Especially if your hair doesn’t have any natural curl to it, you’ve probably wanted to curl your hair before. Those big luscious curls are absolutely something many people strive toward. The thing is, using more “traditional” methods like flat irons and curling irons can absolutely cause damage to your hair. So is there any way to curl your hair without ending up with damage? Fortunately for you, there is. Try one of these no-heat curl techniques to impress everyone with your curly and healthy hair.
Overnight Braids
This is one of the easiest ways to get loose curls. Before you go to bed, take a shower and let your hair dry most of the way. Then put it into loose braids. Upon waking up, you can take your hair out of the braids, then brush through it with a wide brush or wide-toothed comb to separate the curls. Just remember to braid as close to the bottom as possible so you don’t have a significant amount of uncurled hair.
Hair Rollers
Have you ever seen hair rollers before? These rollers were the name of the game when it came to curly hair before the invention of the hairdryer, and they’re just as useful today. Take a shower, wait until your hair is around 80% dry, and roll it up in the hair rollers in sections. Wrap your hair in a sheet or a scarf to ensure that it stays together, then sleep. In the morning, undo all the curls and comb through them with your fingers to separate.
Headband
A typical headband makes it very easy to curl your hair overnight. This method doesn’t make tight rolls so much as it does loose waves. Just take a stretchy headband and put it on like you normally would. Take strands of hair and loop it over the headband as many times as necessary for your length of hair. In the morning, untangle your hair from the headband and comb your fingers through it to separate the curls.
T-Shirt Hair Halo
This method is sort of like the headband method, but it tends to make much more bouncy, ring-like curls rather than gentle waves. Take a t-shirt and twist it in on itself until it makes a rope. Tie the ends of the “rope” together with a hair tie. Place it on your head. Then, starting from the front, pull up a section of hair and wind it around the halo. Once it’s all wound up, wait until it’s dry and remove the halo. Use your fingers to separate the curls so you don’t deflate them.
Twists
You can do twists with a piece of toilet paper, a pipe cleaner, or even clean baby wipes or makeup wipes. This works best on shorter, thinner hair because otherwise you can quickly become overwhelmed by the amount of work. Just take a small section of your hair, then roll it up in the twist material starting from the bottom. Once you reach the height where you want your curl to start, tie the twist off. Repeat across the entirety of your hair. Allow to dry naturally or dry with a blow dryer on the no heat setting. Undo all the twists and run your fingers through the curls to separate them. This is a great way to do anything from super tight curls to much looser waves.
French Braid
A French braid is a great way to curl your hair all the way up. Whereas a typical braid will only curl your hair from the nape of your neck downward, a French braid can curl even close to your scalp. For best results, make sure you do two French braids, one on each side, or you might end up with an uneven curl that only follows along the midline of your scalp.
Conclusion
Although heat treating is definitely a quick and easy way to create curls, you might not want to do it every day. Rather, you should try out some other heatless options every so often. Who knows? You might find that you actually like one of these more than the others. If you’ve already tried these before, or you pick them up in just a few minutes, you might be a hair styling natural. Consider looking into the cosmetology program at Ogle School, where you can put those natural abilities to work.
