My Hair Won't Curl

after having that problem for years I found that just a good brand name aerosol hair spray works all day for me!

Is your hair very clean, when you are trying to curl it? I know it sounds weird, but the dirtier, the better. The hairstylist, for my wedding told me not to wash my hair for several days. She even "dirtied it up" a little with product the day of. Wear a shower cap for a day or two longer, then try to curl it.

Have you tried spraying a little bit of hairspray on your hair before you curl it?

Hi Linsey,

Mine won't either, probably because it is thick and heavy! Years ago my mom wanted to see me in curls for a family wedding. So she paid much too much for a perm. I sat there for 2 .5 hours as this woman rolled my locks into little itty curlers, then dried it and took them out. The result---large wavy curls. I was told not to wash it, so I didn't for Mom's sake. The next day was the wedding. I noticed less curl/wave in the morning, covered my head in one of those plastic shower caps, washed up and got dressed. Those curls /waves kept decreasing as each hour passed, though my hair still looked big!

When I got to the wedding, my mom immediately accused me of washing my hair, of which I told her "nope I did not"! Needless to say, by the end of the day's events, my hair was almost straight again, with some big waves!

Thus know that some hair just won't hold a curl!!!!! And that you are not alone!
However, there is one thing that I do to increase volume, especially on very dry days. As soon as I get out of the shower, I twist it into a little bun while wet, go to sleep with it up and then unravel it in the morning. It it's stilll damp I put it immediately back up, keep it like that for awhile, and then unravel it once dry. For about 2-3 hours I have some curl, but that is it. Sure I could use hair spray, but I don't like the feel of it, so won't use it!

Hope this helps.

R.

I am a hairstylist.. and i have the same problem. fine hair that will not stay in a curl. Until i found this iron, amazing. Curly stays, would definitely use some product with it too!! I'm not sure what size curling iron you are using but sometimes if it is to big, the curl wont hold.

http://www.amazon.com/Bed-Head-Professional-Tourmaline-Na...

my hair is very fine and will only hold curls if i apply a small amount of pomade in it before curling and a little each curl once they cool, and than hairspray

Hair wax is the way to go.

Depending on how long your hair is you could try pin curls - wrapping your hair into a spiral and pinning it to your head with a bobby pin and letting it dry that way, then taking it out. I can't imagine this would work for long hair though.
I think it's all about product, and the right use of it. If you hairspray your hair before curling with the curling iron, it will hold that curl like a ribbon. This is how hair dressers do it for weddings. The amount you pull it out is up to you. If that doesn't work, maybe you aren't using the right hairspray or something.
Perhaps your hairstylist has ideas for your hair.
Good luck!

The shorter you go...the curlier it will probably get. Kenra Curl Defining Cream works great...and smells like Frankenberries :). Rub a glob in, scrunch and mess your hair (upside down is best), let it dry, and if you finger through the "crunchy parts" you will have great curl.

Old-fashioned sponge/foam rollers work. Wash your hair in the evening, let it almost dry, and roll in rollers. (It has to be damp, but not too wet or else it won't dry once it's rolled) Sleep with the rollers in and you'll have major curls in the morning.

Maybe try a shampoo/conditioner combo that adds body to your hair. When my hair is air drying i can run my fingers through it for about 10 mins and it looks like i curled with a curling iron towards my face. Also when my hair is too long it wont hold anything and just sticks to my head...scroungy looking.

Hi, L.! I know I'm late, but I can't believe no one mentioned heat protectant. I have same hair as you, straight as a pin--won't curl AT ALL. After I had babies, I got slight waves in the back, weird...
So, a heat protectant spray to keep the iron from killing my hair. I once had hair done for prom back when it had no waves or staying power and she sprayed an entire bottle of heat protectant on first...it stayed in tight curls for 3 days! They don't sell the brand anymore, so I've been trying other brands. Tresemme is better than pantene, but next I'll be splurging on biolage because friends say it works good. And layers! The more texture I can get, the more it holds a curl. I ask the stylist to texture underneath the top layer so I can still look shiny and straight sometimes. Good luck.

I refer to my hair as "aggressively straight" because of how little it holds a curl. It's very fine and anything weighs it down. And I can't perm it because it ruins my hair... so I know what your feeling!

I use shampoo and conditioner for fine hair. While it's still damp, I put some root lift in (this gives it body, but I think it helps it hold shape too). I blow-dry it with a large round brush when it is mostly dry to give it the turn under, but it's not really a curl, either. It may help you, though in getting things even since your hair is kinda wavy some places and not in others.

The closest I've gotten to having it hold a curl is when using a ceramic flat iron, aka "ionic" I think. The cheapies at Wal-Mart won't do, it needs to be a high quality one (I bought mine at a kiosk in a mall, and they showed me also how to use it to get ringletts. But shop around, some of those booths are good and some are lousy). I use it after my hair is completely dry, and I've worked the root-lifter in. It takes a while, doing small bits of hair at a time. I spray it with hairspray after, and it mostly hold for a while anyway. (I use Big Sexy Hair for root lift and spray - it's a salon brand but not the most pricey, and it's worth the extra money over grocery store brands).
When I was little, my grandma would use rag strips for curlers, putting them in before I went to bed and taking them out in the morning, and that seemed to give me a curl for a while. She used some kind of "set", but I don't know what ... I guess using rags was very common back in the day, maybe ask your mother or grandma if they know anything about it? Might work too.

Is your hair really thick, long, or coarse? Mine is, and is straight on the sides and wavy in the back. Perms work on my hair. Hot rollers work for a few hours. Do you need to thin out your hair or cut it so it is not so heavy? It can weigh down the curl. I found a waving iron that i do on the sides of my hair. It has a heat setting of 400 degrees. With coarse, dense hair, you have to have really high heat to get a curl to set. Then you need decent hairspray, like Tigi brand to make it stay. Ask your hairstylist what hairspray they use on updos and buy some of that.