Curls

The clever girl and I had lots of "girl-time" this past weekend, as Mr. Clever Mom was out of town.  So I thought we'd get really "girlie" and play hair salon!  You see, the clever girl is going to be a flower girl in November, and I want to do something fancy to her hair for the event.  She has a beautiful gown, complete with a tiara and everything, so obviously (to me anyway) she needs a fancy 'do for the big event.  Plus, playing hair salon is just fun and a special thing for that sweet girl, so why not?

I decided to go crazy and see what kind of curl I could get into her very fine, straight hair.  I have this very vague memory of my grandmother putting my hair up in rags when I was little, as a solution to sleeping in uncomfortable curlers.  Ah-ha.  Now what should I use for the curlers??

Here is a fantastic use for those boxy t-shirts you get at all sorts of random events that you never wear!  I used one from a run I did with a girlfriend last fall.  Cut the t-shirt into strips, about 2 inches by 6-8 inches each.  Get the hair nice and damp.  Part the hair into sections that are about 2 inches square, wrap the bottom of the hair around the middle of the "rag", and roll all the way up to the head.  Then just tie the two ends together in a single overhand knot.  Not a complete knot, but just the first part you do like when you are going to tie your shoe.  Now keep going all around the head, and voila! 

Your kid's head (or your own head) will look something like this!  The clever girl has very fine hair and not a lot of it, so if the hair you are using is thicker, you will need more rags and cutting them to be 8 inches in length will probably be helpful.  The benefit of rags is that they are soft and you can sleep on them much more easily than curlers, even the foam ones that they came out with when I was a kid.  There may be some new-fangled soft curler out there on the market now, but why buy that when you can use an old t-shirt??

In the morning, gently untie all of the rags and put them aside for when you do this fun trick again.  DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT put a hairbrush to the hair.  Just gently separate the curls with your fingers.  If you use a hairbrush, you'll end up with a big frizz-head.  Now, that could be what you are going for, and if so, go for it!  But if you want curls, stay away from the hairbrush.

And you'll end up with something like this:

Had I used some gel or mousse in her hair when it was wet before I rolled it, the curls would probably have stayed a bit better.  As it was, they relaxed quite a bit though honestly, it just got prettier and prettier, I thought.  By early afternoon, they were long ringlets instead of the super-boingy curls you see above.

The clever girl LOVED it.  She "boinged" all over the house all morning, just like Tigger.  I just kept staring at her.  Was this my clever girl with these curls?  She looked so different but the same all at once! 

Ah, yes.  Still my silly clever girl!