reader request: curly hair help

we are using sjp for a learning model today. her hair is as gorgeous and coveted as jennifer aniston's- and look! this wild mane is what she naturally has to work with. i know some people hate their curly hair- but really it's awesome. it gives the body you need to pull off any style. sjp has worn her hair long, medium, and short with every degree of straight or curliness; no matter what she does it looks great because of the texture and body that her curls give it. here's what you can do with your curls and how to pull it off:

look one: work with it! (the long curl) ok, so we know i am obsessed with beachy curls and long flowy hair. and the reason is this: i have wave in my hair, and my hair is thick and coarse. this is a look i can do to work with my body to make it pretty instead of crazy big. this look is easy easy for even the curliest of hair. it is done one of two ways. 1. if you have really tight curls you need to set it when it's wet. comb through and add a texturizing product. then take large sections and hand form them into curls and bobby pin them loosely to your scalp. blow dry hair like this and then take out pins. use your hands to lightly piece through and tossel, and then apply a gloss finish. this might take a couple times to perfect but it will change your life! 2. if you have just wavy unruly hair, blow dry it first in every direction without using a brush, then use an awesome curling iron (come back tomorrow to see which one i use) and curl from the top down away from your face in large sections. set with a flexible hairspray. (this is how i do my hair).

look two: short tossled curls. this cut is so awesome and easily maintained and is really only available to naturally curled ladies so rejoice! (how i wish i could look like meg ryan in city of angels sometimes!) anyway, the key here is the cut. it must be a very good one, and frankly, there are a lot of not very good hairdressers out there that cannot do this. come see me if you live close or really research to find a good one near you. it's layering and layering some more done just so (really, this is true of long or medium curls too. otherwise you have what we call a triangle). when the cut is done right all you need to do to style is run product through your hair, use your hands to shape the curls and blow dry for a few minutes (depends on the amount of curl you start with how quick this process will be).

three: the mediums and "growing it out lengths". so pretty and just require some combo of the short and long styling. just play around with it. you really won't go wrong with the bobby pinned big sections while it's wet.

four: straitening at any length. if you must. you are very lucky because your straight look will have the body and bounce that naturally straight girls go to great lengths to get. to retain some of the curl apply product and then use a round brush to blow out the hair in every direction. to go absolutely straight you're going to have to go to town with a straightener after a punishing blow dry. i just say go with the curls!

look five: this is where curly girls are the luckiest of all! up do's are beautiful when you have soft waves to be loosley falling out and surrounding your face. for days when you have no time at all throw your hair in a messy bun, pull out a few curls and you'll look like juliette!



work with what you've got. get a good stylist, good product and take an evening to play around with it (these styles take the tiniest bit of practice to perfect). soon you will be able to get these looks in five minutes every morning and feel like a million bucks.

curly hair part two coming tomorrow: curling iron and men's curls and trend predictions!