NYC Street Chic: How New Yorkers Stay Glam in Winter Weather

New York Street Chic

Manhattan is one of the most fabulously fashionable cities I have ever seen, and I’ve seen my fair share of fashionable cities. Whether it’s Harlem with it’s eclectic styles and kinky twists, the indie styles of the lower east side, or the sleek and coiffed ladies of the Upper East Side, New Yorkers are always dressed to impress. This Zelo blogger got to take to the streets of New York City this week, and, like the ladies of Paris wearing their hair in top knots and messy chignon’s, New Yorkers are braving the chill in these easy breezy up-dos as well.

Hair How-To: Curling with a Clipless Curling Iron

Clipless curling irons are becoming increasingly popular because of their versatility and wonderful results. The reason you turn to a clipless curling iron is because it creates a different curl than your iron with a clip.

Always wanted Taylor Swift worthy curls but can’t figure out how to style them? Have a hard time creating loose, casual looking waves, and instead end up with stiff looking, prom curls that fall out throughout the day and end up looking lifeless?

A clipless iron may be the solution you need.

Get Taylor Swift curls with a clipless barrel!

Let’s start by looking at the different types of clipless curling irons out there. Just like regular irons with a clip, clipless irons come in different thicknesses, but they also come in different shapes as well. Let’s take a peek at a few top clipless curling irons and you’ll see what I mean.

   

The first iron pictured is the Sedu Revolution Clipless Curling Iron, listed at Folica for $119.99. As you can see, it has a straight barrel. This will create even, consistent curls. The second, the Hot Tools Tapered Iron, listed at Folica for $49.99, will create a more dynamic look with curls that tighten towards the bottom. A third, very interesting option is the Enzo Reverse Tapered Iron, listed at Folica for $119.99, which has the taper directed the opposite way.

Now, how is it that you curl with an iron without a clip? Easy, you wrap just your hair around the base. Hold the iron pointing down towards your shoulder, separate a piece, wrap it around the barrel, and hold until heated.

Something to consider when using a clipless iron is that when you do wrap it, your hair will naturally twist as it wraps around – this creates the different type of curl such as how Taylor Swift hair is so popularly styled.

You can achieve a basic curl just like you would with a barrel that has a clip, you just need to pay attention to untwist the hair as you wrap it around the iron so the strand lays flat.

For a visual on curling with a clipless iron, and how to create a twisted curl or a flattened curl as we just discussed, check out this great YouTube clip:

Happy Curling!

Image Sources: Womensbeautylife.com, Folica.com

Hair How-To: Waterfall and Double Waterfall Braid

Have a hairstyle you’ve seen in pictures and would like a tutorial on? Send it to me at emily@zelocare.com and I will do my best to crack it! 

In an older post on shaking up your typical braid, I shared a video on the wonderful waterfall braid – a bohemian-looking twist on the typical french braid. I found this picture floating around of two waterfall braids in a row, and instantly knew I needed to figure out how to recreate. Thus, a new blog series has been born. I am excited to share this little side-ponytail with pizzazz.

The inspiration, found on Tumblr

The waterfall braid is easy enough to create, it just takes a little practice.

Within my tutorial I have provided the brief steps to forming the waterfall braid in steps 2-5, which can be used a variety of ways outside of today’s hairstyle recreation. If you want a video on the waterfall braid for a better look, check out the older post. If you already know how to do the waterfall braid, feel free to skip through steps 2-5.

Note: the pictures in this tutorial were all taken by me. I love sharing, but if you do want to use them, please give me credit and link back to my blog. 

Step 1: To begin, separate out a chunk of hair above your ear and begin doing a simple french braid downwards. This gives a clean start to the style before we start the waterfall braid.

Step 2: Once you have braided down to right at your ear, we will move into the waterfall braid. You will start this by taking more hair into your braid, as if you were continuing a french braid (red piece).

Step 3: You will then drop the front most piece of the braid, highlighted in blue.

Step 4: In order to replace to piece you dropped and continue the braid, now pick up a chunk of hair from directly behind where you want the braid to lie. Make this piece an even size with the others in your braid.

Step 5: Continue the braid like you would’ve normally, had you not dropped the blue piece, replacing it with the green piece, as shown. You will now continue steps 2-4, replacing the blue piece with the red/pink piece, adding hair to the yellow piece, and eventually dropping the yellow piece in the next succession. Get it? This technique takes practice, but after a few tries you will be able to create this consistently.

Step 6: Now that you’ve got the hang of the waterfall braid, braid using this drop technique all the way across the head until you reach the other side. I like to leave a little chunk free in the front, but it’s optional. You’ll see how this plays in later.

Step 7: Before moving onto the second braid, braid you first one down a few inches, french braiding in about half of the front chunk we left free in the last step. Secure with a rubber band or clip for now.

Step 8: Now we are ready to start the second braid. Going back to the initial side of the head, french braid down another inch or so, creating a little bit of space between the first braid and the soon-to-be second one.

Step 9: Begin another waterfall braid, feeding the dropped pieces from the first waterfall into the second. To make this look really woven, try to feed the dropped pieces from the first braid straight into the sections that will be dropped in the second braid, as shown. Braid all the way across, maintaining an inch or two gap between the two braids.

Step 10: Now we need to connect the top braid and the bottom braid, and this is simple. Un-secure the top braid and combine it with the end of the bottom braid, braiding downwards. As you do this, french braid in the rest of the front strands we left free earlier (this gives a cascading, smooth look to the front).

Step 11: Almost there! Just gather the rest of the hair and sweep it to the side of the braided ends, securing it it a low side ponytail. All done!