Mid Length Hair Tutorial: How I Style It For Everyday
I rarely change it up when it comes to my hair. I’ve had mid length hair most of my adult life and if it wasn’t right by my shoulders then it was short–just by my chin. I pretty much hop between those two lengths exclusively; I’ve never felt comfortable with super long hair as it never feels health and it’s pretty fine. I have always been pretty low maintenance with my my hair, as well. It’s naturally stick straight, fine, but I have a lot of hair (so my stylist tells me). I have no natural curl and I need a good heated tool and products to get my hair done right.
Here’s an old post on what I use on my hair and honestly, I still buy and use these brands; I forgot about that Davines spray…I want it again.
Hair Products I Use:
- Living Proof Restore Shampoo/Conditioner (I actually use a lot of different shampoos and am always testing out new ones but LP is a staple brand for me)
- Kristin Ess Blow Dry Mist – Protects your hair–love this stuff!
- Living Proof Full Dry Volume Blast – GREAT for second day hair.
- Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray – Gives you texture and volume.
- Pureology hairspray – Lightweight and never sticky.
- GHD 1″ Curling Iron (on sale!) – Yhis is a newer purchase for me. I borrowed a friend’s before an event and loved it! My waves definitely hold longer and it’s easy to use. My Sultra wand was getting a little old. I find that 1 – 1.25 inches is great for mid-length hair.
- Wet brush – Amazing for easily knotted hair (great for kids, too)
Mid Length Hair Curling Tips & Tricks:
- Do your hair in sections–I do three layers as I need the volume.
- Don’t use the clamp if you want your ends straighter. For softer ends, use the clamp.
- I always curl the hair away from my face, curling iron pointing down. For a messier look, mix up how you position the iron (it’ll still look good–but always curl away from the face)!
- This whole process takes me about 15 minutes on average. Even when I try to be extra concise about my curls for a more put-together look, it still only takes 20 minutes. When I am down for more haphazard curls and only section my hair twice, I can probably do it in 10 minutes flat!
Other Hair Info:
- Hair color: highlights with a toner and glaze four times a year; I’m actually long overdue for highlights–I haven’t had them done since August! But I love that my stylist does them subtly enough so that I can grow my hair out and it still looks good. I’ve tried balayage but the expense just didn’t justify the increase in price to me.
- My natural hair color is a dark, dishwater blonde/mousy brown. As you can see the photos where my hair is sectioned off–that’s basically my natural color as I haven’t had it colored since August. (I tried the full brunette thing and it just didn’t work on me.)
- The most I can go without washing my hair is really just a day. Day two hair isn’t that amazing for me but I do it out of necessity. I’m an every other day shampoo-er; otherwise, my hair can get very greasy.
- I go to George the Salon in downtown Chicago (Gold Coast); Nicole does my color and Michelle cuts it!
My “technique”
Our hair types sound really similar. Have you tried the Revlon one-step dryer? It seems really gimmicky (and I’d basically given up on ever having any volume), but this thing has been a game changer. One of the best things has been that I can typically get an extra day out of my blowouts after using it.
Hi Nicole! I haven’t, probably because I also thought it sounded gimmicky but it seemed like everyone who loved it had thicker hair than me. But that’s great to know–it’s pretty inexpensive so I’ll give it a go!
I have it and I have fairly fine hair, and not that much of it. I like that it gives me volume and makes my second-day hair look better (though I usually curl it on day 2) but my one caution was that it gets HOT. I’ve got to try that Kristen Ess heat protectant spray!
Good to know! Nothing but good things re: the Kristin Ess spray ( I like how it smells and doesn’t weigh my hair down!)
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So interesting to read. I like that you’ve settled on the best length for your hair. I seem to waffle in that area. I have similar hair texture and I feel like it takes an arsenal of products to get the texture I want. My favorite helper is Powder Puff by Kevin Murphy, I put it on my roots and it adds a ton of volume. And I also use a wand instead of a curling iron because I find the curling iron smoothes down my strands too much.