Taming of the girls' curls

A

Angelus

Guest
I love so-soft ponies, but as any G1 collector knows, sometimes you get these great so softs with factory curl, but it's untamed, messy, and just plain crazy. So you're stuck in a dilemma...do you wash the curls out and straigthen the hair and restyle? Or do you simply leave it the way it is?

My answer is...NEITHER! You can have your cake and eat it too this time. After thinking for a long time as to how to wash and sort of tame factory curls, it turns out what I anticipated came to be true. It IS possible to wash messy curly hair and make it look not so crazy, without compromising the shape and curl of the hair. No rollers, no heat, nada! Just a careful process to bring out a pony's natural curls, for that "right out of the package" look!

Blah blah blah, on to my test subjects, with before and after shots!

SEE PAGE 2... NEW IMAGES
Best Wishes before...
bestwishes1.jpg


and voila!
bestwishes2.jpg


Angel before...
angel1.jpg


and after a visit to the salon...
angel2.jpg


From a lovely Truly...
truly1.jpg


To truly lovely!
truly2.jpg


Now Satin n Lace here has a gorgeous tail, so I left that alone. But her mane was kind of dry and just needing some life breathed into it...
satinlace1.jpg


And now she looks ready for the big day!
satinlace2.jpg


And here's a picture of another Best Wishes I did, of whom I unfortunately did not take a before picture of...but she's very happy with the results! Just look at those gorgeous tresses!
bestwishes3.jpg


And that is all.
 
*appluads*

One of the best curl restoration jobs I've seen, You did a lovely job! They look wonderful! That Truly does look "out of the package". It's amazing what a little tlc on the original curl can do, eh? ;)
 
They look gorgeous!!! So how did you do it?:biggrins:
 
Very nice work!! I love the curls one Truly! I've had pretty good luck recurling hair on ponies as well without heat or products, I just use bobby pins, leave them in a week and voila!
 
Ok, here's what I did.

The most important thing to remember is that tension in the hair is your enemy. Tension is what straightens the hair, and in severe cases it's what will cause the hair to stretch and spring back into frizz. So always, tension is your enemy! Heat is also your enemy, and moisture is your friend. Curls need moisture!

Step 1: Condition, condition, condition!
Slather on TONS of conditioner to the dry (yes dry) hair. You want the hair to be very slimy for the next step.

Step 2: Separate the hair into locks
Gently separate the hair into smaller locks. This part is kind of tricky, especially if the hair is tangled. But even though it's tangled, remember that TENSION IS YOUR ENEMY! So do not pull the hair, just as gently as possible work the tangles out with your fingers, adding more conditioner to make the hair slippery to allow the tangles to come out easier. Work the hair into little locks, and smooth any stray loops out. At this point, it should still look a bit curly, but since it's saturated with conditioner it won't be as curly right now as it will be when dry. Don't panic though, there's more work to be done!

Tip: Locks don't all have to be the same size. Even ponies off the card don't have perfect curls, and different sized locks can make it look more natural. When doing the locks, just do your best to follow the shape of the curl that's there, and smooth stray hairs and such into already existing curls.

Step 3: Rinse
This is important...fill a basin (I just use the sink) with COLD water, enough so that the pony can be submerged. It's important that it's cold, because warm water will relax curls. Now dunk the pony in the water, and give her a gentle shake. The conditioner should start to rinse out, although if you did it right, there should be some in the hair still. What I do is take the curls into my hand, and open and squeeze it gently a few times to get all the conditioner out. I do the rinse process a second time in cleaner water to make sure to get out residual conditioner not just in the hair but also on the pony.

Note: The reason why it's better to submerge the pony when rinsing is that underwater, the pony's hair will be weightless. Running water over the pony under the faucet will pull the hair down, creating tension, and you know who the enemy is. Rinsing the pony's hair while weightless gets rid of that tension and helps to preserve the curls.

