No problem! I’ll try my best to give you directions to do a strawset:
Step 1: Shampoo and condition your hair like you normally would. While your hair is damp put a light leave-in conditioner in your hair.
Step 2: Make sure you have your handy setting lotion nearby.
***Side note: I LOVE Lottabody setting lotion. This time around I mixed Lottabody with ISOPLUS Wrap Lotion and a tad bit of EVOO.***
Step 3: Part your hair from side to side (i.e. ear to ear). IMO, it’s best to start parting your hair from the back and work your way forward because it not only dries faster as you’re going along, but also your arms won’t get tired and you can see what you’re doing! If you start from the front first, you’ll have so many straws in your way you won’t be able to see all your parts, and you may miss some pieces of hair. However, doing the opposite may work for others ---it’s all up to you!
***Side note: After I part each section of hair I use some type of moisturizer for my scalp & hair (mainly the new growth because I don’t want the rest of the curl to be too oily). This time around I used Frenchee’s Hair Gro and Dr. Miracle’s something or other (can’t remember the name) because I want to see if it really works like many say it does.***
Step 4: Begin to grab pieces of hair from the section that you part (see picture). You can make them by using a comb, or you can do like I do and just start grabbing hair and parting with your fingers. The sections that I grab are normally ¾” to ½” in diameter. You can do more or less. If you section more hair to roll it will take less time! (hint hint)
Step 5: With the section of hair you have in your hand, spray setting solution on the hair. You can either saturate it by smoothing it in with your fingers, or you can use a comb and make sure that it saturates that whole section of hair. IMO, I use both my hands and a comb and make sure that I use as much setting solution that I think is necessary. If that means more than 3 sprays…so be it!
Step 6: Grab a straw and cut it a little longer than that piece of hair. (See picture)
Step 7: Start at the bottom of the straw and begin wrapping your ends in the shape of a spiral, or in a manner in which it is not overlapping other hair along the straw. You have the option to roll your hair along the straw so that you will not see in gaps, or if you are spiraling your hair, you will see gaps.
If you need to secure your ends because they keep slipping off, it’s okay to roll some hair over your ends, however, don’t continue to roll your hair like that whole way through or your curls will turn out looking like some type of rollerset instead of having a spiral look.
***Side note: Even after I curled my hair I still cut some more of the straw off because I didn’t want the extra length getting in the way. ***
Step 8: Secure your hair first with a longer bobby pin at the top and a smaller one at the bottom. You can use all long bobby pins if you like, but using all small might not secure all your hair, especially if your hair is long and so is the straw.
Step 9: Repeat steps 1-8 until your hair is finished! You can either sit under a dryer or let your hair air dry. I did a mixture of both. 98% of my hair was air-dried and the other 2% was dried under the hair dryer for about 15 minutes.
***Below are some small pictures of the products I used, the size of the straws, and how to roll the hair. *** HTH.