How do I get my hair to stay curly?

[TheRadiantAerynSun]

DO got me some curling tongs for Christmas and I had a go at using them today. It was a bit of a mess and I burned myself a lot, but I think I'll get better with practise.

Problem is, after literally an hour all the curls had fallen out and my bloody hair was straight again! I used mouse before and hairspray after and I have long, thick but quite silky textured hair.

I'm gonna have another go before our boxing day party... any tips on how to make the curlyness last longer?

I've seen tips about holding or pinning your curls until they cool - could that work for you? If you had little plastic clips you could do the curl, then curl it back up and pin it to your head until it's cool?

Maybe smaller sections too, if you're hair is thick?

My hair is naturally wavy and I can encourage it to curl naturally without any heat required so I'm the wrong person to ask really! Sorry!

I've got very fine (but quite a lot of it) silky, poker straight hair that resists holding a curl but a few things that help -

It must be absolutely bone dry before you start trying to curl. If I'm going to curl for a night out I'll usually try to wash hair mid afternoon so that by the time I start curling it's properly and completely dry. Any moisture will kill curl.

When I think it's dry I'll spray with hairspray and then brush it out a little while later. I'll repeat that a couple of times between drying and curling. That means by the time I'm ready to curl, all my hair has a fine coating of hairspray which helps the set.

Use as high a heat as your hair can cope with.

Pin/clip curls up as you go. When you've finished curling don't unclip until they're totally cool. Ideally go outside (as long as no rain!) to let hair get absolutely cold before unpinning.

Doing these steps can make the difference for me between curls that drop within half an hour, and strong, "boingy" curls that I couldn't pull out if I tried, and that last a couple of days.

What I mean with the drying -
I wash it and blow dry it until completely dry. Then wait a good 2 hours before curling.

I love curls so much I get my hair permed now, but Ive spent a lot of time perfecting curling tongs!

Make sure you have the right mousse, some is stronger than others. Check that you dont have so much conditioner in your hair that it is weighing your hair down/ making it too slippery.
Make sure your hair is completely 100% dry before curling and don't curl anywhere where the air is damp, like in a bathroom as the moisture makes the curl drop.
Make sure the tongs are really hot before you start.
Split your hair into two bunches, then on each side section out an inch at the bottom, curl this section in little pieces, rolling each curl up and pinning it as you go. Try turning the tongs in different directions for each curl as that can make more natural looking curls.
keep going up the head until youve done the whole lot, but don't curl more than a small piece at a time. If the tongs arent closing properly then theres too much hair. It takes me 30-40 minutes to do it properly on myself but it is worth it!
Spray all the pinned curls with hairspray and wait as long as you can bear before taking them out, make sure they are stone cold before you take them out.
Then run through with your fingers, but dont brush or comb them at all or youll comb the curl out again.

Good luck! hope that helps

Aposey - what are perms like nowadays? Very tempted!

Thanks for the tips! I decided I couldn't be bothered today (lazy) but am going out Monday so will try again.

Rabbit, your hair sounds a lot like mine so ill give your system a go. I suspect I've just got too much hair and need a few inches cut off to make it really work though

Aposey... I've been very tempted by a perm, but im afraid of it all going wrong!

I forgot to say I also use mousse in the roots when it's still damp.

However not too much or it weighs it down.

I'm pretty convinced it's the build up of hair spray that helps hold curls most, product-wise.

But also the hair being totally dry before curling and getting totally cold before unpinning.

Eeek, sorry, just seen your questions here about perms!

Ive had four now I think, and they have all been different, some amazing, some awful. All of them have made my hair harder maintenance and damaged it to some extent. One mucked up so so badly I was furious, my hair is really thick and they didnt get the solution on properly so when they went to test a curl to see if it was done, it wasnt. They kept testing and eventually tried a different curl where the lotion had been put on and found it had been horribly over-processed! So I had damage and over-curled hair in some places and completely flat in others!

I know this isnt really selling it to you- I would say go for it if you have short-ish hair and you dont mind changing styles/cutting it short after a few months if you decide you dont like it, and you dont have bleached hair. But go to a salon where they have confidence/ experience in doing it, and shop around if you can. I love my curls but it really is a bit hit and miss, and I can't just get up and brush and go any more!