Home perm, sort of.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So earlier this evening I decided to try something I’d heard about. Washed my hair, then braided it when it was wet. Finally got it dry enough to unbraid and see the results.

Not bad. Sort of corrugated. Interesting effect. Too bad Mr. Rilch isn’t awake to see it.

But there are some bugs to be worked out. First of all, I missed a few spots; that can’t happen again. Secondly, I alternated between large and small braids, to see which worked better. Small it will be next time, though it will be a b@tch to do the whole head in short braids. And finally, some the ripples stop abruptly at the bottom, where the braids ended. Although doing small braids will probably go a long way towards eliminating that problem: if they’re nice and tight, all the ends will match up, and I can keep twining all the way to the tips!

2

I’m not sure if you’re just congratulating yourself, or if you’re asking for tips…:wink:

But I’m going to assume the latter, and I have some words of wisdom for you. Don’t braid; get some bobby pins, and twist your hair instead. Get about the same amount of hair you’d want to braid, and then twist it round and round until it’s relatively tight. (But not ouch-hair-pulling tight, of course.)

Then take the long twisted strand you’ve created, twine it around a few times into a circle, and bobby-pin it to your head to hold it. Picture Carrie Fisher in Star Wars, only much smaller sections, and they’re not braided, they’re twisted.

This totally prevents the “end of the braid” straight problem you mentioned, and it’s much quicker than braiding. You also don’t have to do such small sections and you’ll get the same effect.

You can either sleep on it or blow dry it. Either way, it’s best to let the hair dry completely before undoing it.

The end result will be incredibly natural-looking waves and ripples. I promise; I read this technique in Cosmo, and tried it…and people I’ve known forever assumed that I had naturally curly, wavy hair and that I’d just been blow-drying it straight.

For best results, apply some gel or mousse to your hair before twisting it, to hold the shape, and then get a small-barrel curling iron and soften/shape any loose ends after you’ve undone it.

Oh, and do NOT brush your hair once you’ve untwisted it. It’ll get huge. Finger-comb it instead…and finish with a little scrunching spray. (I hate to sound like a magazine article, but I like John Frieda’s Ocean Waves. It smells really good, too.)

I’m serious, though. Give it a whirl. It takes me about 15 minutes to do my entire head, and about 20 minutes the following morning to undo and style it. My mother used to braid my hair like you described when I was a kid, and while I loved the idea, I hated those little flat, straight ends beneath the braid, and it took forever to do…and of course it didn’t look “real.”

Let me know what you think if you give it a try!

3

Thanks, Audrey! (In regards to your first paragraph, it was both…) I’ll post an update in a day or two!

4

When my oldest daughter was about 8, I got her some “curlers” called ‘Perm For A Day’. The curlers were U-shaped, with little clips that fit over the ends. You wound the hair in and out of the U in figure-8 type way, then put the clips on. Sleep on it overnight, unclip in the morning; no need to un-wind the hair, you could just slip the curler out through the top. Finger-brush, voila, something that looked like a perm. It also lasted from one shampoo to the next. Don’t know if those things are still available; I do know that the Wal-Mart I originally bought them at don’t sell them anymore.

5

I use to braid my hair for the kinky look. My solution to the little straight ends was to roll the end of the braid into a circle and fasten with a bobby-pin. You could also use a clip-on style of hair roller to do this. One nice thing about doing this is you don’t need to use rubber bands at the end of the braid.

6

Pincurls have been around forever. I love them. There’s also those little soft rods that you can wrap your hair around. I forget what they’re called.

Curls are coming back in a big way this year!;j

7

Kinda goyische, though.:wink:

8

I have long hair and do all sorts of tricks to it to make it look different. One thing I do besides braiding it like you did was to French Braid it wet and then take it out when it is try. It gives a more relaxed and natural looking perm effect then the tightly braided way.