Saturday 11 February 2012

Big Hair 'Secret'

Right, this is another one for the people with hair that just doesn't 'do' volume.  When I want big hair I use the following:

  • A teasing brush and/or a fine-toothed comb.
  • Strong or Freeze-hold hairspray
  • hair that's not been washed on that day (shiny clean hair just slips straight down)
  • AND... THE LATEST THING WHAT I'VE DISCOVERED THAT NO-ONE TOLD ME ABOUT: mattifying root powder.
What's that you say?  POWDER for your HAIR?  Good gracious, woman, we aren't living in the 18th century! To which I reply, STOP BEING SILLY AND TRY THIS MAGIC DEVIL-DUST.  The basic idea is that it gives your roots a bit of texture and more 'grip', allowing greater volume at the roots from which to build.  I first read of this stuff from a post by uber-goth hairdresser Iva Insane, and you can see the results she gets!

Last night I tried such a product for the first time.  Batiste XXL Volume is, as far as I can tell, powder mixed with dry shampoo which gives it a nice convenient spray-in formula and was pretty cheap (around £2), but you can also buy jars of just the powder such as Osis Dust-it or Label M Resurrection Style Dust - I think Schwartzkopf also do a cheaper high-street version in their Got2Be range. (I've not tried any of these.)  Spray in at the roots, scruff it about to distribute (and to make sure you don't have big patches of white powder giving you a 'going grey' look) and notice your hair instantly start standing a bit.  You can leave that as-it and just tousel it a little if it starts to go down later, or you can do what I did last night and continue with normal teasing and hairspray.  The result was MASSIVE and GRAVITY-DEFYING, but wanting to go for a slightly more subtle look I tamed it down to get this (which lasted all night):



I hope this little tip helps.

3 comments:

  1. I'll need to try that. I heard that if you use hairspray, it is a good idea to spray it in your hair and then do the back combing for optional hold (because the hairspray will start to stiffen as you do this). I haven't tried this for myself. So far I've already gotten good results from just rubbing circles in my hair -- with pretty wild results!

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  2. YES!!! The root powder helps sooo much! I have two, one from Aveda and one from American Crew. Can't say enough about this stuff. I have long, very very very fine hair that won't get big for anything!! I can poof it a bit but after an hour or so it's always deflated.
    Great picture! Glad the powder works for you too. ;)

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  3. I'll try the root powder. The problem I have is finding a non-aerosol hairspray with good hold. Aerosol hairspray would probably literally kill me as I have pretty violent reactions to most aerosol propellants. I once ended up being dragged unconscious from the school changing rooms because the other girls were using aerosol anti-persperant and I collapsed at work because someone decided to test aerosol air-freshener on the shop floor, so actually trying to use something aerosol on myself probably WOULD kill me.

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