simple curls

hey guys!
I hope your week is flying by and you're looking forward to something fun this weekend! I am headed out to a color retreat, in Clearwater Florida. A mastermind in color is leading the class and I’m so excited to bring back some knowledge for all your beautiful hair! I think escaping the cold at some point in the February - March is essential so if you can book a flight to a spot with the some shine, its good for the soul. This week, I felt it was necessary to talk about the basics when it comes to curling your hair, I am breaking it down to the 6 things I think people struggle with the most. Whether you are trying to create some beach waves or Kim Kardashians cascading curls, you can follow these rules. **Per usual. Click product photos for links!**

(1)
Curl away from your face. I will probably say this till for the rest of my life. Your curls will look so much better if they are always curled away from your face. say it with me, I will curl away from my face. So that means as you are rolling the curling iron, roll it away from your face. For a little demonstration check out my video.

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(2)
Keeping your curls VS keeping your curls tamed. If you struggle with keeping your curls, add texture to your hair before you even curl. Trophy, a texture and shine spray is perfect to spray a little veil everywhere before you curl and then again after you curl. It has the perfect amount of grit, and hold for your everyday effortless look. If you struggle keeping your curls tamed, you probably have coarse thick hair, adding a little moisture and shine before and after helps keeps your hair strand together more, giving the illusion, its not as big and unruly. Neon Lights is a spray oil and because of the aerosol factor you can lightly spray it towards your mids and ends to keep it a little more controlled. If your hair just needs a little control right towards your ends you might want to use a lighter oil like tinsel a smoothing oil, you pump one pump on your hand and run it through your hair either before or after your curl.

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(3)
Put the hairspray down, sister. Please leave the hairspray for special occasions, for when your are doing a top knot or a little updo. When you're hair is just simply curled and you're headed to work, or running errands. hairspray is just drying your hair or weighing your curls down. If you are a very stubborn chick, trust me, I know there is a good handful of you right now saying “ stilllll going to use hairspray” use a really high quality light spray for your daily use. Outer space is a flexible hairspray that you can still run your hands through after spraying, and is a full of high quality products. But, for just one week, humor me, and go hairspray free and see if its helping your curls THAT much.

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(4)
​Brushing out your curls VS not brushing curls out. I know you're scared of the brush after you just curled your hair, but if you have fine hair, usually brushing them out a little will give your volume and separate your curls more to give a fuller look. Sometimes you can brush them out with your web brush, or a wide tooth comb, or simply with your fingers to separate the curls. If you have a lot of coarse hair, sometimes brushing the curls out may make you look like you just stuck your finger in a light socket. In that case, after your curl, flip your head upside and just shake your hair a  little, or add a little smoothing oil to your hands and run your fingers through the bottom half of your hair.

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(5)
​Shirley Temple is not the goal. Wrapping your from the top to bottom is the goal. Think about whatever hair is the curling iron the longest will have the most curl, so if you wrap your hair starting from the top to the bottom, the curls closer to your root are going to have the strongest curl patter and the bottom will have the least amount. There are a few reasons why this is best case scenario; your curls with give more of the cascading effect (instead of shirley temple curls), you will have the option to leave your ends (or the last 2 inches of your hair) out of the curling iron completely to achieve the beach wave effect, and your ends have been exposed the most to heat, color, sun, all the damage, so when your curling them, you want them in the heat for the least amount of time possible.

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(6)
​The temperature on your curling iron is so so important. If you can keep it somewhere between 330-380 thats best case scenario. Remember don't cook your hair hotter than you cook your lasagna. If you are getting to this point and you think to yourself, I cant even tell which temp my curling iron is at. Stop reading, and a go buy a new curling iron. A hot tools curling iron, isn't going to be a huge investment, but such a good one, the plate on the curling iron is top notch and I can promise they will give long lasting curls.

I freaking love curled hair. Its so flirty, and beautiful. It makes girls feel soo good about themselves, which is so cool. But, you guys are so scared of doing it yourself. It is like this task that you don't think can ever be achieved unless you're in the salon. If these tips and the video, left you still feeling overwhelmed, I encourage you to get a few friends together and book a curl class. It is a fun way to have a girls night, and I pour you some wine, and teach you and your friends how to curl your hair in a very hands on environment. So many women have had great success after taking this class, and I love seeing the amount of confidence you gain when you finally master curling your hair!

xox Ellie

ok and visit my IG and watch how the perfect curls happen!