Flat Iron Curls for a Long Pixie- Hair Tutorial

Today I'm sharing a tutorial for my favorite way to style my hair since cutting it into a long pixie- curled with a flat iron. With my hair this short I have found that my hair works best on a schedule. The first day (the day I shower and dry it) is the worst. My hair is too clean and flat. The second and sometimes third day I will style it straight. I curl it on either the 3rd or 4th day and that is when it seems to do best- when it's really dirty. This curled pixie tutorial is based on Whippy Cake's video and also my Loose Curls for Short Hair tutorial and video.

Ok- so you can see my before pictures. Dirty and straight hair, full of product from previous days.

Supplies:

Big Sexy Hair Volumizing Dry Shampoo

Bed Head Spoil Me

Redken Wax Blast 10

Big Sexy Hair Spray Play

Flat Iron

Comb

Clips

1. Start by applying dry shampoo at your roots. Don't go crazy, but spray enough on to make a difference. I like the Big Sexy dry shampoo because it really does add volume while taking oils away. (I also use Not Your Mother's Dry Shampoo and I like it- but I prefer it on straight hair days when I also tease it quite a  bit for volume.)

2. Next spray Spoil Me on the ends of your hair. This adds shine and combats the dryness that dry shampoo can create in your hair. Somehow the combination of dry shampoo and Spoil Me kind of reset your dirty, unwashed hair. If your hair ever looks dried out or flat- a little of this adds a tiny bit of shine and smooths it.

3. Wait 2 minutes for the dry shampoo to work it's magic and then comb through all of your hair.

4. Next make your side part. Decide how deep and what angle you want and use your comb to separate the hair.

5. Then part your hair across the crown of your head. You'll be curling forward whatever is ahead of the part and then back whatever is behind it. 

6. Use a clip to hold back that top section so you can start working on the bottom layers.

7. My hair is deeply parted so when I curl the underneath layers, one side has twice as much hair to curl. It doesn't matter which side you start on, but I start on the side with less hair. I like to curl my hair mostly away from my face so curl the front peice away from your face with the flat iron. Try and get the flat iron as close to your head as possible and curl it down. You don't want a ton of volume on these curls and they'll stick straight out from your head if you don't pull down while you curl. Be sure to leave out the end of the peice of hair as you curl it. You don't want ringlets- you want a curl near your scalp and then the end to be left straight. Place the flat iron as close to the root as you can get and then slowly twist the flat iron as you pull it down the section of hair. You can see this in action in my curling video.

8. Alternate curling sections toward and away from your face on these bottom layers- still pulling down as you curl. If you have never curled with a flat iron before, it takes some practice- but it is my favorite way to get curls with short hair. 

9. After you have curled the bottom layers of both sides, it's time for the important part- the top. Un-clip it and let it fall forward.

10. Comb your top section forward, toward your face and section off a piece from the very back. I can get two rows of curls in this top section so take a piece from the back left (or whatever side is nearest to your part). Curl it toward your face and forward. Take the section next to it (the back right) and curl it toward your face. These curls should be curled opposite to each other.

11. Move up a row and curl the left side toward your face again. The direction of the curl should be toward your face and the curling motion should be forward.

12. Pick up the right section next and instead of curling it towards your face, curl it away- like you see above. From this point forward most of your hair will be curled away from your face on only the dominate side- not both. As you can see the what I changed is the direction of the curl, but the section is still angled toward the front of my head. You want your curls to fall forward but twist away from your face.

Continue to take sections and curl them away from your face on the one side- but every 2-3 curls, curl on the opposite direction. The key is to have some variation in there so that the curls don't all cling together in the same direction.

13. Near the part I like to curl a few sections away from my face on the non-dominant side. Then I'll twist them to stay on the heavier, dominate side of the part. They add dimension and variation in just the right spots. You can see this in the photo above where there is one curl on my right side that is curling away from the others. After I finish curling I'll twist that back over to the dominate side of the part whereas in that picture my part is not visible. 

14. Continue curling until you have curled all of the top section. I usually have about 10-12 pieces to curl. 

15. Next you'll need to curl the back. My back is pretty short so there isn't a lot there to curl, but I try to curl it under or give any of the longer pieces a little curl.

16. Now you can see what the top looks like. Its a little bit of a mess with curls going in a lot of directions- which is just what you want. 

17. Use your fingers to move sections around a bit and look for places to touch up. It's okay if every single piece of hair doesn't get curled- it actually added to the messy look a bit. But sometimes you'll want to re-curl a section or switch it's direction for looks. Or sometimes a piece will get curled to much and you need to flatten out the end a bit.

18. After you get it arranged a bit and touched up, spray your spray wax on the ends. Be sure not to get the roots because it will weigh down your hair, but give the ends of the curls a good dousing. This will provide a majority of your hold. 

19. I then use my hairspray on the roots and all over for a little more hold and volume. 

Someone popped in for a photo...

And that's it! The curls will loosen up a bit during the day- which is good- and sometimes I can even get this style to go one extra day. All I do is refresh it with dry shampoo and Spoil Me and touch up a few curls. Also every time I curl my hair it turns out a little differently depending on how long I have and how messy or perfect I want it. 

The key is curling the top and it takes a little practice. So give it a try and don't give up! You'll love this style!

EARRINGS- Nickel & Suede (London Tan Cut Out Leather Earrings- L) // CUFF- Nickel & Suede // Sweater- Thrifted // Lipstick- Revlon Lip Butter- Juicy Papaya

Thanks for enduring all the photos- I know it was a lot, but because this isn't a video tutorial, I think more is better! I can't wait to see how your hair turns out so be sure to tag me on Instagram with your new curled style!