You’d like your curls to be more voluminous? Slightly adapting your drying routine might do the trick! Since I absolutely love voluminous curls, many steps of my usual washing routine aim at getting well defined but still voluminous curls. This is why I do all the following: getting them cut in lots of layers, plopping, getting rid of excess moisture or clipping my roots. If you think achieving voluminous frizz-free curls is impossible I’ve got good news heading your way: it is possible! This is how I get my curls to be this voluminous but still frizz-free:
Blow-dry your curls!
In order to get more voluminous curls I recommend you to blow-dry your curls instead of letting them air dry. Changing your drying routine from air- to blow-drying can already get you a lot more volume! The following two pictures show the difference in volume when my curls still were a bit longer.
My curls after blow-drying them:
My curls after letting them air-dry:
I was quite surprised to see how big of a difference it is as I usually never let my curls air-dry (read the whole article I did on this on my blog“>.
Blow-dry your curls until they’re 100% dry:
Many curlies will never ever blow-dry their curls until they’re 100% dry, because we’re afraid of them getting dried out and thus frizzy. I didn’t dare to do this until very recently and I’m so happy I’ve tried it! This way I get my curls to be even more voluminous than when I just blow-dried them until they were 80-90% dry. I am well aware that some of you might completely disagree with me on that, but my experience has taught me it’s actually a good thing to completely blow-dry my curls, but see for yourselves–can you guess which picture I took after blow-drying my curls until they were 100% dry?
Did you see the difference? I took the first picture after only blow-drying until 80-90% dry and the second picture was taken another time after blow-drying my curls until 100% dry. I took both pictures within the same week, but it’s funny how my curls look shorter in the second picture… They’re not at all frizzier than when I blow-dried them until they were only about 80-90% dry. After completely blow-drying them they are not only curlier, but also more voluminous.
Keep your curls moisturized
If you’re now thinking about trying to blow-dry your curls until they’re 100% dry, please keep in mind to make sure your curls are well moisturized. This way they’ll stay well defined and frizz-free. I suggest you to use a slightly heavier conditioner than usual. In case this weights your curls down too much, try to just leave in a bit more than usual (especially the ends’ need enough moisture”>.
If using more conditioner isn’t working for you or if your curls are still being too frizzy after blow-drying, I recommend you to use a gel leaving you with a gel cast. The gel cast helps preserving your clumps and prevents your curls from getting too frizzy. But don’t forget to scrunch out the crunch after blow-drying.
You can still clip your roots
Clipping your roots while your curls are still at least a bit damp has the best effect on your root volume. So when you are blow-drying your curls until they’re 100% dry it’s best to take a short break from blow-drying to clip your roots when you curls are about 80-90% dry. Continue blow-drying right after you’ve put the clips into your curls and then finish blow-drying your curls with the clips in them. Don’t use any metal clips if you’re leaving them in while blow-drying as they might burn your scalp when heating up. That’s why I always use normal bobby pins to clip my roots!
So why not blow-dry your curls a little longer the next time? I would love to hear if blow-drying your curls until they are completely dry worked for you– please leave a comment! To read more of my curly hair journey, visit my blog or follow me on Instagram.
