Q by Ashley: You mentioned that perms are most always a no-no.  What about body waves?  I have small hair and something that will make it look bigger (I totes want GINORMOUS hair) is really tempting to do.  So I guess my question is do body waves even look good?  Will not doing as much heat styling kind of cancel out the damage from a body wave?

A by Reagan: Ashley, I know you want to look like the picture above, so march right on over to your local beauty parlor this very second! Hehehe. (When someone calls it a beauty parlor, the only thing that I can picture is a bunch of women with tight roller sets and perms. And FUMES from perms!)

In all seriousness, a lot of people have asked this question. Ashley asked it most recently, so I just copy/pasted her Q for the post. I’m afraid to say ladies, loose, wavy perms do not really exist. They don’t. If you insist on getting a perm (don’ say I didn’t warn you), the closest thing you could get to wave, is bigger rods with very small sections, or small rods with bigger sections of hair. The chances of it coming out the way you want it are very slim, and the chances of it coming out damaged are very high. Especially if you have color treated, or long hair.

Honestly, I rarely do perms. But the fundamental rules for perms haven’t really changed….the bigger the rod, the less likely the curl will take. But you are still putting a very powerful chemical on your hair, so whether or not the curl takes, that damage will be there. Another honest opinion, I like perms. I like perm-perms. Perms that look like this…

I can tell Halle’s style is done with a curling iron, but it is similar to how a normal perm with normal white or purple rods would look like. And I like it. I almost did it with my own hair, but seeing as how my hair is brittle, and I knew I’d grow it out again, I opted to keep my natural instead.

Back to your Q…a body wave will give you some damage (that you might actually need), and make your hair a little bigger. But it wont make it ginormous, and it wont make it wavy. I think you should get a small curling iron, wrap big sections around it, and shake it out furiously. That will give you ginormous hair.

Ashley (and others), I think you shouldn’t do it. But if your heart is saying perm it, follow your heart. (don’t come chase me down when you look like the first picture!)

Tammy tried out flat iron waves! It looks great, right?

Have you tried out any of my suggestions? Send me a picture to hello@hdofblog.com!

(ps Tammy claims to have small hair, but she has me totally fooled here!)

Q by Mikaela: I have long (as in mid/lower back length), fine, VERY straight strawberry blonde hair. I love that it always looks smooth, sleek, and shiny, but I feel like I can’t do much with it. It doesn’t really stay curled or braided, and I feel like I’ve exhausted the option of headbands and such. Can you give me any advice about hair styles I can try, or maybe some products I could use that would help? I suppose I’m just getting tired of wearing my hair pretty much the same way all the time.

A by Reagan: My first thought after reading this question is that I’m wondering why you can’t braid your hair. The only thing I can think of is that maybe it is too slick and slicks it’s way right on out of that braid. The best advice I can give you, is to use product like crazy. Got it? Like crazy, Mikaela! I’m talkin’ root lifters, mousses, waxes and texturizing sprays. Your hair is too soft and silky (who would have thought that is a bad thing? It’s not, but we need change sometimes!) to hold styles, so you need it to be dirty and grippy.

I would start out with a root lifter and/or a mousse. This should be done on towel dried hair. Then spray a texturizing (like the Garnier wonder waves I talked about a few posts back) all over. If you are doing this on dirty hair, nix the mousse and just use a texturizing spray and root lifter then mush around with your fingers (make sure you are getting it in evenly and not over dosing on product. Once your hair is dry, rub a small amount of wax together in your hands and run through your hair. By now, your hair should have a good amount of grip. Braid away, my love!

And if a regular braid still isn’t holding, try what I call a “mermaid braid”. See below. I often do this braid in many variations. I’ll do identical to the picture, or I’ll do a center part and braid both sides. There is absolutely no reason your hair shouldn’t hold this. Especially if it’s secured at the bottom with some heavy duty criss-crossed bobby pins.

Next thing, when using a curling iron, use a much smaller barrel than what you’re going for. Maybe that is a 3/4 inch just to get loose waves! Try wrapping the hair around the iron instead of clamping it. I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember, and it creates a really beautiful curl/wave. Do this after you’ve used all the above products (minus the wax). Go get ‘em Mikaela!

Q by Melissa: So I’m totally with you on not washing–sorry–shampooing my hair every day, but I don’t have awesome big wavy hair. I have very small straight hair, and frankly two days is really pushing it. On day two I pretty much have to ponytail or braid it because it’s too stringy to be decent. Is there any way to extend the time between shampoos if your hair is super straight and thin?

A by Reagan: As you know, with fine, small hair (btw I love you for calling it small) you can’t get away with as much. The best thing for you is to get regular trims to avoid stringy ends. You want to avoid a hair cut with too many (if any) layers or face framing. Try out bangs to give you some style (see? Bang pusher!), and use products to trick the rest of the world of your fine hair. Volumizing mousses, root lift and really REALLY rinse out your conditioner.

Back to your real question…use a dry shampoo if your hair gets oily on the top. Once I worked on a runway show where I learned that dry shampoo is actually a great volumizing technique. We sprayed it in already clean hair to give it extra grip. If you haven’t noticed, I love dry shampoo with every bone that I’ve ever heard of.

Since your hair gets stringy, My best suggestion would be to play with the ponies and braids that you do. Do something interesting so that you aren’t feeling like you didn’t do your hair that day. Isn’t the picture above gorgeous? Do something like that Melissa! What are you waiting for? Sorry if I’m yelling. I just feel like I need to stick up for pony tails (or us girls with short hair who have Panda tails). I think pony tails, braids and buns can be a beautiful, sleek style and not just what happened because we’re rushing out the door. Also, I don’t know if you have bangs but if you don’t, you should get them. Bangs make a pony tail especially cute.

If you insist on wearing your hair down (which I’m not judging you for if you do), just doing a quick once over with your blow dryer and round brush to freshen it up.

My number one recommendation to fineys is to get a regular trim.