Big Beautiful Hair! (Cheryl Cole Inspired)

Thought it was about time I did another photo tutorial on how to get big beautiful hair inspired by Cheryl Cole!

I set up my station in front of the mirror, making sure I have everything to hand (including some strawberry bon bons and a cup of tea!)

Preparing the Hair:

Here are the products I used to prep my hair.

My new favourite hair oil. I use 3 pumps on my hair. I rub it into my hands then throw my hair over and apply it to the mid-lengths and ends.

The other three products below are ones I have used in previous posts. Left to Right: L'Oreal Elnett Satin Heat Protector Spray: Volume (Apply to mid-lengths and at the roots, later); L'Oreal TecniArt Volume Lift Mousse (Apply to the roots section by section); L'Oreal Studio Silk & Gloss Volume Mousse (Apply to mid-lengths and ends).

Drying the hair
First, I rough dried the hair by throwing my hair over and using my hair drier on a medium heat. By throwing the hair over, volume is instantly created.

Next, I separated my hair section by section and secured the rest with a clip.

For this, I am using a large round soft bristle brush (ionic 91 ceramic). As well as this, I use the narrow nozzle for my hair drier. I find that this creates lots of volume and allows me to blow dry my hair fairly straight.

Below are the series of movements I make with the round brush.

1. Roll the hair around the brush right up to the root. Spray some L'Oreal Styling Spray: Volume onto the hair near to the roots for extra volume and hold. Blow dry underneath the hair to create volume.
2. As you gradually unravel the hair from the brush, keep the nozzle close to the hair and follow it down to the ends. Work at the ends, rolling the brush around to smooth them.

When I get about half way up my scalp, I parted the front and back sections. This allows me to work on the crown area for extra volume and the front section for shape around my face. First I work on the crown area. Don't worry about making the hair too high at this stage. That comes later when we curl and back comb the hair.

This is what my hair looks like when I have finished blow drying it section by section. You can see there is lots of volume in there. Sometimes I like to leave it like this, just readjust the parting, or clip sections back. Today, I am going to go further and add curls and extra volume to the crown.

Curling the hair
Again, I sectioned the hair starting nearest my neck. I sprayed L'Oreal Elnett Satin Styling Spray: Curls onto the ends of each section before I worked on it. This helps to keep the curls held strong.

I alternated curled the hair in different directions. This means that when I brush out the curls later on, they will look more natural and wont clump together. After curling each section, I sprayed them with L'Oreal Elnett Satin Supreme Hold Hairspray.

This is what my hair looked like after curling the ends. I could leave it like this and just pin back the front section, but today, I am going to brush the curls out and back comb the crown area to create extra volume.

Creating extra volume
Measure where to start by following from behind your ears onto the top of your head. Begin at this point and draw back a small section of hair. Spray the under side with hair spray and using a soft bristle back comb, hold the ends of the hair and slowly brush the hair downwards towards the roots. About 4 or 5 strokes should be sufficient. Spray with a little more hair spray, then seal with straighners on the back combed section for 3-4 seconds. lay this section of hair over to the front, and repeat with the next section of hair. Continue down to the occipital bone (the lumpy bit about half way down your head).
When you've finished, flip the hair back and you should have lots of added Volume!

Now to brush it out! Sounds crazy I know, but this will prevent it looking 'knotted' and creates a workable 'mesh' that you can manipulate more easily. At this stage, I will also gently brush out the curls I put in earlier. Again, this sounds crazy, but it will make the look appear more natural. The brush I am using is a soft bristle one.

The photo below shows my hair after being brushed out. No matted knots in sight!

Pin it back
If I wanted to, I could leave it as above, but I want to get rid of my parting, so I am going to use Cheryl as inspiration and pin back the front section. Use your eyes a guide as to how much hair you should pin back. Gather it up and back comb from behind spraying with hair spray before and after to secure the style.

Using the soft bristle brush, gently comb the top of this front section and secure it on top with two hair pins in an 'x' shape.

Final Touch
Spray L'Oreal Tecni Art Crystal Gloss to give added shine.

Done!

If you prefer, you can continue to back comb and work the crown section of hair to make it bigger and more 'Cheryl like'. However, I am going to stop here for today.