Dec 2, 2011

hair curling for thin & straight asian hair - without heat.


i love soft, curly hair. i'm highly attracted to men with relatively long, curly hair and envy caucasian girls with beautiful, soft waves and curls. you always want what you don't have, and that's a central theme in the asian ideal of beauty. we don't only want to enhance our naturally given features, but we want high noses, double lids, pale skin, curly hair and full and curved lashes. and even though i don't think i am a real "victim" of these desires, the hairy part is right. i wish for full and curled lashes and curly hair.
my hair is ok, it has a nice natural reddish/brown ombre, is very shiny and doesn't look too opaquely black, but it's extremely fine and sparse and very straight. it's so sleek, it doesn't hold a curl at all. i've tried several curling irons, steam rollers etc, but no chance. after about 3 hours it's again a thin, weary something. only with straightening irons i can get curls that stay all day, but i never manage to achieve even, beautyfully shaped curls. plus the heat really damages my fine hair and i get split ends very quickly.

i have even once tried a perm with loose curls about 5-6 years ago, it looked nice but was quite maintain-heavy and after few months it dried out my hair completely so that i needed to chop it off to a short bob :(

now i stumbled upon this funny hair curling tool few months ago, i remember it was from some very expensive brand so i forgot about it quickly. about two months ago i discovered a knock-off version of it on ebay, though, and at only 2.90€ for a whole pack of 18 curlers, i ordered two sets to play around with.

these curling gimmicks are made of a spiral, thin flat tube of plastic mesh. you use them on wet/damp hair:
  • take your stick tool, thread it into a curly tube.
  • put a strand of wet hair into the hook of the tool
  • pull the tool, at the same time push the curly tube upwards and thread your hair through the tube. 


 
  • after you finished your whole head you will look funny like this:

  • just let your hair air dry completely for a few hours, you can blow dry it to speed up the process. 
  • pull the curling tubes straight and remove them. you will get defined, spiral curls like this:

goofy expression time!

then i would just run through my hair with my fingers and then scrunch some of TIGI's Bed Head Small Talk styling creme through my curls. i'd add some root volume powder to my roots to add some volume.



the result will look like this:


i really love it! i'll have more volume and the curls will look very beachy and wavy after about 30 minutes. and no heat at all is needed, so i wouldn't have to use any more heat protecting or styling products and my hair will stay soft and silky and nice to touch.
the curls are more even, spirally and bigger than if i'd used common bendy curlers.
best part is that the curls last all time 'til the next hair wash.

they are quickly applied (i need less than 15-20 minutes for my whole head) and during the time they dry down, i'd do other things (eating, make up, get dressed, learn, etc.). i am obsessed with curly hair these days and am so glad that i've tried these funny curlers!

there's just one negative point about these curling tools: this knock-off version only contains short curling tubes, they're much too short for my long hair. i would always use two tubes on one strand to curl the whole length, so even with my thin and sparse hair i'd need 2 packs of 18 curls each. on the other side, ~3€ for one pack and free postage is quite a steal so i wouldn't get the longer but more than 10 times expensive original version.

what about you? how do you manage hard-to-curl hair?



EDIT: ah, i'm such a forget-head! write the whole post and then forget the most important information for you: where and how to find it!
just search for "leverag" on ebay. i don't even know what language that is, sounds like dutch or chinese english ;) then you should find the 2.49£-offer.


30 comments:

  1. du haust mich um! wunderschön!!!

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  2. Wow, das sieht klasse aus.
    Weißt du zufällig noch den Verkäufer oder kannst mir sagen wie die Teile heißen? Ich würde die auch gerne ausprobieren, bei mir halten Locken nämlich sonst auch nie :(

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  3. you are so beautiful! those curls are really cute on you. i almost always get mistaken for being asian--usually filipino, and i always take it as a compliment, i think asian women are gorgeous.

    i used to dislike my curly hair because i didn't know how to take care of it--everyone in my family has straight/slightly wavy hair, and mine would always get so frizzy. but now i use the right products i love it.

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  4. genial!! sehr schön:)

    hast du einen link von ebay oder was hast du eingetippt:)

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  5. the first part about wanting what we don't have made me laugh a lot... sooo true! one of my cousins has a natural beautiful curly hair... but she hates it! ;)

    I'm a brunnette and I dye my hair ashy blonde... and I know a blonde that dyes her hair black.

