Sometimes I think I should have been born in the South, because the only thing I love more than New England is big hair. Sadly I was not blessed with thick hair, and have spent years developing my own ways to boost the volume. This is the tutorial I use when I don’t want to blow dry my hair, in fact this hair starts out as having been slept on. In fact, when my hair was shorter it would turn out even bigger!
But that was a few years ago, so let’s start with today’s slept on hair.Would you look at that? Pathetic! It’s got a little bit of texture, since I put some mousse in it before bed, but there’s not much going on there.  I was way too tired to bother blow drying my hair!The tools: a nice hot flat-iron, got2be Powder’ful volumizing styling powder, Garnier Fructis hairspray, and a boar bristle brush.  Using too many products will weigh fine hair down, so I try never to use more than 3 products including hairspray.1.  First things first, giving your hair a liberal douse of hair spray.  It’s OK to use the hairspray before using heat tools because it helps the hair hold the heat style.  You also want to use a heat protection spray, but sadly I don’t have one handy.
2.  You want to brush out the hair after you hair spray, so that the hair will lie smoothly for the iron and so the product will be distributed evenly through your hair.
3.  Section the hair.  I usually start with a section straight across below my ears, afterwards making a section across from the top of my ears, then another across at my temples, leaving a horseshoe at the top of my head.  That’s a pretty essential part of the process.
4.  I prefer to flat-iron my hair a few inches from the roots on the bottom layers, and curling the ends under.  I try to angle the sliding of the iron away from my head, at a 45 or 90 degree angle.5.  When you get to the horse shoe start sectioning the hair straight across, using fairly thin sections.  It’s OK to use the boar bristle brush to smooth the flat ironed pieces out before and or after flat ironing them.
6&7.  The key to getting some volume here is to keep your hair at a 90 degree angle and to start close to the roots, pulling the iron up straight and backwards, curving the ends back.  If you tend to find your hair creasing you can try running the iron over the hair a few times quickly before taking your time with the final flick.
8.  Well look at that!  Shiny and ironed, but still lacking what I yearn for… volume.9.  Give your freshly ironed hair a light spray, just for kicks and giggles.
10&11.  Ah, the love of my hair’s life: got2be Powder’ful!  This stuff does magic.  I swear.  It’s a fine powder that you rub between your fingers and palms, and…
12.  Massage it into your crown and anywhere else you want some volume! (If you don’t have this stuff, spray your roots with some dry shampoo and massage it in, then brush it through. Even if your hair is clean it gives some great volume and texture, plus there are a lot of great drugstore options out there.)Powder’ful is available at drugstores, which is basically awesome. It’s inexpensive, under 10$, and I’ve had this particular container of it for… a few years. That’s pretty sweet! I highly recommend it for my girls who have thin, flat hair. It’s seriously my miracle worker. It doesn’t just add volume at the roots, it gives a thickening effect through the mid length as well, which is essential to that illusion of thick hair. Maybe it’s the Southern Belle in my trying to get out, but since I figured out how to do this to my hair I’ve been loving the results. It’s a little bit Kelly from Saved by the Bell, a little bit news anchor blow out, and all me.
Do you have a go-to way to style your hair? I’d love to hear any tips and tricks my readers might have… or any questions they might have!