Anyway, hope this helps

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO-iqphkc9c

Anyway, here’s a little tutorial showing how I do my finger curls. It’s really easy and gives thin hair volume, straight hair a change and doesn’t require much effort.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4WpaTM4k6I

So, here’s a quick vid showing how to do a domincan blowout.
Some notes:

1. I hardly use any tension, let the blower do the work for me.

2. Notice the flaking near the scalp – that is NOT dandruff, it’s a creme leave-in. I pulled it out of the closet, wondering why I had not used it in a long, long, long time…um…now I know why…F-L-A-K-E-S! Anyway, I digress.

3. Notice that I keep the blower moving. I don’t hold it any one place for longer than a moment.

4. Lastly, I don’t go all the way down the shaft with the blower, because I don’t think it’s necessary; I just want to get the kinks out, smooth out the roots and get my hair sleek with minimal heat damage.

5. I do not put anything in my hair until AFTER I’m done blowing. When I pull out the rolos, I blow, THEN I put in a finishing creme, or serum.

Al fin hay un video. I have been trying to get a hold of a video camera to actually show how to do the steps involved in doing a dominican blowout. I have to thank my dear friend, Gustava, for surprising me with a brand new camera. Besos chica!

In this first video I just wanted to show you how to get your back rolos in place.

You start by sectioning your middle mohawk, then pin up the left and right sections. Start putting your rollers in from front to back. The back is usually the hardest to do, but once you get the hand of it, the rest is very easy. It’s best to pull the hair up toward the ceiling or forward if it’s any longer than mine. Then just smooth the ends around the rolo and roll until you get to the end.

Getting the tangles out may sound like an easy thing to do, but this is not always the case. The problem of detangling is intensified when your hair is wet, because it is at it’s most fragile state. There are a few things that you can do that will keep your mane knot free.

1. Always start to comb your hair at the ends.  This is especially important if you have longer hair.
2. Use a wide-tooth comb. Don’t even think about putting a fine-tooth comb to your hair until you get all of your tangles out and even then, fine-tooth combs should be reserved for smoothing the hair out for rolos.
3. Getting ready to shampoo? Think that you’ll detangle while you’re in the shower? Well, you should actually start the process before you even wet your hair.Before you wet your hair, you should already have your hair detangled, to the best of your ability. This means getting the knots, tangles and braids, or twists out before hand. If your hair is super dry, then you may want to spray it or apply a small amount of serum, just to help glide the comb through with more ease.If you have flat twists, or braids in your hair and used gel, then wetting first, is the only way to detangle. You never want to even attempt to comb hair that has gel in it, as you are going to cause hair to come out unnecessarily.
4. Whether your hair is natural, or relaxed, you want to always comb gently. You should treat your hair the same as you would a newborn’s hair. You should barely even grip your comb; the comb should be very loose in your hand as you work through your hair.
5. Do NOT pile your hair up on top of your head while you’re shampooing. For the life of me, I do not know why commercials always show las mujeres with a pile of hair on the head as they shampoo. Not only will it make it more difficult to wash, but you are actually creating tangles.
6. Use a Jilbere shower comb to gently detangle while your in the shower. Use a creme rinse, or other moisturizng conditioner to help work the comb through.
7. Lastly, before you put your rolos in, remember to use a wide-tooth comb, work your way down to the fine-tooth comb and your tangles should be much easier to manage.

I have had only a few stylists that could comb my hair, especially after it was wet, that didn’t rip my hair out. There’s nothing than worse than feeling your hair being pulled out, because someone else wants to hurry, get the knots out, so they can get to the next client.

That’s the benefit of doing your own roller set. You keep as much hair on your head as possible.

Anyway, there are few different ways to do a doobie, including the Cuban, which is when you section off a square of hair at the crown and roll the hair on a roller. This gives the hair a lot of lift; this doobie is good for those of you who are looking to give thinner hair a little volume.

If you have a lot of hair, like I do, then a regular doobie is in order.

Just like doing a roller set, it’s about practice. So, let’s get started.

1. You need to part your hair from crown down to the nape of the neck. You can part from crown to front, but I’m not always sure which direction I want my part to go, so I usually start in the back.

2. Since my part is from crown to back, I comb the left half of my hair forward, smoothing as I go.

3. I place the first bobby-pin in the back, at the nape, then place one at the crown.

4. Comb, or brush the hair clock-wise as you work, adding a bobby-pin along the way about 2 or 3 inches from previous pin.

Notice that it just keeps on moving around the head. You put pins around the hairline and in the crown. If you have enough length, you can have larger gaps between pins. If you have a shorter cut, then you may need to use more pins, to ensure that your hair is not slipping down before you get the entire head wrapped.

When you get all the way around to your first pin, if you still have hair that needs to be wrapped, just pull the pins out, brush/comb the hair around a little and replace the pin. Do this as necessary, until all of your hair is completely up and secure.

Ya! That’s it! We’re done.

I tried the mohawk style, tried parting down the middle, tried starting from the back; I tried ev-er-y-thing.

Finally, it kicked in. Growing up in the dominican salon is an educational experience if you have curly, wavy, kinky, coarse hair. I recall hearing a few girls complain about the stylist not rolling their hair “the right way.”

“Marisol is alright, but she likes to put my rollers in all sloppy! Look at how crooked they are!”

I used to think to myself, what difference does it make if your rollers aren’t perfectly spaced or lined up? When you pull out your rolos your hair is going to be silky and soft, right?

That’s when I started to have an out of body experience (ok, I’m adding fluff, but the lightbulb really did come on, so work with me for a minute.)

I had been spending time trying to make my parts straight and contorting my arms in ways that were not natural, even for a yoga enthusiast. Where the rollers were placed or whether or not I rolled them up, or down was irrelevant.

