How to Decide on a Hairstyle for the Prom

Long or short, curly or straight, your prom hairstlye will be remembered as much as your dress. Whether you do it, enlist the help of your gal pals, or dash off to a stylist, plan ahead. Last minute do decisions or lack of preparation could add unwanted anxiety to your big night.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Magazines
• Magazines
• Magazines
• Prom dress
• Blow dryer
• Glitter
• Mousse
• Clarifying shampoo

1. Flip through a few of your favorite magazines to get an idea of some special occasion hair styles that may flatter you. Clip out pictures of those you like, particularly if your plans include getting your hair professionally styled.

2. Slip into your dress-without makeup, deodorant or body lotion-and take some time to experiment with different styles. Choose a style that's different from your everyday do, and one that makes you feel pretty, feminine and sophisticated.

3. Sweep your hair into a sleek twist when wearing a strapless dress. Let little wisps or soft tendrils frame your face for a more romantic look, or gel and spray hair in place for a chic, more sophisticated look.

4. Blow medium length hair straight, pulling the ends into a big bouncy curl. Add a beaded headband when wearing a spaghetti strap sheath dress, or jeweled hair clips when in a rhinestone trimmed gown.

5. Add a little hair glitter and a few decorative combs to transition very tight curls from day to evening. Tie beaded or rhinestone rubber bands to the ends of dreads, or pull them all back in a satin headband.

6. Give short hair some volume with mousse and an upside-down blow dry. Clip hair at the sides with decorative bobby pins, or pull it away from your face with a jeweled wire headband.

Tips & Warnings

• Decide on your style at least a week before the big night. If you're doing your hair at home, make sure you have all the things you're likely to need: mousse, gel, hairspray, clips, headband, curling iron, curlers and combs.
• Use a clarifying shampoo the week before your prom to remove any build up that might leave your hair limp and lifeless. Follow with a hot oil treatment to impart shine and luster to your locks.
• Bring miniature sizes of your hair styling products to the event for touch-ups.
• Humidity and rain can ruin any prom hairstyle, so make sure to keep your freshly coiffed mane protected from the elements.

Who Can Help:

• Are you tired of cakey makeup? Try RawMinerals Free.

on 11/22/2005 This hair style has worked for my best night. I have thin shoulder length hair, I put my hair up in a half ponytail using only the sides of my hair, not the middle. If I lift the hair up, I have a space in between the hair in the middle. I then put the rest of the hair in that space, twist it up and roll it into a bun. I then tuck the ends in using hair gel or spray (to make it smooth and lie close to the head).

on 11/22/2005 My hair is thick and curly. It takes me over 2 hours to straighten my hair. I use the pink bottle of LA Looks (with the number 7 on the bottle). I am not sure what the mousse is called, but it works well. While the hair is wet, I flip my head over and use a quarter-sized portion of mousse. I scrunch it into my hair, not forgetting any area. You can use as much mousse as desired (but not too much, or your hair will be wet). Add a dime-sized portion of gel. Don't use a lot, or it will look greasy. Good luck to all!

on 11/22/2005 My hair is halfway down my back. It is curly on one side, wavy on another, and altogether bad in the back! I tried 5 different straighteners (in all different price ranges), and the straightener that I found to work best is Vidal Sassoon's Ceramic Black straightener. It only takes 30 minutes to completely straighten my hair. I had been straightening my hair for about a year when I met my boyfriend, and continued straightening it for the first 6 months of our relationship (we're still together). One day, I told him that I had to tell him something. If we got married, I wanted him to know that my hair wasn't really straight, it was very curly. He didn't believe me until I was at his house and I took a shower before bed. In the morning my hair was as curly as a pig's tail!

on 11/22/2005 I have very naturally curly hair down to my rear end and one of my friends that I met at college has the same to her shoulders! She taught me a great way to fix it with no frizz and great little curls on any length:

First, don't towel dry your hair. Do this when it is dripping wet. Put a fair amount of your choice of mousse or gel into your hair.

To curl it, instead of scrunching your hair with your fingers, use a wash rag. It gets rid of excess water and won't frizz your hair!

on 11/22/2005 I probably have one of the worst cases of hard to handle hair! It's naturally thick, coarse, curly, frizzy, and to make matters worse, I have enough volume for like 10 people! To get my hair sleek, flat and straight is practically impossible! And if you think I am giving you a solution to this problem, well, I'll try my best. I still haven't mastered my hair. But the best advice I could give is to work with your hair...not against it!

To wear my hair the way it wants to be takes about 10 seconds - for naturally wavy/curly hair, put gel into the palm of your hand then spread as much as you need throughout your hair (when it's wet). (Don't use too much, though, as your hair will have a crusty non-movement effect.) This quick, easy no hassle hairdo works well.

But if you are like me, you don't always want your hair curly; sometimes you want your hair straight. That seems to take more than an hour. The best thing that I could say is to use a smoothening de-frizzing shampoo and conditioner. Then when your hair is wet, apply a frizz serum and a straightening product before you blow-dry. When blow drying hair, use a round brush, and brush your hair in one direction. Don't go all dance party with the blow dryer! That will just increase frizz and volume. After blow drying, try using a good straightener. Pinning up the top of your hair, straighten in layers. Afterwards, use a bit of de-frizzing hairspray to help. Caution: Stay away from rain! And humidity! Your hair will not like that, and it will probably go back to how it was!

I hope the tips will help you with the hair you want! One final thing - my absolute number one favorite hair straightening tool is an iron...Not a curling iron, but an actual iron that is used for ironing clothes! It will make your hair absolutely as straight and as flat as a board. I don't recommend doing this often at all, as it will dry out your hair! Just make sure when using an iron that you keep it on a medium to low heat and don't hold it on your hair in one place for too long as that could be terrible! Happy hair days!