How NOT to curl your hair – Hair tutorial fail

This hair tutorial fail is one I rediscovered in my photo files and I had to share for your entertainment. There’s also a few tips on how to fix your hair when it goes wrong too so we can all learn from my hair fail.

You might think that my hair is always perfect and every tutorial works out exactly the way I want but it’s not true.

Yes, I can have a bad hair day too but now I have the tricks to fix it.

I thought I was following all the right steps when I tried this tutorial (these photos are from a while back) but there are some subtle differences in getting great curls and ending up with kinked hair. I felt like I wasted a lot of time with this tutorial, but it’s not a waste if I can share my failure and learnings with you, right?

Here goes, and you can laugh if you want 😉

How NOT to curl your hair – Hair tutorial fail

What you need:

• Hair curling wand – I used a 1 3/4 inch barrel when I should have used a 1 inch or 1 1/4 inch barrel
• Pin curl clips (these work but you need to curl your hair up properly)
• Flexible hold hairspray (I did not use this in the original tutorial)

Step-by-step:

• DO section your hair and clip the rest out of the way.
• DO work from the bottom up, curling the underneath first, when just using a wand.
• DON’T start at the bottom if you plan to clip your curls up. A hairdresser can do this as they can see what they’re doing. When doing your own hair at home, starting at the top makes it easier to clip your hair up as you go.
• DON’T take sections that are too large for your clips.
• DO use a curling wand that’s the right size for the curls you want to achieve. If you don’t have the right size wand, check out my hair curling hacks for advice.
• DO use a flexible hold hairspray to lightly spray each section before curling your hair.
• DON’T forget to break up your curls with a brush or your fingers at the end. It makes the curls look so much more natural and effortless.
• DO leave enough time for your hair to completely cool before breaking up the curls with your fingers or a brush. The curls will drop out if you do this when your hair is still warm.
• DO give your curls a very light mist of flexible hairspray at the end.

What to do if your hair is a fail

So what did I do to fix these curls, or should I say kinks?

I followed the advice I should have listened to above, and to salvage these curls and get out the door fast I did the following:

1. Brushed my hair out completely so I had a base to start again.
2. Used a smaller curling iron to curl all of my hair
3. Left my hair to cool completely.
4. Lightly combed out the curls with my fingers once my hair was cool.
5. Used a light hairspray to hold the waves in place.

The (second) result wasn’t exactly perfect but it was so much better than my first attempt.

So tell me, have you ever had a hair fail with a tutorial? I’d love to hear what happened to you and if / how you were able to fix it.