The crucial part was getting those ends smoothed out over the rollers. After all, they are called “rolos magneticos,” magnetic rollers. The ends of the hair are supposed to stick to the rollers.  Once I recognized that, I started to change my roller process from beginning to end.

I always do the same thing, regardless of hair style and cut. I start in the middle of my forehead and imagine that mohawk of rollers going back towards the nape of my neck. I part about an inch and a half on each side, so the row is about 2.5 inches all the way down, from front to back.

After putting my product in, I begin to section my hair. Without clipping the hair on top, I detangle the two side sections and then clip them both up, to ensure that my hair doesn’t dry out too quickly and to ensure that I don’t accidentally pull more hair up in a roller than I intend to have. I do anything necessary to cut down on rolling time.

Pulling my mohawk back, I start with small sections. My first section is about 2 inches from the hairline. Usually, the stylists roll that one forward, but I have found that if I roll the entire mohawk back, towards the nape, my rollers stay more uniform and tight.

I have about 3 rollers on top, just to the point where I’m reaching the back of my head, then one right on top and about 3 more going down the back of the head.

On the sides, I work one at a time. I let one side section down and then sub-divide again, so I have two sides. I start at about the crown (below the roller that’s already in place)  and section down to about my ear. I pin the front section back up and start with the back row.

The side rows I work from top to bottom. However, this is where I deviate from the salons. Although, I can actually roll my hair under, it’s harder and the roots are always thick. I have learned that rolling upwards keeps my entire length smooth and prevents my roots from bunching up.

I usually place about 3 or 4 rollers in that row and then work on the front row with 2 or 3 rolos. I repeat this process on the other side.

Always keep a little spray bottle with water handy. It’s not necessary to have your hair sopping wet, but you want your ends to be wet enough to grip the rollers. If you notice that your ends are frizzing up, just spritz the ends of your hair as you work each section.

Practice smoothing your hair around the rollers. This is critical, as this is what keeps your ends straight. Even if your roots are a little fuzzy, passing the blower over will fix it, but I try to limit the amount of heat I use. According to my mother and aunts, they never really sat under the dryer when they were girls. They would put “rolos” in and go about their daily chores, then they would do a doobie when they pulled the rollers out.

Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t come out the way you want it the first few times…ok, maybe the first few months. It’s just a matter of practicing and remembering that if your ends are straight and your hair is completely dry, you can still do a doobie to smooth out the hair.

Good luck!

• Magnetic rollers – like the ones they use in a dominican salon. They come in different sizes. It’s important to use the appropriate size for your hair length. If your rollers are too big, your hair will come out limp and lifeless. If you use small rollers, the effects can be pretty cool, but your drying time increases.
• A hair dryer. My personal favorite is the Pibbs Kwik Dry 514. This dryer should come with a warning because it gets HOT! But you can adjust the temperature, so turning down the heat, without decreasing the airflow is an awesome option.
• A round brush. There are a couple of types that I use. I use a boar’s hair brush when I’m just blwong out my roots and if I am short on time and my hair isn’t completely dry at the ends I use a round brush with a metal barrel, because it acts like a hot curler and distributes heat as I blow my hair.
• Lots of butterfly clamps – I like to section my hair and use the clamps to pull the hair out of the way as I work.
• A blow dryer with a nozzle at the end. The concentration nozzle helps to direct the heat as you work to get the curls and kinks out. The quality of your blow dryer makes the difference between a blowout and a “dominican” blowout.

Ok, let’s get started.

1. We are going to start with freshly washed hair that has been roller set and dried.Your hair needs to be dry from roots to ends. The slightest bit of dampness can cause you to frizz and prevents you from getting that sleek look you want. So, before you rush to pull out all of your rollers, test your hair by taking out a roller from the longest part of your hair.If your hair doesn’t bounce back or snap into a curl, it’s probably still damp. If you pull the roller out and the hair is cold, your hair is still damp.
2. I part my hair in half from ear to ear. Then I split the front section into three: left-side, top-mohawk, and right-side.
3. I start at the back of my head, like they do at the salon. I’ve tried it from top to bottom and it’s just easier for me to work that way. With the sections all ready to go, I start with a section at the nape of my neck with a very small, thin section.
4. Using my boar’s hair brush, I hold the hair closest to my scalp and pass the blow dryer over that section of hair. I use the brush to HOLD the hair, not PULL the hair. You really don’t need any tension where the brush is, even if you are due for a touch up. It’s all a matter of learning how to hold the brush and how to use the blower.
5. After the first section is done, I make another thin section and do the same thing. I hold the hair with the brush and use the blower to straighten the hair. It’s important to pass the blower down the shaft of the hair. You should not pass the blower from the ends up towards your scalp.
6. When you are done with the back section. Take the butterfly clip out on either the left or right side of your front and work in the same manner, bottom to top. You start with a small section close to your ear, clipping the rest of your hair and work your way up to the crown of your head. When you are done with that side, repeat steps for the last side. Remember, the airflow from the blow dryer should be going down the shaft.
7. I don’t need a mirror to do my blowouts, because I’ve been doing them for so long, but you can see what my hair looks like before (right side) and after (left side) it’s been blown out. The blown out side is not only straight, but it shines baby, shines!
8. When you’re done you should have a lot of swiiiiiing!
   Your hair should be bouncy shiny and full of volume. At this point you can add a little sheen or a very light finishing oil. I am not a fan of grease. In fact the only grease, grease-like substance I ever use is when I’m basing my scalp and even that grease is designed for basing. Grease weighs down the hair and it is notorious for attracting dirt.
9. Now, you can decide if you want it straight, or if you want a little curl. If you want it straight without flips or anything, then you can do a doobie.
10. This is what it looks like when you take your doobie down the next day. Nice, sleek and straaaaaaight.