The Hair Studio- Practical Week 5- Curling the Hair

This week during our practical we learnt all about curling the hair.  For this session the aim was to create very tight, barrel curls that would then be formed into a pin curl.

Obviously prior to curling the hair, you would prep the hair normally.  First carrying out a quick consultation, washing the hair and then drying it thoroughly (see my Practical Week 1/2 posts for more info on these steps!).  Having also done a consultation, you would determine whether or not to apply a heat protectant. 

Curling the Hair:

Before curling Bryony's hair.

1. Start off by brushing through the hair, making sure that all knots and tangles are removed, this will make it easier to work through the hair.  Starting from the bottom of the head, take a small section of hair, if your client has long hair, wrap the end around the tong so it is neatly in the barrel, laying flat.  Turn your tong towards the head, getting as close to the root as possible, if you are unsure of how close to get to your sitters head, place a comb at the root and rest your tong against that.  You should have also decided whether you want your curls to fall forwards or backwards.  Whichever you decide, make sure you follow this on the other side of the head, so that the style is symmetrical. 

2.  Keep the hair wrapped around the tong for around 12 seconds, then gently turn your curl out once, and slowly press the lever, releasing the curl and gently pulling it off the barrel.  You will be left with a very tight curl, and in order to keep its shape, its best to cold set it.  To cold set your curls, all you have to do is place a bobby pin round it. 

3. Follow this process, working upwards, still making sure that your sections are small and even and that you are cold setting your girls each time.

4. After you have finished curling the remaining hair, you can now take the pins out.  Again with this step, start and the bottom and work your way up. You can set these curls with some hairspray if necessary, the picture below gives you an idea of what the curls should look like.

5. The last step of the curling process is to create your pin curls.  Remembering to always work from the bottom of the hair upwards. take one of your curls, and wrap it between your thumb and forefinger to create a small loop. Continue rolling upwards in a spiral until you reach the head. Use a bobby pin to pin this spiral to the roots of your clients hair.