I Miss These Thai Days

First attempt at Curlformers on dry hair

I got a set of Curlformers for Christmas (yay!). I'd never tried them before so I was curious about the results after seeing so many youtubers' good reviews. I see them used on wet hair more than dry hair, but my hair takes forever to dry so I just used them on my dry, lightly misted and combed hair. 

The kit I have comes with 40 extra long and wide curlformers and two styling hooks. Each color spirals in opposite ways to make for a more natural and less uniform look. 

Where I started:

My dry, stretched, and frizzy hair. Before applying each curlformer, I spritzed each strand with water and brushed through using my Denman.

The process:

Insert styling rod hook-first into curlformer.

Pull curlformer down styling rod until the rod has gone all the way through.

Take a small strand of hair and hook styling hook onto the strand. One hooked, hold the curlformer with one hand and pull down on the styling hook with other to pull the hair through the curlformer.

Do this until all of your hair is covered. Sometimes the curlformers would come off the rod uncurled so I would have to twist them back into place. Once you get it though, the application is really easy. 

I covered with a scarf to hold them in place and then went to bed. The next morning I took them out. I squeezed the opening of the curlformers to widen the space for the hair to go through. If you don't do this, the friction can frizz up the curls. I also straightened out the curlformer before pulling it off of the strand to avoid even more friction. 

Here's the curls directly after taking the curlformers out. Pretty big, bouncy and soft curls.

Results:

These are the curls after separating and fluffing out. I liked the results. It turned out a little frizzy, through. Next time, I'll use a light styling cream or gel to give them better hold. Also, instead of spacing out the rods evenly among 4 sections (10 per section), I plan on putting less curlformers on the bottom half of my hair and putting more on top so I'll be able to separate more on top. I don't really care if the bottom hairs frizz a little bit because you can never see them much anyway. 

The application was easier than it looks -- not a pain at all. The only trouble is sleeping with them in which I find more uncomfortable than regular rollers. I like these better than curl rods though because the results are the same if not better and the application is much easier. 

I still use heat on my hair, but during the week, instead of using a curling iron or instead of blow-drying these are a good way to get stretched styles while giving my hair a break from direct heat. 

DIY: Vertical Faux Flower Garden

This is a fun project for wall spaces where you think need some color. My sisters painted their bathroom a cream-cicle orange and accented the walls with earthy brown burlap curtains for the windows, red and cream colored towels, white and beige mix-matched rugs and these vibrant vertical (faux) flower gardens. With bright orange walls, the bathroom wasn't anything short of colorful but adding the flowers gave it flair. Even if you're not big into DIY, these are very easy.

Directions: 

To get:

Large thin wooden board

15-20 small bundles of faux flowers (per board)

Solid color fabric 

Hot glue gun

Wire cutters

To do:

1. For the boards, I went to home depot and had the guys cut a 3x5 board into 3 pieces. Lay the boards flat on the fabric and cut out 2-3 inches wider than the length and width of the boards.

2. Fold over the edges of the fabric onto the back of the boards, pull taut and glue along the edge of the boards. Once dry, flip over to the fabric covered face of the board.

3. I bought about 50 small bundles of flowers from the dollar store. This was enough for three large boards. We used cheap flowers so we found that we were able to just pull off each flower by hand. If the flowers can't be pulled off of the "stems" then use wire cutters. 

4. Once you have your pile of stemless flowers, glue each flower one by one onto the board with the hot glue gun. For one of the boards, we covered the entire thing. For the other two, we left some brown fabric showing through. Depending on the amount of flowers you have, you can space them out or clump them together as you please. It's a good idea to lay them down in an arrangement you like before you start gluing. 

Results:

My Trip to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica in Instagrams

A lot of bugs, a lot of rain, and a lot of good times.