How I Create Classic Voluminous Curls

If you get the right hot rollers and give yourself a week or two to get used to using them, I promise you, you’ll never look back.  There are three main game-changer reasons I use hot rollers:

(1) WAY BETTER FOR YOUR HAIR // Hot rollers are much much better for your hair than a curling iron or flat iron.  Since hot rollers sit in your hair for a longer period of time, they’re able to use a much lower heat temperature, slowly curling and adding volume, instead of scorching.

(2) SO MUCH FASTER // If you’ve never used hot rollers before, it will take a few times to get use to wrapping your hair around each roller.  But after a bit of practice, I promise you will find that the entire process of doing your hair is INSANELY FAST. To achieve this look, it takes me about 7 minutes total to do my hair from start to finish.  NOT KIDDING. Instead of the painstaking process of curling each 1-2 inch section of hair with a curling iron, I throw each section of hair into its respective roller (it takes me about 3-4 minutes for my entire head), do my makeup for 10-15 minutes while the rollers set, then pull out all of my rollers, brush/shake it out, and I’m done.

(3) WAY MORE VOLUME  //  Since hot rollers aren’t ironing out your hair (and flattening the cuticle), you’ll find that they produce significantly more bounce and volume from root to tip.

A MAJOR DON’T:  I have used hot rollers since I was in middle school, so trust me on this one: DO NOT buy hot rollers that come with plastic clamps (that look like large butterfly clips, as pictured in this article).  Only buy hot rollers that come with metal clips like the two sets that I link to above.  In recent years, tons and tons of companies have been selling hot rollers with large plastic clamps because they think the average consumer will find them easier and more convenient to use than the skinny metal clips.  The downside? I guarantee you will have giant crimps in your hair from where the plastic clamp holds the roller in place. They’re virtually impossible to prevent with plastic clamps and I’ve found that this is the reason 99% of people think they hate hot rollers—because they have no idea that the crimps that they see throughout their hair after they take the rollers out are due to the crummy plastic clamps.  Metal clips secure the rollers in a way that totally prevents any crimping effect.

TECHNIQUE TIPS:  When using hot rollers you have two options: (1) You can roll horizontally from the bottom tips of your hair to your scalp; or (2) You can roll vertically, starting at your roots and wrapping your hair around the roller from there.  I almost always use option one to create that bouncy, retro look, but if you want to achieve a more tousled, modern effect, you can also try the second technique.