hot rollers.. a faster and less damaging alternative to a curling iron.

hot rollers have been around for ages.  they have helped marilyn monroe set iconic hairstyle trends throughout her career, from soft curls to deep glamorous waves and gave valerie harper her signature hair flip on "the mary tyler moore show."  hot rollers are a versatile and useful way of creating a variety of different hairstyles for each of your individual personas, from glamor-girl to play-girl.

i, personally, am new to the hot roller scene.  my mother uses her rollers every morning and gets quick, bouncy curls. i've been meaning to test them out, but i guess i was too much of a noob (or maybe lazy would be a better word choice) to even bother learning the art of "hair rolling."

i have always resorted to using a curling iron when i wanted to dress my hair up, but the amount of heat together with all the product just seems so damaging - weakening, burning, and drying out otherwise healthy hair.  and yes, i do realize there are benefits and drawbacks of both methods. 

hot rollers are a great alternative to a curling iron.  many of them are made of ceramic, allowing for maximum heat transfer from the roller to your hair.  usually, there is a soft velvet lining that is wrapped along the ceramic roller to protect you from burning your fingers.  these should also come with pins or clips that are used to hold the rollers in place on your head in order to set your curls.  while waiting for your curls to cool down, you can do your make-up, watch tv, eat, or anything else you desire that doesn't require a lot of moving around.  this really helps to save you time, especially in the morning, when those extra few minutes of sleep really count. 

i have hopped on the bandwagon (is there a bandwagon for hot rollers? if not, i'm starting one! haha) for the use of hot rollers and now have my own personal roller kit - conair ceramic ionic multi-sized flocked rollers with heated clips (CHV26H) [image to the right].  the kit include 20 claw clips and 20 rollers of 3 different size - 8 jumbo, 6 large, and 6 medium.  i personally think these are a bit small, but then again, i haven't used them yet to see the end result.  this was purchased from walmart for less than $30 (affordable, i'd say), but can be found at many other retailers.  a lot of reviews say the clips do not hold the rollers in place so well, so i'm a bit hesitant of keeping it.  i'm testing it out later today and will update on that. 

so, because i think the pink rollers are a bit too small (i mostly want to achieve the big, loose, bouncy curls, and not so much the tight curls), i have been looking into another set of rollers (just in case i didn't like the final look these pink rollers gave me).  i found another conair alternative - the conair CHV14J instant heat jumbo and super jumbo hot rollers [image to the left].  this can also be found at many different retailers.  i did not see this kit when i made my trip out to the walmart around my way (thus picking up the multi-size kit), but walmart.com does have it for sale at $23.  this kit include 12 rollers and pins for setting the hair.  the 12 rollers come in 2 different sizes - 4 super jumbo and 8 jumbo, perfect for creating volume with the big, loose curls. 

hopefully i can do a tutorial video one  of these days demonstrating how to use these hot rollers.  pics will do for now after i try them out. :)

EDIT: i'm back from testing out the conair ceramic ionic multi-sized flocked rollers with heated clips (CHV26H).  i heated the kit, which didn't take long at all (about 75 seconds or when the indicator on one of the jumbo rollers changes colors - pretty fast!), and started rolling away.  it took me longer than it normally should, considering it was my first time using any kind of rollers.  they weren't too hot when handling them, but you still have to be careful.  i left the rollers in my hair to cool for about 30 minutes - the longer you leave them in, the tighter the curl.  the clips included in this kit are not that great - i had a hard time securing the jumbo rollers and everything seemed a bit loose (but then again.. maybe it's just my noobieness).  i ended up using about 15-16 of the 20 rollers, but what i don't like about this kit is that there are 3 different sizes, thus 3 different "tightness" of curls, which i thought made it look funky (and let me reiterate, it's just my first time, so it may be my lack of skill or knowledge on the how-to).   next time, i'll try to divvy out my hair in order to use all of them and see how that turns out. 

i took some pictures for y'all to check out the curls produced by this kit. it may look a little funky being that i'm was a virgin at this. :)  ENJOY!

i would also like to add that i did not use any product on my hair before applying the rollers.  by prepping your hair with a curling mousse or gel before using the rollers, your hair may be curlier and will retain that curl for a longer duration of time.  again, i like that these rollers work on my hair, i just dislike the size variation.  i had to go back with a curling iron to make the curls more even.  i think i'll go ahead and look for the conair CHV14J instant heat jumbo and super jumbo hot rollers. :)