How to keep the curls?

I haven't tried it yet, but I was told to make the curls with a straightening iron, kind of twirl the hair at an angle. Don't forget to use a heat protectant though!

1-2 day old hair.

After letting hair fall from the curling iron, roll it back up toward your scalp while it's still warm and pin it with double-prong curl clips. Let it cool, hairspray it, undo all the clips, and then style/add more hairspray! (Google "curl clips" or "curl pins")

You definitely don't want freshly washed hair - have hair washed (and dried properly) 2 days before styling. Curl hair and do not brush out until cool.

Spray *lightly* with hairspray before and after brushing out.

Look for a Redken salon -

Redken Pillow proof and Redken One United hair primers work wonders.

View Quoted Comment Both salon stylists used the straightener method. Does one use heat protectant before or after using the straightener?

View Quoted Comment Thank you for the suggestion. How would you suggest we gently bring this up to our hair stylist that we hired for the wedding party without possibly offending her?

View Quoted Comment Before. It's to keep your hair from burning. The straightening irons get up to 450°.

Please do not have dirty hair, this is an a myth that has been passed around. As a hair stylist, I would not want you coming in with dirty hair. I have found that if you let your hair air dry fully the day before or if your hair has time to fully dry if you wash it the morning of. You want clean, dry hair. Any dampness is going to cause the curls to fall. After curling, pin the curls so they can cool, use a heat protectant spray before curling. Also, flat iron curls do hold better but some stylist are not good at those. Blow drying your hair before getting curled, is like ironing a crease in a shirt and then trying to iron it out. Youre using heat, telling it to take one shape, then using heat again telling it to take a completely different shape, it wont work.

The only reason, it was said to have dirty hair was because clean hair would slip too much for updo's. We have a ton of products to give texture to the hair to help with that problem so it's not longer an issue.

View Quoted Comment Wow! This is good to know! It makes sense since my mom’s hair was washed, cut, blown dry, then curled that the curls wouldn’t hold. For my hair, I did try going in with one day old hair, but I air dried it. Next time I’ll try washing the night before and let it air dry completely before bed. Maybe that will work better?

View Quoted Comment Hopefully! Tell the stylist that the curls didnt hold as long as you would have liked them to. Ask if she can pin them. She shouldnt get offended. Hope this helps!

Most of the time with hair trials, they're going through a few looks just to give you an idea of what they will look like. They're not using the exact same amount of products or putting a ton of effort into making sure the style will hold. So, it might work out better than you expect anyway.

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I’d let your stylist know that your hair has a harder time holding curls. A good stylist will know these tricks and should be using them regularly. Talk to them about products to help hold the curl.

I’d also look at your shampoo and conditioner, find ones that are recommended for curls. I’ve been using Mark Anthony Strictly Curls Curl Defining Lotion after washing my hair.

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If you had a pic on your phone of what the curls look like when they're pinned, I'd show it to the stylist and say "Can you set the curls like this before styling? They fell flat last time after ___ hours and want them to last longer."

If you're just being factual/honest, it shouldn't come across as offensive. Besides, you're paying them to make your hair how you want it and I guarantee, they have dealt with some truly nasty clients in the past. You're just clarifying your preferences

I know the trend is using a flat iron, but for my thinner hair that is GUARANTEED for the curls to fall out! It’s a method I use to create waves for that exact reason, but not true curls.
Ask them to go with a wand or regular curling iron- I’ve started doing this at salons and had so much more success. (I just think many stylists don’t have fine hair and don’t realize how quickly it falls). Also, completely agree with pinning the warm curls until they cool, that will help too.

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Agreeing with everything Breann has said!!

I have really fine hair that will not hold a curl for very long at all! Every time I have my hair done as a bridesmaid (and as a bride) I start by really drilling home how difficult my hair is and they always listen and recommend starting my hair early so they can set the curls with pins as they work and then come back to me very last to finish the style!

View Quoted Comment This is always a good rule of thumb but if your hair is anything like mine you can’t do this. My hair gets so oily in a day that 2 day old hair would be gross for a wedding.
I’ve found that freshly washed and dried hair then “dirtied up” with dry shampoo works wonders for creating the texture and holding those curls. And my hair takes a curl beautifully and then immediately drops it. I’ve never had an issue using dry shampoo though for special occasions.

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Have you ever tried a 3 barrel waver? For some reason, the direction of the wave pattern lasts SO much longer than a traditional curler and it's faster to curl everything. I think the weight of a spiral curl flattens the hair faster.

LOL I procrastinated ALL DAY before the ceremony and was able to style my stepdaughter's hair just fine, but mine was a throw-together mess!!! Thank goodness for my veil to hide it! Sigh....overly confident in my abilities to wing it.

Oh yeah, almost forgot to paint my nails, followed by almost forgetting to put on my jewelry, or grab my bouquet! We hit go-time and I was so excited, everything just melted out of my brain.

View Quoted Comment I haven’t heard of that. I’m not very good at styling my hair other than straightening it or braids. I am awful at getting curls the way I want them, which is why I hired a hair professional. (I always think my curls look like Miss Piggy from Muppets when I’m trying to go for Scarlett Johansson curls). I think I’ll ask her about the pin curl method and that the other pps are probably right, that a trial won’t be the final thing - just a sneak peak that wasn’t meant to last. Thank you everyone for the suggestions!