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The heatless curl trend has always intrigued me as someone who loves loose curls and waves. However, I’ve never tried it as a girl with naturally curly hair because I knew my roots would never get flat enough to look right. So I thought, why not blow-dry my hair and test “heatless” curl methods?
To prep for the blow-dry, I used the Blacklight Smart Bond Builder and Repair Treatment, after coloring and double-shampooing my hair. Once I rinsed that out, I towel-dried my hair and sprayed on Blacklight Smart Thermal Shield Spray. After evenly spraying the thermal shield, I used a brush to ensure all sections of my hair were evenly coated with the product. I then used my fingers to brush some hair oil through my ends and topped it off with Color Wow’s Extra Strength Dream coat, again using a brush to evenly coat all sections. I would suggest using a brush that has plastic and boar bristles. The boar bristles assist in running through products towards the ends and naturally add shine. I use Wet Brushes Shine Enhancer brush.
I recently switched up my blow-drying routine and got my curls as straight as possible. Instead of using my Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer, I used a Phillips size 4 bristle round brush and a generic blow-dryer with a concentrator attachment. Although it is a little tricky, constant readjustment, and ensuring there was heat on the roots to ensure that they were straightened out, was key. I used as much tension as possible. Once I ensured my roots were flat, I focused on the middle to ends, stretching out my hair, and set it until it cooled down. This is similar to Dyson’s cold shock method. In my salon, setting refers to using brushes to give a roller effect, which is essentially using round brushes to keep the hair circular to create a blowout effect. If you don’t have any brushes but you have Velcro rollers, those work as well. As long as you wait for your hair to cool down and lock in curls.
There are 3 methods I’ve used for overnight curls. The first one is the traditional one using the heatless curl kit over the head in a “U” shape.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTYj8yyxH/
Although the end result was amazing, I found it hard for me to make the curls look uniform or even on both sides of my head, and as a perfectionist, it bothered me a lot. I am also a side sleeper so I did not sleep too well.
The next method I tried was the unicorn method, using the same heatless curl kit. Instead of doing a “U” shape, the rod is put down the middle of the head and using a braiding method.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTYj84wGn/
I loved the result of this method and it wasn’t uncomfortable while sleeping! The curls came out more evenly as well, as long as I made sure to grab even sections while braiding.
The last method was the sock method. Similar to the “U” shape method, it was hard to sleep in, but the result was more even, bouncy, and amazing.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTYj8NQgg/
Out of all three methods I tried, the one that worked the most for me was the unicorn method, but I suggest trying all three to find which one works for you!