Step away from your flat iron, lock away the ideas of a Japanese perm, and embrace what Spring 2010 gives you: the chance to sport gorgeous locks, with minimal product and hair damage! Loose, sexy waves are now easy to create at home. So forget the blowout you’ve been saving up for. We want natural shine to find its way out – and here’s how YOU can do it:
(1): Prep it Up
Spritz clean hair with a light setting spray or a thickening spray and apply the product evenly through your hair with a fine-toothed comb. Make a center part, then scrunch the ends as you blow dry. NOTE: If your hair is naturally curly, don’t scrunch it. Use a nylon bristle paddle brush to blow dry with.
(2): Mini Buns
When hair is 80% dry (slightly damp), use the comb to continue the middle part down to the nape of the neck, and then separate each side into two additional sections. Twist each section up into a loose bun at ear level. Secure with bobby pins (don’t use claw clips or rubber bands!). If you have time, let the hair air dry while you get ready. If you are pressed for time – blast your whole head with a diffuser for five minutes or until hair is completely dry.
(3): Tousle that Mane
Keep buns in for a minimum of ten minutes – try taking them out just as you are running out the door. Once undone, gently run your fingers in a zigzagging motion from scalp to ends to tousle the waves. Spritz hair with a texturizing spray to take down the shine and separate the waves. Finish with a flexible hold hair spray (or if your hair generally behaves, skip the hair spray).
Some Tools of the Trade:
1) Matrix Biolage Thermal-Active Setting Spray: protects hair from special styling tools and has a special polymer to help hair maintain its style for hours.
2) Denman Paddle Brush: has ball-tipped nylon bristles that won’t get stuck in curly, wet hair the way natural ones can (denmanbrush.com).
3) Scunci Bobbi Pins: use bobbi pins with coated tips so they won’t snag hair when you remove them from buns.
— Amena Hussain, NEEM Magazine Contributing Writer
