How to get perfect curls

MANILA, Philippines—In an effort to revive my stagnant hair and makeup career here in New York, I agreed to a last-minute hairstyling gig at a wedding of a friend of a friend of a friend.

Many makeup artists would agree that weddings are 10 times tougher than fashion shoots. Hotel chairs are not the most ergonomic (that’s why many carry their own folding makeup chairs), and working an eyelash curler on a makeup-phobic bridesmaid is quite different from doing the same on a model who doesn’t blink.

The most obvious “challenge” is a bridezilla—but to me, surviving the family matriarch is the more daunting task. The elusive “okay” of the mother of the bride is a badge of honor one wears, as this is the equivalent of an exam in Salon 101—blowdrying, teasing, weaving updo’s, sculpting perfect arches and doing other fancy beauty tricks.

Failure is tantamount to much stress on everyone involved. If you pass, then everything (and everyone) else is a breeze.

As I got to work on the bride’s request for soft, cascading curls, twirling and further honing my hair-setting skills, I looked at the gadgets and products that were currently saving me from further embarrassment (yes, I had failed the “Matriarch Test”). And I began thinking: How does one achieve the perfect, temporary wave when one is born with pin-straight locks? Or worse, has rebonded tresses?

I dug deep down and unearthed all the techniques I’d learned as a beauty editor and makeup artist, and it all came down to three must-haves:

1. TIGI Bedhead Uptight Heat Activated Curl Maker. Whether you are using Velcro rollers or coiling pin-curls, prep strands with this liquid. Spray it on before setting, during and right before unraveling hair, with hot bursts of the blowdryer in between.

2. Three-fourths-inch ceramic iron. A hair-styling kit, no matter how modest or grand, is not complete without this. This nifty gadget does the work of a flat iron and a curling rod. Buy the best one you can afford and reap mane-marvelous rewards.

3. L’Oréal Professionnel Elnett Satin Laque Hairspray. This aerosol spray is like AquaNet on steroids. It lets out a fine mist that instantly freezes hair to the desired shape and position. But, if you change your mind, it also brushes out easily with nary a flake.

(Original article link here.)