Step 4: Drying, part I
Once you've gotten the conditioner out, take out the pony and squeeze her hair to get rid of excess water. Her hair might not be so pretty at this point, but I assure you all in due time. Next, pat the curls dry with a towel to get rid of even more water. I place a towel over my hand, then the pony's hair, and squeeze it to get rid of as much water as possible. This is important for the second phase of the drying process, because you want the hair to be as light as possible, and any extra water will weigh the hair down.

Step 5: Drying, part II
Now, at this point the curls should be lookin pretty good, but maybe a little messy, so smooth any stray hairs and curls into locks. It doesn't have to be perfect! Less perfect will give a more natural look. Lay the pony on it's side, (curls up, obviously...you don't want to smoosh them!) and shape the curls into the general shape you want them to be in. Studying pictures of ponies with minty curls is a good idea, so you can get an idea of what they normally look like. Make sure the mane is on top, and in a position so that they won't fall off or something while air drying. Also, it's a good idea to sort of bunch the tail together, instead of laying it out. It will help make a bouncier, tighter curl.

Let them air dry for at least one night, although I usually do 2 just to be safe, because you want to make sure the curls are COMPLETELY dry before standing her upright again, otherwise, water will weigh the curls down and loosen them (tension is your enemy!). The curls might be a little stringy, and you can either squeeze them or play with them a bit to loosen hairs that dried together, or what I like to do is take a wide tooth comb (pony combs are perfect!) and go from the base of the mane or tail, and gently comb maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the way down. This will loosen hairs that dried together, and give the hair a fuller look. Do not comb all the way through the curl though, although you can sort of gently stick the comb in here and there and comb just a teeny bit if you want the curls to be more voluminous.

So there you have it...so far it's worked really well for me! It sounds like it takes a lot of time, but it really isn't that bad. If anyone tries it, please post before and after pics if you can! I hope it works for you as well as it did for me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
REALLY?????
Wow......

Your method sounds less time consuming then mine. (I agree, tension is the enemy, but heat can be your friend... in cases where the hair IS already a huge matted ball of frizz and crusty-ness. But ponies like yours, yeah. it'd only ruin the curl)

My trick to take ponies with nice factory curl that's messy to "perfection" takes way longer then yours.
I think your method is wonderful. I never would have guessed you used anything but water- they look so great! I'm glad you posted this, You'll be helping many pony people for sure!

*is a HUGE factory curl fanatic*
 
Wow, that is such an awesome tutorial, and the ponies came out great! They should stick that in the FAQ. ;)
 
like holt wow angelus thoes are AMAZING! have the day off tomorrow. gunna try it!:laughw:
 
woot

i tried it it worked like amazingly! my cameras dead as a doornail right now but yeah great tip!:coolw:
 
Thank you so much for your awesome tutorial!
I tried it out on my Sparkler, and I am very pleased with the results!

Check her out:

Before:

oldDS.jpg


During:
during.jpg


After:
newDS.jpg


newfront2.jpg


Symbol Shot:
sparklersymbol.jpg

The symbol shot is to show you how happy I am for you to have posted this! I had such a minty Sparkler but her hair was a poofball! You've helped me so much! Thanks!
 
Oooh! Your ponies are beautiful! Lovely, ha ha, that Truley joke is funny! The curls are beautiful, thaks for sharing!
 
Claire and Mavi, I'm so happy it worked for you! Sparkler looks gorgeous!
 
Highlander, it should work if you follow it closely. :)
 
I've got a new curl restore here, this time for So Soft Angel. Thanks Angelus!

DSC00119.jpg

Before

angelusduring.jpg

During

angelafter.jpg

After

So the background isn't great- but her hair is so much softer and curlier now. I am so happy with the results!
 
It requires nothing but a sink or bowl, conditioner, water, and a towel or two.

It's great, that's the best part- no curlers or bobby pins to deal with, and it gives you gorgeous curls. It's so easy- anyone can do it, and I mean me! Haha. I'm terrible at doing hair stuff, but this is just so nice for me.

