Hollywood curls for thick hair

Personally, I feel that when it comes to having thick hair, it’s sort of a blessing and a curse. Don’t get me wrong, some people would kill to have a thick head of hair and I do feel lucky that I do, but others out there who have it will know that it’s not always easy to do anything with it. I have very long, very straight and very heavy hair, which means that styling it can be a chore to say the least. There’s just no way I could style it before going out somewhere without factoring in what feels like hours on top of my normal routine, god forbid I ever tried curling my hair with straighteners, I’d literally never leave the house…

I’ve tried many different methods of curling my hair over the years, but I think I might have recently found my favourite AND my most effective. If you have similar hair to me then you’ll know that styling your locks is one challenge in itself, but styling them so that they actually remain curled is a whole different ball park. So stick around to find out how you can create Hollywood curls that last all day without having to get up at 3am in order to be ready in time.

Hollywood curls are my absolute favourite type of curls to create, I think they’re the style that suit me the most and I just generally think they make for a really classy look. So that’s the style that I am going to be showing you today.

STEP ONE

Prep your hair: you already know this, but it’s so important to make sure you protect your hair against heat damage, particularly if you like to style it often. This means using some sort of spray or mousse product that can coat your hair. It doesn’t have to be expensive, I use this argan oil heat defence spray which only cost me £1 from B&M (and it smells so good). I start by brushing my hair through and then I spray this all over from root to tip to get a good coating before styling.

The curlers I use are nothing special. The wand is from Tresemmé and it wasn’t expensive at all, but years later I’m still using it! I do want to invest in another curling iron thats has interchangeable barrels, but sadly at the moment it’s just too expensive for me. The reason I like this one is because it has a wide barrel which is perfect for thick hair because it allows you to create those bigger curls that make up this look.

STEP TWO

Start curling: now this is sort of difficult to demonstrate just through words so I’ll include a little time-lapse video below. But essentially, the idea is to section your hair off into big chunks- the bigger the chunk, the bigger the curl. To give you an idea of how thick they should be, I usually come out with seven curls at the end, which with my head of hair is actually very few.

Take your big chunks of hair and wrap them around the curling iron, always going away from your face. You really should use a glove when doing this but, I lost my glove years ago and apparently have no regard for the safety of my fingertips. Don’t be like me.

I hold the curl on the iron for around 20 seconds, and towards the end I just start wiggling the iron up and down a little before pulling it out. IMPORTANT: do not let the curl fall. Keep it curled up in your hand, then take a clip and clip it up in place. Repeat this all the way around your head until you look like your nan after she’s put her curlers in before bedtime.

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STEP THREE

Wait: once all clipped up I like to give the curls light spritz of hairspray just to keep them in place whilst they cool down. And now we wait…

This is usually the point where I would do my makeup whilst the curls cool down. You want the hair to be completely cool before you take it out so that the curls will last!

STEP FOUR

Brush out: So when you take out the clips, you might resemble something like a milkmaid, but don’t panic, this can all be solved with a little bit of teasing. I start by running my fingers through the hair and then move on to lightly using a brush. I sometimes like to stick a few of the clips along the front curls (shown in the photo below) just to accentuate the shape of them. I leave them in for a minute or two and spray over with hairspray to set it. This makes the shape of the curls around the face nicer in my opinion!

And that’s pretty much it. Finish off with as much or as little hairspray as you like, enough to hold the style for you. Et voilà! You have your finished look!

STEP FIVE

The finished look: true to the Hollywood curls style, I like to put one side of the hair behind my ear and keep the other in front of my face.

I hope you like the final outcome! I’ve discovered that curling thick hair doesn’t have to be a complete nightmare. Don’t get me wrong it’s never going to be a five minute job, but this is one of the best ways I have found for me. I love having curly hair from time to time and I think this style is just so glamorous! So I hope I could help any thick-haired ladies out there who are tearing their hair out over styling!

Let me in on your hair styling secrets in the comments below…

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