minimal heat styling for long wavy hair
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how i coax my unruly fragile hair into waves
There are no two ways about it – once I got into menopause territory, my hair started acting up in every way possible. Fragile, frizzy… and yep, fecking frustrating! I’m pretty certain that a multitude of years spent, drying, colouring, bleaching, styling and sitting in the sun had something to do with it too but the simple fact is, once you get to perimenopause and beyond, your hair loses moisture and density. If you’re not there yet, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I find prepared is better than pissed off.
I mentioned here on Instagram how close I recently came to cutting it all off into a chin-length, choppy bob again – in my head I would be Naomi Watts’ Nora Brannock – the reality being more of a resemblance to the football helmet hair that Julia Roberts’ Shelby accuses Malin of favourouring in Steel Magnolias. The reason for the temporary bout of insanity was that I was sick and tired of the thin, scraggy, frizzy midlife mess of thatch that sat atop my shoulders. No matter how many hair masques or treatments I used, whether I let it dry naturally throughout summer or attempted to coax it into submission with the hairdryer as autumn set in; I couldn’t eliminate the frizz that, without fail, always formed five minutes later.
The last vestiges of bleach and colour were almost gone but all the products I’d used on the regular didn’t seem to work anymore and as I gazed at Naomi Watts’ Instagram feed, I messaged my friend Lou to say I was thinking of Doing A Nora. She correctly pointed out that I’d regret it within a week and we got to discussing all our midlife hair woes… which was when she dropped in The Twiddle ™
Basically, that’s twirling it into a giant coil or twist once its about 70% dry and clipping up it for a few hours. This not only creates a wave that works with my slightly curly hair but it also performs the miracle of calming it down… the hair rests… a bit like a roast chicken on a Sunday.
Click here (or on the image above) to watch my four day styling process that include The Twiddle ™
It’s by no means perfect and I’ve accepted that the glossy waves of my thirties and forties are now a thing of the past. Plenty of grey is forming and, despite it’s texture, I’m looking forward to having lots more greys so that the colour is lighter over all.
I’m really glad that I resisted chopping it off. Despite loving Nora/Naomi’s chin length, effortlessly waved bob, I remembered that for it to resemble anything like that, mine would take hours with the hairdryer AND a heated curling appliance. Which kind of defeats the object of stepping away from heat to improve the condition of my hair. And if I let it dry naturally when its short… well… football helmet.
The Kérastase Discipline range above is what I now use to wash, condition and style my hair – it is beyond superb at helping to coat the hair and tame the frizz. I’ve been using it for about five months and it’s still working really well. My hair used to do that thing where it would respond well to a new haircare regime for about two months and then stop. I don’t want to jinx it but this stuff is still working!
The products and items below are what I use as shown in the Reel from days two to four - before starting over again and washing on day five. And if all else fails, there’s always the option of a plait or top knot bun… which were two of the reasons why I started growing it in the first place!
Sometimes The Twiddle ™ works better than others and I still have ridiculously bad hair days when I’m unable to fight the frizz - I just do as the Pinterest quote says… put my hair up in a top knot, drink some coffee and handle it!
