A step by step guide to how I do my hair

(After dozens of emails on myspace asking about my hair, I posted this over there on 06/21/05. The styling products have changed slightly and my hair is longer, but the process is the same...)

Here it is, the long awaited and highly anticipated hair blog. I get so many questions about my hair I decided to document the process. Before you read my step by step, there are a few things you should understand:

1) I have no professional training and no idea what I'm doing, but this seems to work.
2) I naturally have thick wavy hair which is pretty much willing to do what I ask it to do.
3) I only wash my hair once a week. (It looks best on days 3-5 of the 7 day cycle, so I wash it on Tuesday, that way it looks really good for the weekend and my social nights out)
4) You need to start with a good haircut. I go to a place called Parlor, on Avenue B in NYC. (Ask for Gina Cole, tell her I sent you.) When my hair is this length, it is layered. I bring a pic of a young Elizabeth Taylor. As it approaches my shoulders, Gina gradually makes it one length and I don't bring a pic.
5) The below steps are exactly the same for my hair its current length, as well asthe very long hair I had earlier this year.

You will need:
Wet hair supplies: (comb and clips)


Hair Drying Supplies: (hair dryer and round brush with barrel appropriate for your hair length)


Hot Rollers: (These are Conair Ion Shine and my favorites I've ever used)


Curling Product: (Nu Nile Pomade and Got 2b Glued)


Step 1: Wash your hair (I'll assume you know how to do this) This is how my hair looks out of the shower:


Step 2: Allow it to air dry a little bit (about 15 minutes) and create your part:


Step 3: Add product: (Aveda Brilliant)


Step 4: Comb product through:


Step 5: Allow to air dry more than half way, maybe 30 minutes or more depending how fast your hair dries. Mine looks like this now: (not pretty)


Step 6: Use clips to section hair, leave bottom layer loose:


Step 7: Use round brush and hair dryer to blow dry bottom layer. Then my hair looks like this:


Step 8: Continue drying hair, section by section (removing 1 clip at a time). This part takes me at least 30 minutes and when I'm done it looks like this: (It's a good idea to turn on the hot rollers now, since you'll need them soon)


Step 9: Time to curl! I use all 20 hot rollers. Don't curl more than 2 inches of hair per roller. I use a finger tip of product for each curl- I use either nu nile pomade or got 2 be glued or both PER curl. It takes at least 15 minutes for this step. Then it looks like this:


Step 10: While the rollers are still in my hair and cooling down, I put on my makeup. However, I wanted to spare you the agony of seeing me without makeup in this blog, so I put it on when my hair was wet. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes for them to cool completely. When the rollers come out, my hair looks like this:



Step 11: If your hair still feels warm, you took out the rollers too soon. Just wait until your hair is cool before touching it, or you may lose your curls. Once the hair is cool, the curls should be arranged however you want. This step is more art than science. First I use a bobby pin to pin down my front curl (the one with the blonde streak). Then I insert a flower or hair comb on the left side. Then I usea hairpick and my fingers to rearrange the rest of the curls into place. This takes about 5 minutes. I usually spray a little Aqua Net on it at this point because it's done! And you all know what it looks like now-





I typically do the hot roller step 2 or 3 times on Day 1 (the day I wash it). The whole Day 1 routine is approximately 3 hours.

Then, I just curl it daily, applying more product every day, and doing the curl arranging/hair spray step. That takes about 30 minutes a day. After 7 days of this abuse, my head is so filthy I actually look forward to washing it.

I think that about covers it, but I'll take questions if there are any. Good luck!