into 6 sections and spray each of those with Kenra Platinum Hot Spray before dividing into smaller sections and curling those. As I finish one of the main sections, I spray with hair spray from the bottom of the curl up.

- Do not touch the curls AT ALL while they are still warm.

- When I am done and my hair is cool, I shake it out by lightly shaking my hair with my fingers at my scalp. My hair falls a bit while I'm getting ready and then I go back and reform some larger sections of curls with my fingers, lightly.

- A light wax that I smooth lightly over my hair helps a lot with flyaways. I like Bumble & Bumble Sumowax.

- If you want more volume on top, you might want to try putting the hair on your crown up in velcro rollers, blast them with the hair dryer, then curl the rest of your hair while the top cools. Remove rollers one at a time and curl those sections more with your wand if you'd like.

- I curl all of it, starting just 2-3 inches from my scalp, all over. The weight of it pulls the top out but this gives the top some body.

HTH!

[m1and1m]

I think it looks great, but I know what you mean. I think you just need more seamless layers, or round layers. What you have now looks like square layers and that’s what makes it want to lay the way it does.

[dreamcrisp1]

Do you have a curling iron or wand? A wand is key. So small sections and leave like 1 inch out. Wait for it to completely cool and then brush with a wide tooth comb. Then use your fingers to run through it with hair oil. Spray roots with some texturizing spray.

My hair never holds a curl but the above works. A wand does better curls and lasts much longer.

[treedimensional]

Your hair is beautiful!

[Saint Monica]

The only thing I have to offer is that you have really beautiful hair.

Maybe the Revlon oval one step hair dryer style or an instyler?

But seriously mortomo,your hair is beautiful.

[mortomo]

Saint Monica, awww, thanks! I know we are our own worst critics.

I've found products and techniques that are working for me now, but thanks for the suggestions. I have tried an instyler years ago. I should dig it out and try it again.

[Saint Monica]

Feb 20, 2019 13:43:29 GMT -5 mortomo said:

Saint Monica , awww, thanks! I know we are our own worst critics.

I've found products and techniques that are working for me now, but thanks for the suggestions. I have tried an instyler years ago. I should dig it out and try it again.

Today I got the Revlon thing.

Attempt 1: AMAZING (no product) SO MUCH VOLUME- quick dry+ super bouncy/volume (but b/c no product there was some static)

Tomorrow is attempt #2 where I try 'product' + Revlonthingie.