Trying a slightly different vintage hairstyle

I've been so busy! We've been running around and trying to accomplish pre-vacation things, because on Thursday we're leaving for one of our favorite places, New Mexico. We'll spend a few days with my family and then head to a cabin in the mountains near Taos. Point being I haven't had time to write up any blog posts!

So I thought I'd just post a couple of photos of when I tried something a bit different with my hair. With the shorter hair I thought I might be able to try a hot stick set again with Conair hot sticks (I think they're called You Link & Curl now). Probably like many of you, I first heard about them through Fleur's video tutorial. I was only ever able to use them very sporadically, because my hair doesn't last well in a hot set, and the curl I got with my longer hair was nowhere near the same look as I'd get with my usual sponge rollers. Well necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and recently one afternoon I found myself with sudden evening plans after having just taken a shower. While still damp, I spritzed my hair with setting lotion. Once it was completely dry, I set it with two rows of hot sticks at the base of my neck, two on the light side of my part and two on the heavy side. My bangs were rolled back initially in sponge rollers long before my hair had dried, but when they didn't dry in time I had to switch them to standing pin curls and blow dry them, which gave me better results, anyway.

My bangs are very fond of falling in the front, so the only way I can get a nice wave is using a duckbill clip (like these) backwards, so the curved part faces out, going in the direction of the wave, spraying the heck out of it and basically letting it stay there as long as possible. Which is almost until I walk out the door... sooner if I'm leaving home myself and am worried I might forget about it, lol.

And yes, our bathroom really is that orange, and that plus a lack of good lighting is one of the reasons I've never done a hair tutorial. I'm not sure you'd be able to see it all that well, and we don't really have any other strategically located mirrors.

Anyway, I left the hot sticks in at least an hour, figuring longer couldn't hurt. Once I took them out, I didn't brush the curls out completely, brushing more down without gripping each section to really work through the curls, which is what I usually do. It kept a tighter, kind of more late 30s/early 40s look. And it lasted all night!

So if any of you shoulder or chin-length hair gals out there would be interested in a little tutorial on this quick and dirty vintage set, I'll see what I can do!

And here's a gratuitous cat photo just because. Can you tell I'm planning some fair isle knitting for vacation? :)

Don't forget, tomorrow is the last day to enter the That Clever Clementine Giveaway #2!