Perfect Dance Recital Hair, Bobby Pin Curl Tutorial, Episode 1

Hello Friends! Today I'm sharing my favorite way to get perfect curls for that dance recital or other
special occasion when you want your daughter's hair to look fab. I learned this technique from a good friend of mine. (Her name is Natalie, she's super hair talented!) She even made my girls hair look great using this technique when they had cut almost all of their hair off! (Bad experience with my kids finding my scissors! AHH!! It was quite traumatic!) Luckily my girls hair grows like mine, really fast!
You will need:
Bobby Pins
Hair Spray, I think the non-aerosol kind works best. The wetter the better. I like Aussie Anti-Humidity Hairspray.
Comb, (I like the kind with a point on the end)
Small, clear elastics (if you want to make topsy tails around the face as I've done in these pics )

 

 To begin, hair should be clean and dry. You will use a little water and a comb to make any topsy tails around the face. I like to do one in the middle and one on each side of the face if I'm leaving the rest of the hair down. Our other favorite way is to do topsy tails in the back too, (so basically all the way around the head and that leaves the hair on the top of the head not in a topsy tail) and then keep the curls up top for more of an up-do. To make a topsy tail: take the small section of hair into an elastic close to the scalp, then make a part in the hair on the side of the elastic closest to the scalp and put the ends of the hair through the part and then pull it tight. Once all the topsy tails are in, then you take small sections of hair, comb all the snarls out, spritz generously with hairspray all down the length of the hair section, (you want it quite wet with hairspray only, no water), then using your fingers roll the hair from the ends up to the scalp, (so it's a perfect, circle curl) then pin down in place with a bobby pin. When starting the curl make sure to keep the ends in the circle smoothly so they turn out nice. Repeat until all hair is up in curls. Spray amply with hairspray and leave in as long as you can. If we have a recital or pictures I like to get these in as soon as possible and leave all day. It works best if you have them in at least 2 hours. If you have them in less than 2 hours I would add heat to the equation by putting her under the dryer (if you have access to one) or blow drying until they are warm. If you have 2 hours or longer, heat is not necessary. When it's time to complete the hair-do, take the pins out one by one and use your fingers to separate each curl into multiple curls, use your fingers to wind the hair around and keep the perfect ringlet. Once you have done this with all the curls, spray with hairspray and there you go! This method holds better on my kids' hair than using a heated curling iron and I think it makes prettier curls than sponge rollers. (We only had 2 hours today for them to stay in and we didn't use heat. If you leave in longer or have shorter hair, you can expect bouncier curls!) Hope you enjoyed this tutorial today. Happy Curling from "Patch-A-Heaven!"

This is what the curls look like all pinned up.

Here's a shot of the back all pinned up.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the end result, all curls were let down, separated and sprayed with hair spray.

These pictures were taken for our dance pictures. We will do an up-do for the recital and show that in a separate tutorial later so stay tuned!