When I discovered that I was having a little girl, I imagined that she would have this full head of luxurious hair.  Hair that I could braid, curl, style just like I did with my dolls growing up.  Little did I know she was going to be bald until age three and then end up with super thin fine hair that doesn’t want to do anything. 

Three seconds after I brush it her hair looks like it’s been run through a weed-wacker.   It became my mission to learn how to curl her hair and have it last all day.  We tried several methods, bobby pins, curling irons, hair spray, hair gel, flat irons, rag curls, sponge curlers, you name it I tried it. 

Here is what finally worked for us.  Her hair needs to be curled while wet.  However, being four, she won’t leave the curlers in all night so we ended up with one side curled and the other flat.  I don’t blame her; they are not comfortable to sleep in.  Instead we put in sponge curlers on dry hair.  Then using a spray bottle we spray on water.  After about an hour we apply a light coat of hair spray to the hair still in curlers.  The next step is to dry the hair.  You can either wait for it to air dry, or use a hair dryer.  Or, if you are in a hurry, take your flat iron and gently squeeze each curler with it so the hair dries quickly. 

It takes some time, and some experimenting but this is the only technique that works for my daughter and her hair.  And no southern humidity will undo all that work.  It’s not something we do often, but it works great for special occasions or picture day!

-Stephanie Wright