let's talk coif

Every week, usually on either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night, I wash my hair and set it in sponge rollers. I believe the ones I have are by Conair and came in a pack of 4 different sizes.

It looks something like this. I start with hair that is 97% dry. I like to let it air dry as much as possible, but usually end up hitting the back of my head with the blowdryer on low because I get impatient. My bangs/fringe are rolled on a jumbo roller. In this picture I have them rolled towards my face, but I usually opt to roll them away from my face so I can easily shape them into a victory roll or pomp later in the week if I feel like it. I have a deep side part and the top of the heavier side is rolled on the large size rollers going upwards, everything else is directed down. Once I get the top rolled up, I roll a row on the jumbo rollers, and then the bottom I roll with the large rollers. With each section, I separate the hair that I want to go into the roller, comb through it and then lightly spray it with dilluted Lottabody setting lotion. I don't want it too damp because then it won't dry, but I also don't want it too dry because then there won't be much of a curl. It took a bit of trial and error to figure out what level of dampness worked for me. I usually end up using 8 jumbo rollers and 6 large rollers total. Once it's completely rolled, I tie a bandanna around my head to keep the rollers from slipping out of place while I sleep.

Typically the rollers stay in my hair for around 12 hours give or take a few hours. I take them out in the morning and break up the curls with my fingers before brushing through them and then using some sort of product to help smooth the frizzies. It ends up looking like this:

Voila! Tight, bouncy curls that are playful and fun.

This is what my hair looks like on day 6 of my set. The curls have relaxed and it's much softer looking, but definitely still a stable curl. I've brushed it every day, and only used hairspray on day 2. I also don't wrap my hair under a scarf or anything to sleep on it after the initial set. I just let it do what it wants at night. (Excuse the repeat clothing. I don't have a huge wardrobe normally, but adding pregnancy has taken it down that much more.)

I have to admit that sleeping on the foam rollers is not the most comfortable thing in the world, but I will gladly pay the price to have the luxury of not having to do anything more than brush my hair in the morning for an entire week and still have fab retro hair. Those ladies were onto something back in the day!!