Tutorial Tuesday: Princess Aurora Curls

From the dawn of time- well my time- I have loved Princess Aurora. Even before I saw the 1959 masterpiece “Sleeping Beauty” (one of the most under appreciate films of all time IMO) I have love Princess Aurora. As a three year old, I fell in little girl love with everything about her- the dress, the beauty, the Prince (yum yum) and especially THE HAIR! She had hair like me which is why she and I had to be best friends. My obsession has only grown since the age of three, so much that I now collect Sleeping Beauty paraphernalia (Does anyone knows where I can buy a copy/original “Sleeping Beauty” movie poster?) and could rightfully say that at least a half-  two thirds of my 24 years of birthday cakes have had Sleeping Aurora on them. No judgments.

I say all of that to say this- I am EXTREMELY excited about the release of Maleficent this Friday. So excited that I will be at the closest theater when it opens Friday morning to watch the movie. If it was necessary, I would camp out the night before, so I could see the first showing. But I live in the biggest city in Alabama so that’s probably not a good idea. In preparation for the viewing extravaganza I will seeing this Friday and again on Sunday with my family and probably once more with friends, my blog post this week will be themed around Princess Aurora, who the world usually refers to as “Sleeping Beauty”.

And since her hair is absolutely beautiful, I thought I would start with a tutorial on how I do my, as I refer to them, Princess Aurora curls. These curls are perfect to wear with a crown or a headband or alone and provides beautiful Princess-esque volume while being simple. Curls are the most classic of all known and yet to be discovered hairstyles and perfect for any and all occasions- except surgery, they don’t care what you hair looks like during surgery.

Supplies Needed: Usual things that you probably have in your bathroom or wherever you fix your hair

Hairspray

Bobby pins- around 15-20

Curling iron with a large barrel- the one I’m using has a 1-1/2 inch barrel

Clips to pin up your hair

Hairbrush- Duh

If you can curl and put in a bobby pin, you can do this tutorial.

Catherine Note: Through my years of answering questions about how I do my hair/ how I curl my hair I have come to a realization: some women/girls/young ladies/ chicks/ gals and any other slang you can think of the describe the female gender have no clue how to curl their hair. They ask me how I don’t get kinks in my hair or how to properly curl hair and even though today’s blog is dedicated to a certain hairstyle, I will try to answer these questions. Eventually, I’ll do a “This is how I normally curl my hair” tutorial which should answer any or all hair curling questions. But that will be later, this comes first.

Step 1: Start with fresh clean hair with very little to no product in your hair. If you have hair that has problem holding curl, this is key! I've notice that many girls have complained to me that their hair won’t hold curl but then I notice that they load their hair down with so much product that it forms a force field of synthetics around their head. Yeah, no curl can withstand in that sort of environment. Usually I just put my a little bit of Moroccan oil on my ends (when wet) and that’s it. If you have very thin or straight hair, you might consider putting some texturing spray to help your hair hold the curl. Just don’t overload on the product. Okay?

Step 2: After thoroughly brushing your hair part you hair in approximately 3 sections. If you hair is long or really thick, you might consider 4 sections. If you have layered hair, you would want to section off your hair according to your layers. If not, well then section your hair into a bottom, middle and top sections and clip it off the top two sections. Brush through the loose hair, just to be sure.

Step 3: If you have a natural curl or wave in your hair that makes it kink next to you scalp, like mine does, you might consider running a flat iron through the kink to get it out. Do not flat iron down the hair, remember you are trying to curl it- not straighten it. Section the let down layer into 2 inch sections- I usually have about three or four- and start curling. Okay here’s my steps for how to curl your hair:

1.       Start with the middle of the section

2.       Curl around the barrel (don’t fold you hair back over the clamp)

3.       Loosen the clamp and slide the barrel to the end of the hair

4.       Clamp down and roll the hair up and hold for a varying amount of time

Step 4: After holding your hair in the curling iron for whatever time you deem best (just be careful not to burn your hair off like that one girl) let off the clamp a little and gently wiggle the curling iron out of your hair.

Step 5: Once the curl in loose, grab it with you finger and use them to roll in back up to you scalp and pin in to your head. Do not pin in flat to you head (that would be a pin curl) but more or less like you have invisible curlers in your hair. Repeat with the rest of the section and the middle layer.

Step 6: Curling the top layer is a little bit different than the other layers. Section you are so that you have a Mohawk like section down the middle. If there is any extra hair after sectioning on the sides, curl as before. For the Mohawk hair, you are going to need to hold the hair straight up and curl as before. This is a little tricky because sometimes the hair gets a mind of its own and tries to get free. Roll the curling iron so that it land on top of your head like a little curling iron hat and hold. Release the hair after the allotted time and reform and pin the curl- again to the top of your head. Repeat with the rest of the Mohawk hair until all of her hair is set and pinned.

Step 7: Spray the hair with hairspray and let cool- usually 15-20 minutes. This waiting time is a wonderful time do your make up or catch a quick episode of Scrubs or both. It’s really up to you.

Step 8: Release you hair from its metal captures and allow the curl to gracefully fall in accordance to gravity. Repeat until all of your hair is free then give it a quick shake out like you are in a Aerosmith music video. If need be, run your fingers through your curls to loosen them up.

Step 9: Finish off with a little extra spray and you are done. Rock your beautiful curls.

Now that you have Princess Aurora hair, I suggest grabbing a basket, taking off you shoes and heading to the forest of your choice- who knows, you might even meet your prince there too.

Happy curling and much love!

XX

Catherine