I copied the tutorial down here.


Angelus said:
Ok, here's what I did.

The most important thing to remember is that tension in the hair is your enemy. Tension is what straightens the hair, and in severe cases it's what will cause the hair to stretch and spring back into frizz. So always, tension is your enemy! Heat is also your enemy, and moisture is your friend. Curls need moisture!

Step 1: Condition, condition, condition!
Slather on TONS of conditioner to the dry (yes dry) hair. You want the hair to be very slimy for the next step.

Step 2: Separate the hair into locks
Gently separate the hair into smaller locks. This part is kind of tricky, especially if the hair is tangled. But even though it's tangled, remember that TENSION IS YOUR ENEMY! So do not pull the hair, just as gently as possible work the tangles out with your fingers, adding more conditioner to make the hair slippery to allow the tangles to come out easier. Work the hair into little locks, and smooth any stray loops out. At this point, it should still look a bit curly, but since it's saturated with conditioner it won't be as curly right now as it will be when dry. Don't panic though, there's more work to be done!

Tip: Locks don't all have to be the same size. Even ponies off the card don't have perfect curls, and different sized locks can make it look more natural. When doing the locks, just do your best to follow the shape of the curl that's there, and smooth stray hairs and such into already existing curls.

Step 3: Rinse
This is important...fill a basin (I just use the sink) with COLD water, enough so that the pony can be submerged. It's important that it's cold, because warm water will relax curls. Now dunk the pony in the water, and give her a gentle shake. The conditioner should start to rinse out, although if you did it right, there should be some in the hair still. What I do is take the curls into my hand, and open and squeeze it gently a few times to get all the conditioner out. I do the rinse process a second time in cleaner water to make sure to get out residual conditioner not just in the hair but also on the pony.

Note: The reason why it's better to submerge the pony when rinsing is that underwater, the pony's hair will be weightless. Running water over the pony under the faucet will pull the hair down, creating tension, and you know who the enemy is. Rinsing the pony's hair while weightless gets rid of that tension and helps to preserve the curls.

Step 4: Drying, part I
Once you've gotten the conditioner out, take out the pony and squeeze her hair to get rid of excess water. Her hair might not be so pretty at this point, but I assure you all in due time. Next, pat the curls dry with a towel to get rid of even more water. I place a towel over my hand, then the pony's hair, and squeeze it to get rid of as much water as possible. This is important for the second phase of the drying process, because you want the hair to be as light as possible, and any extra water will weigh the hair down.

Step 5: Drying, part II
Now, at this point the curls should be lookin pretty good, but maybe a little messy, so smooth any stray hairs and curls into locks. It doesn't have to be perfect! Less perfect will give a more natural look. Lay the pony on it's side, (curls up, obviously...you don't want to smoosh them!) and shape the curls into the general shape you want them to be in. Studying pictures of ponies with minty curls is a good idea, so you can get an idea of what they normally look like. Make sure the mane is on top, and in a position so that they won't fall off or something while air drying. Also, it's a good idea to sort of bunch the tail together, instead of laying it out. It will help make a bouncier, tighter curl.

Let them air dry for at least one night, although I usually do 2 just to be safe, because you want to make sure the curls are COMPLETELY dry before standing her upright again, otherwise, water will weigh the curls down and loosen them (tension is your enemy!). The curls might be a little stringy, and you can either squeeze them or play with them a bit to loosen hairs that dried together, or what I like to do is take a wide tooth comb (pony combs are perfect!) and go from the base of the mane or tail, and gently comb maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the way down. This will loosen hairs that dried together, and give the hair a fuller look. Do not comb all the way through the curl though, although you can sort of gently stick the comb in here and there and comb just a teeny bit if you want the curls to be more voluminous.

So there you have it...so far it's worked really well for me! It sounds like it takes a lot of time, but it really isn't that bad. If anyone tries it, please post before and after pics if you can! I hope it works for you as well as it did for me.
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