*** Disclaimer — As everyone should know, heat can damage hair, and I don’t recommend doing this on a regular basis, as it can damage your hair – but if you’re pressed for time and don’t have a crimper & want quick results, this is a great trick. Be sure to use a heat protectant as well. *** You can get the same results by braiding your hair at night – but I simply wanted to show a quick way to achieve waves without the wait! ***
I’ve been trying to get my computer files organized, and get hair pictures, that have been posted in files of their own – totally separate from my family pictures. As I’ve been “cleaning house” here in my computer, I’ve come across several things I never posted – basically because they got buried in the middle of family vacation photos, and other family stuff!
Anyway, this was one thing I goofed around with one day – not in any hair style – just as a way to achieve waves from a braid quicker. Maybe you’ve done this before, or maybe it’s pointless – I don’t know …. but thought I’d share anyway!
Begin by braiding a section of hair. The thicker the braid, the looser the wave will be.
Take your flat iron and slowly run it down the braid. I imagine you could use a regular curling iron for this too, but I don’t know that it’d give as good as a result since they don’t get as hot.
You may want to run the flat iron down it a couple times just to make sure you’ve heated the whole braid through. Then unbraid the hair and voila – you’ve got waves.
I then tried it with a really skinny braid …
Ran my flat iron down it a few times…
And we got more of a crimped look than the nicer waves like I first tried.
I know I’ve seen older girls with straight hair and a few sections randomly in their hair with waves or crimped hair through out it. So if you don’t have a double barrel curling iron or didn’t hang on to your crimper from the 80’s (cough cough – like I did LOL) – here’s a quick solution! Just remember the thicker the braid, the slower you’ll probably want to go with your flat iron – and you’ll probably want to repeat it several times. So if you love the waved look you get from sleeping in braids, but don’t want to wait for it — I guess this is the answer!
Works even better (and not as harmful) to braid hair wet overnight, sleep on it, wake up and take it out when it’s dry. perfect crimps
We do braids at night a lot, so yes, you can get the same results and it is easier on the hair. I simply wanted to show if you are in a “pinch” and want to get waves or the crimped look, this is a quick way to do so!
What a good way to get perfect crimps.
The waves will hold longer if you wait until your hair is cooled before undoing the braid…(Don’t take braid out while hair is still warm from the iron)…If the hair is still warm, the waves will fall out fast.
a good way to get the perfect crimps !, it is simple to implement
Does your hair need to be wet???
No — please don’t try this with wet hair! It will probably fry your hair! If you’ve ever tried curling your hair when it’s damp it doesn’t work very well. Same goes with this technique. Not only will it probably not work you’ll just damage your hair instead! As I mention when doing this … be sure to use heat protectant in your hair.
its actually better to combine both techniques. if you braid your hair at night and then in the morning before you take the braids down run the flat iron them a few times the crimps will last longer throughout the day! oh but a piece of advice: what ever you put on the end of the braids to secure them make sure not to wrap it around whatever your using because in the morning then the ends will be curled But all you have to do is just straighten the ends if you do. Hope this helped anyone!
Thanks for the tips. I would never have thought to use a hair straightener.
I LOVE THIS! My hair is always straight, limp, and boring… I wish I would’ve seen this first because I think I tried 1,000 things before I finally found something that worked for me. I’m still going to try this though!
im gonna try this, i hope this really works because i have really thick hair.
well my hair is very long and when I flat iron it, it stays flat for about 1 week. then it fluffs up. I hate flat ironing a lot . and I hate when my hair is fluffy. what do I do?
I’m not sure I have the magic solution for you. It sounds like you have hair a lot like my niece. Try different products for frizz/fluff and see if that helps. Sometimes you just have to experiment with different things to find something that works the way you want. Not one thing works the same for one person, so I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.