If there’s one thing women most often want to know when it comes to hair is how to achieve Blake Lively’s loose, effortless curls. I’ve never been much of a fan of her on Gossip Girl (I’m team Blair all the way!), but I have to say that I too am a fan of her hairstyle. When I was in Spain I picked up an issue of French Cosmo and read about Barbar 1900 Cordless Combo ($145) and was immediately intrigued (includes both a 1″ flat iron and ¾” curling iron on the same quick charging base). I’ve since been using it every time I add curls to my hair. Not only does it heat-up quickly (I only use the curler, I use a CHI to straighten — it heats up to 356°F in less than three minutes), but the fact that it’s cordless makes it amazing for summer when I’m traveling a lot more (no need to worry about voltage, plugs, etc…). As to how to achieve the look I’ve been following some fabulous tips that I got from Redken Session Stylists, Giovanni Giuntoli. See what Giuntoli suggests after the Jump!
- First, prep and protect hair from heat by applying Redken fabricate 03 heat-active texturizer ($14.00) on damp or dry hair and blow-dry in sections with a round brush to create volume.
- Then work a little Redken rough paste 12 working material ($17.00) between your palms and apply evenly to hair for that ragged texture, starting at the crown.
- Randomly curl sections of hair with a 1 inch curling iron, alternating direction of the curls.
- After curling entire head, rub a little more rough paste 12 through the curls to break up and loosen them up- “It’ll create that finger-smudged silhouette with edges that aren’t super clean and polished, for a beautiful bohemian understatement” says Giuntoli.
Cordless curlers!! I so need these. I have too many appliances in my room & wires everywhere.. what a great idea~
The cordless is so brilliant! Especially since it’s summer and people are jetting off to their vacations, it would be so nice to know that you can rely on your hair “lifesavers” without worrying about the voltage matches. Also, I find that the wires are always in my way whenever I’m styling my hair. I want to get my hands on these! Thanks for the great tip and info! Hopefully I will be able to recreate the look soon.
Thanks for this article Sharon! I’ve got a question for you: So I have straight, jet black Asian hair – is there really anything a straightener would do for my hair? I see alot of these combos but never bother because I figure I don’t need a straightener, but maybe I’m missing something?
Also – I would LOVE to know the Beauty Snob Ladies opinions on heated eyelash curlers?!?!?! I have been using Latisse because I spend so much time in the water and in humid weather, I don’t want to bother with even H2O proof mascara, but I’ve noticed the regular eye curlers (I use Shu Uemura)they work for about 15 minutes and then generally go back to normal. Or I have to squeeze super tight and repeat about 5 times for them to stay curled longer. Help? Please? Or if you can do a review on heated eye curlers that would be awesome!
I love the curler that comes with this combo and for my summer lifestyle it’s so useful for me that it’s cordless. I actually don’t use the straightener because I think the CHI is better though for travel I’ll probably opt for the straightener. If your hair is pencil straight there is no need to straightener why bother adding unessary heat to your hair!! If you want the cordless curler though it does not come separate…As for eyelashes Tina has written about it quite a bit!
http://www.beautysnob.com/2009/04/the_quest_for_long_lashes_part.html
Cordless straightener and curling iron?! That is so cool!