If you’ve found yourself on any girls’ social media pages lately, chances are that you’ve seen someone trying the heatless sock curls — and I finally tried them too.
I’ve seen a million different products being advertised for heatless curls, but I’m not willing to spend money on something that’s such a gamble. (and that looks to be kinda complicated to do by yourself)
I’ve tried my fair share of curling methods over the years; all heatless, of course, because I refuse to kill my hair again after I bleached it to death with hydrogen peroxide when I was 14. My hair was fried, broken, and stretchy when wet (a very weird experience) for a couple of years until I grew it out and cut it off.
Ever since then I’ve been scared to do anything that will cause damage to it. That means no straighteners, curling irons, or curling products.
ft. my support local street cats t-shirt from GOODVIBEQUOTESSHOP on Etsy
Anyways, the funny thing is that my hair was really quite straight when I was younger, and it didn’t start showing this crazy texture until around the age of 15. I did go through a phase when I was around 12 or 13 where my hair was incredibly puffy and frizzy though — so that was probably my curls trying to come out, and I just didn’t know how to deal with them.
(that phase has scarred me to this very day — I was experiencing some major triangle hair)
Once I grew out of braiding my hair to get “curls” (or, looking back on my aunt and uncle’s wedding pictures, what seems to be crimped frizzy waves) I failed at all the other methods. I think my biggest downfall was always doing it with super wet hair, because my hair is way too thicc to dry quickly, so sleeping with wet hair in curlers always just resulted in frizzy, damp hair in the morning.
2005 7yo me with my long, straight hair; 2009 11yo me rockin’ the braid-curls at my first Spring Fling; 2012 14yo me really feelin’ myself with the crunchy blonde-orange hair
But when I stumbled upon a sock curls tutorial, it looked so incredibly easy that I just had to give it a try. And it’s free, because most of us have a pair of socks in our drawer.
There are numerous tutorial videos out there for heatless sock curls, but this video is a super straightforward and clear one to learn from.
I started with dry hair divided into two sections. I sprayed each section super lightly with water and brushed it through. It was so little water that it hardly felt damp when I brushed it (I wanted to make sure that it dried over night!). I then curled the hair around the socks (as shown in the video), pulled the socks up, and secured them with an elastic band/scrunchy at the top.
you look a little goofy when you go to bed, but it’s all worth it in the morning
I expected it to be more uncomfortable to sleep, but I was mostly able to push them over my shoulder so that they didn’t interfere with anything. When I woke up I gently pulled the socks off and was shocked by just how curly it came out, with a wonderful bounce to it! I ran my fingers through the curls and shook them out a little to even everything out, and that was it! I was curious to see how well they stayed throughout the day, but by the end of the day they hardly looked much different — a little looser, but still very full and curly.
Very recently I accidently discovered that I think my hair type is 2b. Somebody more well-informed could prove me wrong about this, but 2b hair is defined as: a wavy hair type that falls between straight and curly hair, characterized by S-shaped waves that get curlier towards the ends; also known as beach waves.
- the roots of 2B hair are usually straight
- 2B hair has a medium texture
- 2B hair is prone to frizz, especially in humid conditions
- 2B hair has a playful bounce and movement
fresh curls after I washed it
Since my hair is already a thick, wavy/curly texture, it was natural for it to want to hold the sock curls throughout the day, so I can’t say from personal experience how well or for how long thinner or straighter hair would hold the curls, but all the girlies online seem to be pretty impressed with the sock curl method as well, so I definitely think it’s work a shot for anyone.
Maybe add a bit more water if you hair is finer!
my hair 4-5 hours after I washed it and let it air-dry with zero products in it (aside from a little bit of coconut oil at the roots, which I do every time I wash it)
about an hour after I took the socks off — I probably could’ve shaken them out a bit more, but this was the first time I did it, and I wanted to make sure that they lasted through the day
art by jordan rae 