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  6. oh, locken!!! schööön.

    diese dinger wollte ich auch unbedingt haben, nachdem ich sie das 1. mal bei tanya (pixi2woo) gesehen habe. wie du habe ich auch dünnes, glattes und asiatisches haar, und dann noch viel zu wenig davon (von wegen alle asiatinnen haben viel und dickes haar :P).

    habe die billigversion vor 2 wochen bei ebay entdeckt und du erinnerst mich gerade daran, dass ich die noch bestellen muss. :)

    bevor ich vor 1,5 jahren eine leichte dauerwelle machen ließ, die jetzt auch nur noch ein krisseliges etwas ist, hielten bei mir nur locken/wellen einigermaßen, wenn sie aus 2 über-nacht-dutts entstanden sind.

    und hach ja, was würde ich nicht alles für dichte und geschwungene wimpern tun. ^o^

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  7. Die Locken stehen dir ganz ausgezeichnet, sieht super aus! :)
    Ich verwende meist mein ghd um Wellen oder Locken zu machen.

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  8. Sieht echt schön aus! Nur doof, dass ich keine langen Haare mehr habe:-)

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  9. wow! Your hair looks gorgeous. That looks so simple way to make curls. I have hard-to-curl hair and so I don´t curl them. I have to try this, maybe something like this will work.

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  10. This is awesome!
    I have slightly wavey, mostly straight asian hair and I would love to have loose curls like those. I've been tempted to get a body wave perm in the past but I've been too afraid that my hair will degenerate into a mass of frizz.

    This looks like a great, easy, *inexpensive* solution! Thanks for sharing. :)

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  11. oh...cool! Ich hab das bisher mit einem Glätteisen und der Geschenkbändchenmethode gemacht.

    Liebe Grüße

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  12. Ich mag das Makeup und besonders die Haare!!! <3

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  13. Those looks awesome! Thanks for posting a DIY. I just bought a box on eBay and can't wait to try it myself. :)

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  14. Thanks for sharing this, I have never heard of this method and will definitely be checking these out. Your curls look gorgeous!

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  15. Wow! I don't think I quite understand how it works but the result is amazing.

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  16. gott, genau was ich gesucht habe. meine haare lassen sich überhaupt nicht richtig locken und nicht richtig strecken.

    hab mir gleich 3 packungen bestellt. hihi. danke für den tipp!

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  17. sieht sehr hübsch aus <3
    Ich hab auch ganz glattes, dünnes Haar und habe noch nie probiert, Locken reinzubekommen, aber Deine Haare sehen toll aus so :)

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  18. Das sieht richtig genial aus. Werde ich mir mal merken und dann kaufen, wenn mein Haar wieder lang ist- so in 1,5 Jahre :*( Bloedeste Idee ever mir die Haare schneiden zu lassen

    LG

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  19. Being of mixed european, hispanic and asian ancestry - my hair tends to behave very randomly. But i've never found that heat helped me get the kind of defined curl you've achieved here. I think i'm in love! I must buy these immediately!

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  20. You look great with curls too! You have beauty and bright hair! Thanks for sharing this "gadget", probably I will also buy it!

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  21. As I have natural curly hair I don't need these, but have seen them around. I'm glad you girls don't have to damage your hair to get your curls.
    It's funny how we're never satisfied with what we have. I used to envy straight hair, as it's more versatile, lol.

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  22. Oh, da werde ich mir nächste Woche auch mal zwei Packungen bestellen! Bei dem Preis kann man ja nicht viel falsch machen! :) Ich wollte mir eigentlich mit dem Glätteisen die Haare locken, aber ich bin immer zu faul zum Üben und dementsprechend wird dann auch das Ergebnis, wenn ich es dann doch mal mache...

    Ich teste übrigens auch gerade ein Wimpernserum und bin schon extrem gespannt, ob ich bald Ergebnisse sehe :)

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  23. Wow, mit lockigen Haaren bist du noch viel hübscher :-) Richtig mädchenhaft...gefällt mir seeehr gut. Ich kann solche Experimente vergessen :-( Bei mir hängen sich Locken schneller wieder heraus, als das ich bis drei zählen kann.
    LG
    *chen

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  24. Dir stehen die Locken wirklich ausgezeichnet :)
    Ich hab sie auch grad bei ebay.co.uk bestellt. Weißt du noch, wie lange bei dir der Versand gedauert hat? Dann kann ich vielleicht noch auf lockige Weihnachten oder Silvester hoffen ;)

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  25. Hi, could you tell me where to buy this?

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  26. Oh my gosh, the results are beautiful *___* I randomly got into actually styling my hair recently, so I totally want these!

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  27. where i can found flat tube of plastic?? haha ur hair really beautiful

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  28. thank for the tip! im asian too and excited to try it out. going to order some now!

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  29. http://www.curlformers.com/styling-kit-long-extra-wide.htm

    Maybe next time you can review these if you find them for a cheaper price? In the U.S. the site sells them for USD 70.00! If you know an equally long and wide option for less please post. Great job on the styling. So pretty! I have very long (to the waist) hair and am Asian so I know exactly what you mean about no curl staying. Thanks!

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