Show us your hair do's....

[LolitaHaze]

Shampoo and Conditioner recs

For those of your that have fried straw hair like me. Let me recommend you trying Soft-Sheen Carson's Optimum Oil Theropy line. The products are made for blacks, so look for them in the ethnic section. I found that the conditioner especially did wonders for my hair!! Get the products in the yellow or coral color bottles or containers. I heart these products and haven't used anything else since! Best of all they are super cheap! Between 2 - 5 dollars depending on the product.

 

[goldwyn girl]

Lolita, love your expression in the first pic. Your hair always looks great. fftopic: Where did you get that cute diamond pattern cardi? Just thinking, what are we doing home on a Saturday night????

 

[LolitaHaze]

I think I got my cardigan at target. It was on sale last year if I recall.

Hahaha I know. I was out last night performing and then socializing so my excuse is that I am recovering from last night. Bahahaha Yeah... that's it!

 

[goldwyn girl]

My excuse.............resting up for VLV
I did'nt see that cardi last year, oh well, thank you

 

[LolitaHaze]

As someone who knows the VLV excitement, I will accept that as an official excuse. Especially since you are going to have to have twice as much fun for me because I cannot make it this year.

 

[pigeon toe]

Okay, here's the #1 thing that's been drying me crazy! When I wet set my hair (I use Lottabody with sponge rollers) and sleep in it overnight, it's fabulous the next day. I brush it out slightly, spray and go. But by the end of the day, it's usually half dead. If it's still going strong, by the next day its a mass of frizz that, when brushed, is just straight and fluffy.

What am I doing wrong? Why can't I ever get more than 1 day out of a wet set?

 

[CanadaDoll]

I'm really wondering how you ladies get your rolls to... stand, I guess is the word. I am really good at getting mine into a kind of spiral, but they never want to look like "tubes" they just sit flat on my head[huh] . Any tips or tricks for them?

 

[ShrinkingViolet]

A tip for all you fellow European girls: Right now there's a seller on ebay.co.uk called afrobest that sells Lottabody for CHEap. I'm waiting for my bottle to arrive

I was wondering what you do with it - do you spray it on wet/damp hair undiluted, or do you cut it down with water and spray it on dry hair and then put in the curlers? Or something inbetween?

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

Ooh thanks for the tip! When my vat runs out (sometime in 2012, it's HUGE!) I'll be able to get some more easily!

I personally put it in a spray bottle and dilute it approx 3 parts lottabody to 1 part water, way stronger than they recommend, but it works fine for me! Then I spray it on dry hair. if I saturate it too much it just won't be dry in the morning, so this is my tried and tested method.

 

[Kimberly]

Kimberly I think your set looks great! I don't think it's too tight. You're such a cutie.. those dimples!!

About pin curls or sets coming out too tight.. remember that everyone brushed thru their sets after taking the rollers out, there wasn't much "finger styling" or loose, spirally curls back then.

Mine is super tight after taking out the sponge rollers. I brush it the first day once, but tend to leave it alone so it will last longer later! I can get 3-4 days out of a set.

Another tip is to be sure you're rolling the same amount of hair on each roller, and don't twist or spiral the hair onto the roller. The ends should always be wound smoothly onto the roller first. As you're rolling the hair up, rock the roller back and forth *ever so slightly*, this will help it roll evenly and without TOO much tension. Again, perm papers help with this!

Nikki

Thanks for the compliment Ohairas!

I totally understand why it should lay smooth against the roller. I wasn't able to do that w/ other methods hence the crazy friz I was getting. Well I slept w/ a towel turban on and wouldn't you know if fell off while I was sleeping. Now my hair is flat. How do you all keep your hair nice looking for a couple of days after setting?

This thread is great!

 

[Kimberly]

Lolita, I am so jealous of your curls. Your hair seems to take really well to holding a curl and they look beautiful when finished!

I didn't intend for my hair to come out 50's but it did LOL! lol I think I am stuck w/ that look until my hair grows out more. The majority of my vintage clothing are 40's and that's the decade I am in love with. I wish my hair would follow suit as well though.

 

[Pink Dahlia]

Lo! Why? Why do you always look so pretty?

 

[ohairas]

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I wear these hard plastic rollers in my hair all day and then sleep in them to achieve these styles.

Ah, the large peach or orange perm rods... those would work well! The ones I tried once were about the size of straws, lol.. pink and blue.
If anyone wants to try this, I wouldn't use any size smaller than the peach. The next size down is purple, then white, then grey, pink, blue, yellow..and even RED, which is about the size of a bobby pin, lol!

I don't know how you sleep in those hard perm rods Lolita, but it sure looks fantastic! I love the cardigan pic, so old school Norma Jean. You're beautiful! :eusa_clap

Nikki

 

[ohairas]

I'm really wondering how you ladies get your rolls to... stand, I guess is the word. I am really good at getting mine into a kind of spiral, but they never want to look like "tubes" they just sit flat on my head[huh] . Any tips or tricks for them?

