The Cheater’s Guide to Big Beautiful Hair

1. DRY SHAMPOO

This is a quick and easy tip. I use but powdered dry shampoo has been said to actually work better. I wash my hair only every three days as recommended by my stylist. Dry shampoo acts to soak up any of the natural oil on your scalp and hair and gives you a quick volume boost. On top of that your hair smells clean and fresh as if its freshly shampooed!

My favorite dry shampoo: Batiste Dry Shampoo $9.18 

2. HOT ROLLERS

I like to go with the larger rollers to create volume. After your set is all heated up and ready to go, section out a piece of your hair from the front of your scalp. Hold the section up away from your head and roll the rollers towards your head and secure. I like to work from the front to the back and then come up to roll up any remaining hair from the sides of my head.

Then just sit back and wait and for the curlers to cool!

After the rollers are cooled, remove the curlers starting from the front. Do not brush your hair — instead using your hands to fluff up and style!

Finish it up with some hairspray and dry shampoo at the roots!

Here’s a great tutorial from Pinkcupcake211

My favorite curlers: Conair Extreme Heat Jumbo and Super Jumbo Rollers (ONLY $20 BUCKS!)

3. CURLING IRON

Instead of Hot Rollers, you can use a curling iron.

Take inch wide sections of hair, wrap the hair around the curling iron, turning the iron backwards, and leaving the ends out. Wait for the hair to get heated and pull it out

Heres a great tutorial from Signature Series

3. TEASE TEASE TEASE

You’ll only need to tease the hair at your crown and on the top of your hair. You are aiming for your roots. A teasing comb is preferred but any run of the mill comb works also!

Grab a 1-2 inch section of your hair and hold it up and away from your head. With your comb, tease the backside of your until its as big as you like it. Repeat over all sections

Recommended teasing comb: Marilyn Brush Teasing and Backcombing Brush

Here’s a great tutorial from Melissa Kristin

4. ADD BANGS

Natural Bangs: There are the traditional straight cut bangs, my hair isn’t thick enough to support this style of bang. I only discovered side swept bangs in my late twenties and they were a revelation. The key for me is to grab hair from the middle of your scalp, pull it forward to a and sweep it to your preferred side. Your hair will probably need some training before it starts to hold this position, but it covers part of your forehead and makes your hair looks super thick up front.

Great sideswept bang tutorial by Emily Liu

Clip-On Bangs: If you don’t want to experiment on your real hair, take a spin with clip-on bangs first. These are so easy to use and look very natural. In one minute – PRESTO! – you have a full luscious bang!

There are a wide variety available but these are my favorites: Clip-On Bangs

5. BUY IT!

This isn’t the Cheaters Guide to all Natural big beautiful hair after all! There are many solutions available on the market. Here’s a brief overview:

Extentions: Extensions are my absolute favorite but they are pricey. $1300-$1600 is the estimated cost for a full head of extensions – including the cost of the hair and the application. The process takes 3-5 hours and lasts 2-3 months

*I like to purchase my hair from The Hair Shop

*If you live in the Los Angeles I highly recommend Victor Valverde for the best extensions ever (and he’s super fast!)

Clips Ins: Many girls swear by clip-ins. They don’t work for me because I suck at putting them in and I like big hair solutions that are semi-permanent and don’t come out at the end of the night.

Lace Front: For photo shoots and live performances/appearances the Lace-Front wig looks great. It IS a wig though, so ultimately I find it too uncomfortable for a long term solution.

Weaves (beaded): I currently have beaded weft hair weave and I am thrilled with them! I don’t prefer the normal sewn-in weave, it’s way too bulky on the back of my head and can be very noticeable. The beaded weave lasts about 2-3 months, and you just need to get them tightened which costs under $100. This is a very affordable alternative to bonded extensions. Most stylists charge per row of hair installed. The cost is about $30-40 per row. I currently have two rows and my hair is full. Typically you would pre-purchase your hair and bring it to the stylist to install, costing about $150-300

*I like to purchase my hair from The Hair Shop

*If you live in the Los Angeles I highly recommend Annie at Just Extensions

 Here’s my personal hair saga:

“The bigger the hair, the closer to God”

I’ve always been at war with my hair. Although it is naturally soft and silky as Asian hair often is, it is thin. This is further exacerbated by the fact that I have a high forehead and my thin hair didn’t allow me to have the straight cut bangs that I desperately wanted. Luckily in the 90s, grunge was in style and I was a rocker girl so big hair was not required at all.

Halfway through college I started pin-up modeling which was a revelation. So many tricks and secrets were revealed to me about how my fellow models achieved their thick, luxurious manes. (I was introduced to false eyelashes for the first time which solved my thin eyelashes problem!)

My super blah natural hair

One of the models that I was shooting with introduced me to hair extensions.  I didnt even know that anything like that existed!

It changed my life.

She introduced me to an extensions master on Sunset. Back them, about 10 years ago, she charged $500 for the application. You could purchase your extensions from her vendor or bring your own – which would be about another $200.  The application of the hair would take hours. Each extensions was individually attached to your own hair using heated wax. The process was so timely she had a large selection of romantic girl movies to pop in to kill the time. These extensions would last about 2-3 months. It tripled the amount of hair I now had.

I was closer to God!

Hair extensions are crazy expensive now — often costing $800-$1000+ for the application alone. It’s not my #1 choice for an affordable hair solution but it is my favorite.

I’ll get to my recommended tricks soon! I’ve tried them all….

I went through a period where I wore a lace-front wig! This was one of my favorite looks because I could pull down the hairline and shrink my five-head. Beyonce, Tyra Banks, and other many African American celebrities use the lace-front wig. The wigs are very expensive but they really do look very natural. This solution is not preferred because its a wig and wigs feel awful!

Throughout the years I remained desperate for bangs. Its almost impossible for me to have bangs because my hair just isnt thick enough. The Hair Shop came out with Clip-On Bangs — which was AMAZING.

All the bangs I’ll ever need!

Here is my current hair

Big Hair Don’t Care!