Are you sick of over-styling? Ready to retire your flat iron for a few days, but unwilling to brave the city streets with a wavy mane? Fear not, my little budding beauties. Taking a few pages out of our mommies’ old style files might just help. Let me explain.
The year was 1974. My young and effortlessly gorgeous mommy was a straight-up hippie trapped inside the body of a curly-haired diva. What to do? While she never laid out her locks on an ironing board and straightened them with an actual iron (Yes, that happened in those days!), she did develop a system of creating straight hair that would last. Here were her two (easy! safe! pretty!) solutions. Despite all the great products and tools today, one of these might just work for you.
Option One: The Campbell’s Soup “Stick-straight” Method
For the coveted Ali MacGraw hair, Mom and her pals would take two Campbell’s soup cans, wash them, and remove the labels. They would part wet hair in the middle and create to large rolls, wrapping hair around the cans and affixing at the back of the crown with long hair pins.
The bottom half of the hair was pulled straight from one ear to the other, flattened against the head in a long swirl and held in place with small metal hinge clips (you can use bobbies instead) spaced about a centimeter apart each. Mom owned one of those crazy hair dryers you sit under at the salon, but you can try this at home without. Just be prepared to wait a couple hours before it’s dry and ready to unravel.
Option Two: The High Pony Slight-wave Method
For tresses that were smooth but with a little bit of bounce, Mom would shower at night and pull hair back straight into a high ponytail.
Thank you for the photo, thedailymakeover.com
Rather than affixing with an elastic she would hold it there with one hand and with the other, twist hair around itself into a high bun. She would hold this bun in place with bobbies and let it dry as she slept. In the morning, she would take it out and brush through, letting her long loose hair fall into a straight style with just the right amount of body.
Staying Pow(d)er:
For both looks, Mom made her at-home straight hair solution last with the aid of baby powder. If you’ve run out dry shampoo, you can do the same. Just a little sprinkle at the roots followed by a proper brushing will have you looking freshly washed in no time.
sparklesnfun 