Depends on your hair type and/or how it was set. My hair is thick, but super "limp" and slick. I have to tease mine to get my rolls. Otherwise they would flop over and the pins would slide right out.

One reason Lolita's and Jitterbug's rolls always look fab is because they are processed blondes... and I don't mean that in a bad way at all. It's just that processed hair molds MUCH easier and usually stays in place.

Nikki

 

[Emblaze]

I wear these hard plastic rollers in my hair all day and then sleep in them to achieve these styles.

This picture is amazing! lol

Here I am with a forearm growing out of my head, er, I mean here I am sporting a fake fringe that was modelled on Gwen Stefani's in her new video. (Yes, I know that's not even remotely authentic vintage!) It, er, didn't quite work. [huh] I made the roll alright, but then pinning it to my head proved a challenge. Has anyone done a fringe like this and succeeded?

 

[Pink Dahlia]

Aw cute.

 

[ohairas]

Emblaze, I'm assuming you did the faux bang using your own rolled up long hair? I think it looks GREAT! Just smooth over with a bristle brush to close any gaps and spray. Be sure you're crossing your pins inside so they'll stay put. You've got it looking that darn good kid, you just need to fiddle with it and do it more often.

I don't know if I can type this right, but you might wanna try pinning the inside of the roll to the underneath hair from the inside of the top of the fringe. Totally confused? And putting the other pins right at your hair line.

Nikki

 

[Emblaze]

Emblaze, I'm assuming you did the faux bang using your own rolled up long hair?

Yep!

I think it looks GREAT!

Why thank you! I did take the picture from the most flattering angle though. It looked dreadful from the other side and the top wasn't smooth at all. Thanks for the tips, I'll try your pinning ideas.

I had a bit of a brainwave which I thought I'd share in case anyone else wants to try this style. I sectioned off a tiny bit of hair at the hairline and backcombed the roots, then rolled up the ends and pinned them on top of the backcombing so what I ended up with was a big mess from the hairline to about a centimetre down my forehead. Then I rolled the rest of the hair into a big roll and pinned it into the haystack-y mess. I found it difficult to pin the roll onto my hairline when there wasn't really anything there to attach it to.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Lolita, I am so jealous of your curls. Your hair seems to take really well to holding a curl and they look beautiful when finished!

I didn't intend for my hair to come out 50's but it did LOL! lol I think I am stuck w/ that look until my hair grows out more. The majority of my vintage clothing are 40's and that's the decade I am in love with. I wish my hair would follow suit as well though.

For covering your hair for sleeping, you can get a sleeping cap at your local CVS. I got a cute lacy one from there, cheap. It keeps my hair just fine over night. I also use it when I "try" to sleep in a wet set. No matter how soft the curlers are, I just never get a good night sleep in any type of curler. Thank goodness for valium! Golly, I am a vintage girl
Also, satin pillowcases will keep your hair from getting frizzy, at least they help me. I got mine from www.Adiscountbeauty.com, pretty cheap. I don't know if the kind I got are any different than the typical satin pillow case. I just thought they might be, for they were sold at a beauty store. Who knows!!
Also, to reduce frizz in your sets, end papers work wonders. JBD recommended them earlier and I ordered a big box. I've been using them for a few weeks now and no longer get those kinky frizzy ends. My curls are a lot neater since I got them. I think they sell them at Sally, they were pretty cheap. They come in different sizes. I got the medium size for my below shoulder length hair. For shorter hair you might want to get smaller ones.

I know a lot of you use Lottabody, and swear by it. I've been using Queen Helene, the purple kind, and my curls are lasting me a couple of days. I have poker straight hair, so that's pretty good.
Another thing, and I know I've mentioned this before. Every time I go to the beach and swim in the salty ocean I come home with a head of lovely natural curls. I started spraying my hair down with water and sea salt before I set it, and I'm getting lovely curls, without setting lotion. Just thought some of you might have the same beach experience as me, so I thought this might be useful. I don't know how bad it is for your hair. But I can't imagine it's any worse than setting lotion, and it is more natural.

 

[BonnieJean]

My 30-ish hairdo

After seeing all you lovely gals post pictures, I've decided to take the plunge and show you mine. Here's one I took today and after being outdoors in 45 m.p.h. windgusts, it still looks pretty good. (Ignore my ruddy face)

Since my hair is very fine and thin, I have to wash it daily. I put a good leave-in conditioner on damp hair and then spray it with Lottabody and let it dry. I set my shoulder length hair in hot sticks and use my triple barrel curling iron to put a few waves in above the curls. Afterwards I add a good dose of hairspray. This is the first hairstyle that has been able to stand up to blustery Illinois winds and my hair looks good all day (without 'falling down').

I love all the 40s hairstyles, but I'm not sure I could do those neat rolls.
Anyway, my favorite time period is the 30s and if I can look halfway decent with this hairstyle, I'm going to keep it.