How do I use my GHD's to make loose waves?

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I have tried and failed.

My hair length isn't the problem, I just don't have the knack.

Any tips appreciated.

Right. There are some good videos, have you seen any of them?

God I wish I could just show you in person, this is my area of expertise

I will try and describe it in words.

Imagine I am grabbing a section of hair from the top left hand portion of my hair (left hand as in my left)

I'm holding the chunk of hair in my left hand, the GHD's in my right. Imagine the GHD's are a crocodile. The crocodile clamps his jaws over the piece of hair, so his head is parellel with the ceiling and his jaw is parellel with the floor.

You then "turn" the crocodile so that his jaw is now parellel with the ceiling and his head is parellel with the floor.

You then slowly drag the GHD's down the length of the hair. You don't turn them again or change the angle.

Once at the end, release the curl and sort of twist it gently into place.

I'm going to try and find a video, better than the one I've been posting recently. There must be one!

Okay This video is a little easier to follow than the other one I've posted. Bear with it, its the same model but she does a slightly different manouvre.

She is holding the chunk of hair I talk about straight up in the air. Perhaps if you start doing it this way, you can then start to do it "flat" once you get the knack.

But it allows you to see the angle at which the hair is being pulled through the GHD. You have turned the GHD so the hair is sort of in a U shape as it works its way through.

It is this that creates the curl, not any fancy shmancy twirls with your fingers at the end or any products you spray on it or anything. Its simply that angle.

Another thing to add, I always keep hold of the end of the hair till I'm nearly at the end. It stops it feeding through the GHD on a dodgey angle, causing any weird kinks or Farrah-Fawcettness.

I need to record my own tutorial don't I!!!

It sounds a bit like twirling a strip of paper on a pair of scissors

Its not that dissimilar Buff!

And once you have the hang of it and your brain has sort of absorbed the concept, you can do it really quickly, I've got a picture on my profile at the moment of my latest hair colour and I did that in less than 10 minutes.

I want to do this too.

I also have another tip if you want slichtly tighter curls. twirl a section of hair round your fingers hold it with a hair grip then clamp the ghd's over the section for 30 seconds leave the hair grip in place while you the rest of the hair then take the grips out starting with the 1st one its more curly than wavey if thats what you want then spritz with flexible hold hairspray :)

Tatty when you turn the crocodile, is it a full 180degrees?

AandK I'm going to try that!

I find that spritzing with hairspray before you do anything helps. My hair is soooo fine and limp and HATES holding curls.

Yep, turn it a full 180 degrees "inwards" (i.e towards your scalp), then start to slowly pull it to the end of the hair, whilst keeping a loose hold on the end of the hair section to ensure it doesn't go "off course"...

I know what I'm doing tonight Thanks!

Oh I didn't know you could do this, I'm going to have a go at this tonight.

Pinot, that's your evening sorted! You too Flipping!

The hairdresser did this to my hair last week and it was great...

I was wondering how he did it - thanks.

But I don't have straighteners or a curling iron (flat as a pancake hair) - would a curling iron be better or straighteners if I were to buy something?

Pinot are you my long lost twin, we seem to be on the same threads (not stalking emoticon ) the Vita Liberata, though stinky

Thanks for this, will try tonight as well

...wtf happened there..! The vita Liberata smells biscuity on me but leaves a lovely natural colour :)

:)

Jamais I personally think the straighteners do a better and more long lasting curl, which can be done on bone dry hair (so many methods work better when the hair is still "cold" with damp or a little damp if a hot-air method) so if you are pushed for time you can actually wash and dry your hair the night before and do the GHD thing in the morning. You will get good enough at it that it will only take 10 minutes. Then it can last days. I only do mine 2-3 times a week.

That said, its not for everybody - I've heard people report that it only lasts a day on them, or that they dont' like the curl it produces, etc etc so you wouldn't wan't to make a big investment in GHD's or something if you have otherwise straight well behaved hair. Ideally you'd borrow someone's for a night or have an old pair of someone's who upgraded and get to grips with it, decide if its something you want to pursue and then invest.

The reason I got quite good at it and have become so quick at it is that I was utterly determined to have the wavy hair thing for a while as I just feel it really suits me and I just don't like the poker straight thing, and I didn't want to have a bob anymore, but didn't want to do the nondescript ponytail thing. I felt I needed to make more effort now I'm mid 30's to have a "style" if its going to be long but that I didn't want to be a slave to the blowdryer.

But I did persevere, when I was home with my first baby and nobody to laugh at me if it went wrong etc. Others would have possibly given up earlier because there were some dodgey effects in the early days.

If you do end up liking the method and investing in some GHD's, make sure they have a "swivel cord" as this method will twist your cord up a total barstard over time. That's why I upgraded my first set of 1st generation GHD's that were still going strong - the cord was just so twisted I couldn't put up with it anymore!

Just to add, 4th generation (or the "latest" GHD's) have a swivel cord that doesn't twist up.

Tatty, thank you thank you thank you, I have finally managed to get my curls!!!

Thanks for all of that Tatty - good to know.

I have dead straight hair and even the hairdresser's curls (on me iyswim) were gone by next morning when I ran a comb through my hair.

But it would be nice to do a few curls for a change or straighten my fringe when it's wonky - I currently wash and dry my fringe every day but my hair only every 2-3 days.

I have ordered some middle-priced Remington straighteners/curlers which come with a DVD to show me how to do the curls.

Thanks again

Just checked and phew - they have a swivel cord - it's these

Ooh, I'd like to be able to do this. My sister can do it .

Thanks TattyDevine.

How are we getting on ladies? Ah Totallylost you have done it! Yay. Sleek shiny waves are yours whenever you want.

Jamais - that will be fine, I'm sure, if you get the knack and want to luxe up you can always do the GHD's thing later, but you might just find this is fine. If you have problems with them dropping out then we can check how hot they are in terms of temperature and compare them to a GHD but I doubt anything else would make much difference. Good about the swivel cord.

Achtung get your hot crocodile out and give it a whirl. You CAN be prettier than your sister! That crown will be YOURS!