Headband Curls and No Bike!

 The tracking website which has the details for the delivery of my new bicycle had an ETA of today, so I was really hoping it would arrive. Around 8:30 this morning I called up the courier company and asked them if it was likely to arrive so I could make sure I was home. They told me their shipment from Adelaide was still being unloaded and took my details to call me when they were done unpacking.
By about 12 I was getting anxious. As I mentioned briefly before, there were a lot of problems trying to get my bike delivered, so I think I was justified in feeling nervous. I called them back again to find my bike is indeed there! However the address only lists my street number, and not the number of the unit I'm in. So delivery has been delayed another day :( But at least its in the right city now!

Last night I decided to try headband curls. When my hair is longer it changes its mind daily about whether to be straight or wavy, but I very much prefer it wavy. My hair is short at the moment however, and sits almost dead straight and I hate it. So I've been experimenting with various ways of curling my hair. It gets bleached and coloured a lot, so I try and keep heat off it wherever possible. Thus, I've been looking into heat-free curling methods.
Because my hair is layered, pin curls can be a bit of a pain, so I decided to try the headband curls and see how they went for me. They turned out alright. They certainly hold well, but I wasn't thrilled with the shape of them. I think that could probably be remedied though with either a different headband, or better rolling technique. Most of the tutorials I've seen have people with longer hair, so I took some pictures to share the process and result in case anyone was interested in seeing it in short hair.

Stupid straight hair

Here's the 'before' pic. Please excuse the panda eyes and lack of makeup. As you can see my hair is quite straight and sits just on my shoulders. It had been freshly washed and I allowed it to air-dry.

Left side done

So, I only took a couple of pictures while I was putting it up. Its pretty easy though. You just slip the headband over your head  and begin looping the hair over and inward from where it sits below the headband. If you're not quite clear on what I mean, here's a Youtube tutorial that shows you exactly what to do. My only advice in addition to the method in the video is to bobby pin as you go. My shorter bits would try and escape when I was tucking in the next section, so bobby pins helped keep everything tucked in. Here's my head half done.

Ahhh, that's better

Oh no! Can't Seeeee!

So once I'd gone all the way around my head, I still had my shorter fringe bits out. I didn't think they were long enough to get a decent curl by tucking them around, so I just chose to pin curl that section. One roll did fine.

Rear view

Looking not at all ridiculous

So now I'm ready to sleep in it. I read a few different tutorials before going ahead with this to see what people recommend. Some people suggest only leaving it in for a few hours rather than sleeping on it (if possible) as the curls tend to be too much if left in overnight. I decided to try overnight mostly because I wouldn't have time to wait for it to set the following morning, but also because my hair tends to dislike doing what its told so I thought it could do with the extra time. I found the curl held all day without any problem, so people who have and easier time with their hair may find a few hours is plenty. I'd suggest giving both a try if you have the time. Just try whatever you can and see what works for you.

Oh god, what have I done?

Now, fast forward to the next morning! I did my makeup and stuff first because the headband was already keeping my hair out of the way, so I figured why not.
When I first took out all the pins and removed the headband, I had some very tight, kinked curls. They did not look very pretty!

Looking a bit like a clown wig lol

Fluff!

To the left is how my hair looked after loosening all the curls and giving my hair a brush through with my fingers.

To the right is the result of brushing it properly. I know it still looks weird, but I'm actually kind of fond of the fluffy curls.





I spritzed it with a little water to help tame the mane, and this is how it looked after the water, a little finger styling, and allowing it to relax for awhile. Although they didn't quite turn out the way I'd hoped, I think I can definitely improve it. I'm thinking next time I'll wrap my headband in t-shirt material to fill it out into a rounded shape, and also take more care with my technique to ensure the hair isn't kinking under the headband. I think I may also need some type of serum or styling something to put in my ends to help prevent frizz. There may be better curling methods out there, but I really love how quick and easy this is, so I'm going to keep working at it to try and perfect it.