I have a 2a/b hairtype and when I want my hair to be curly I have found a very simple method to curl my hair and the curls last until I wash them (usually after 2 days).

I wash my hair and while it's still damp, I take a little bit of mousse and work it through my hair. Then I scrunch it with my hand, grabbing a handful of hair from the ends and scrunching it up to the roots. Then I leave it until it dries naturally, when I might want to finger comb it to separate the curls. When your hair is long and flowing, the curls look amazing and what I usually do it just pin a little bit up from the front as a casual style. Then if I want it to look really great, I take a barrette and gather some hair from behind my ears and pin it up as high as possible. This makes the curls look really big and amazing as they tumble down  :P!

The only problem I used to have is sleeping with my curls, because in the morning they would be quite flat. To solve this problem, I spray my hair with some water and I scrunch my hair, then I pin it up (into typically three big sections). Since it is out of my way I can take a bath and get ready, and when I take off the pins the curls are just as perfect as the day before! Then you can fingercomb it and style whatever way you want.

I've had bad luck with mousse in the past since it has become hard and made my hair look wet, but my new mousse is really good. I use L'Oreal Studio FX Invisi Mousse (normal strength). It makes my curls look really natural, and it looks as if my hair has been professionally done! It keeps the hair soft as well  ;D

I don't know how well this will work if your hair isn't wavy. My mother has straight hair, and when she does this it doesn't last for as long as when I do it, but it still works. It might help to pin up the scrunched sections on the first day if your hair is straight or doesn't curl easily.

I often wash my hair, scrunch it, put it into a bun while wet and when I want to go out in the evening, I put it down and will have big loose curls :-) My hair is wavy but not curly at all. But I can get great results with washing, braiding into a french braid from the top of my had and then go sleeping. At the next morning I will have wonderful curls staying til next washing! And if I want really big hair I brush it then :-)

Please wear you hair curly one day for me...No curls for me....Poor...Poor...Me.  Okay I'm over it! :)

Ginny

Aww Ginny! You do know that people would die for straight hair! I wanted hair that would never ever curl at one point! I'm happy with my wavy hair, and I like to curl it for special occasions. I discovered the amazing wonders of mousse on my mother's birthday a few days ago. Her hair also doesn't curl!! And she loves it when my hair curls so I decided to try this, it worked and she got so jealous! She isn't blessed with long locks like me so she likes to play with my hair sometimes  :) ... maybe your children will have hair that curls  ;D

Leia

I know that what ever we have for hair we want what others have....I love my long straight hair 99.9% of the time :)....No kids I'm a few months shy of turning 40 and my husband I decided before we got married that we were not going to have kids.  Both of my in-laws are blind and my younger sister has down's syndrom.  It is okay though we get to spend more time spoiling our friends kids!!!!! :)

We get to be the aunt and uncle you hate getting your kids back from (SPOILED is only the beginning with us)!!!!

My husband has hair that curls.....When his hair gets long enough to start curling I get out the clippers and off it comes....no curls for me no curls for him either!!!!
I know it sounds kind of strange but it works for us...

ginny

From what you've said about it, your hair sounds absolutely gorgeous. I don't think my hair will ever grow that long! My hair is wavy and no matter whether it's long or short, it will always be big, and I think when I get it cut I'm going to ask them to thin it a little so I can leave it down and long. I'd love hair that I can leave down all the time because it lies flat!

wrote on Apr 4^th, 2003 at 12:55am:

I think when I get it cut I'm going to ask them to thin it a little so I can leave it down and long. I'd love hair that I can leave down all the time because it lies flat!

We ever want what we can´t have...I would really love to get big hair again  :'( Think your hair must be stunning, dear Leia.

Thank you E!  ;D

How do you hold your curls when you sleep at night? I can't leave my hair down, as that makes it straighter and also pulls on long hair, and if I braid it, the curls seem to disappear even if I just finger comb it before braiding. Anyone have any ideas?

My hair is thankful I can sleep with hair unbraided and it will neither tangle nor lose its curls...when I do braid it, the curls will be as you can see on the pic.

I wish I could have BIG hair....I love the way wavy and curly hair looks when it is down...It has so much more life and character than my hair...yea ok it is almost to my knees and that is great but BIG wavey hair is sooooo great!!!! :)

Enjoy what you have...becareful having it thined out...it may cause layers that you will not want to deal with and it also may make it BIGGER when some of the weight comes off it....

ginny

I don't mean thinning it in that sense! There is a special kind of cut you can ask your stylist to do where you cut into the hair instead of just at the bottom. It gives more volume to the hair somehow but also makes it lie flatter. I will get this done once the layers have grown out.

I need help. I have weird curly hair - very curly and unruly in the back where its' thickest, and on the sides, one side is wavy/ curly and one is messed up curly.  :-[ I need a product that will loosen my curls, mostly for the back, because I want nice waves...Its true that we all want what we dont have ???...Please help!

wasab,
Maybe it would help if you could tell us what you are using for shampoo and conditioners.  Do you use any leave-in type products?  Do you brush and/or comb your hair?  What kind of brush or comb do you use?  How long is your hair?  

Are there products or techniques that you have used that have not worked?

I would think that using a leave-in conditioner might help moisturize the hair and allow it to relax a bit giving you more waves instead of tight curls.

I have dark brown curls, a bit shorter than mid-back (unless it is straight, then its about mid-back). Shampoo - John Freia Frizz Control Shampoo. Conditioner - Dove moisterizingconditioner, and sometimes I use John Freida/Zero Frizz deep conditioner. I rarely brush my hair, just about once a week because I thought it made my hair curlier when I brushed it when it was wet...But now I am not sure. I NEVER brush it when it is dry...I have used gel but it makes my hair sticky and it weights the top down and looks really bad, I have used a leave-in conditioner - Rusk leave-in, - but it didn't work well either. I used John Freida Wind Down, but its not much better than the gel. For the past 3 days I have been using V05 Frizz-control serum but it doesnt work...I wash my hair in the morning and let it air-dry and I don't have time to blow-dry, which doesn't help because many products including some that I used require heat activation. I would like a product that will wind down my curls into waves and not weigh down the top of my hair...Any ideas? Thanks...