How To Wrap Short Hair

With anything you do, the foundation is most important. That fact holds true even

with something as simple as a short hairstyle you’re trying to achieve. The first part

of perfect short hair at home is the wrap. It is essential. You cannot and will not get

salon quality results without mastering the short hair wrap.

Styling short hair is also an art form. Mastering short hair styling is a science. If you

add – AT HOME – to that last statement, it becomes even more important that you

understand the science behind what it takes to masterfully style short hair.

In the following pages we will talk about what role the short hair wrap plays, why

it’s important, what happens when you get it wrong and when you get it right and

ultimately HOW TO WRAP SHORT HAIR.

What is a short hair wrap?

If I had to sum up what a short hair wrap is, I would describe it as a styling technique

used to pre-determine where you want the strands of the hair to lie, in preparation

for a final style.

HOW IS A WRAP USED IN STYLING SHORT HAIR?

The basic wet wrap is a styling technique designed to assist in achieving styles that

require the hair to be flat and smooth. Short, relaxed hair is often styled using this

method. By applying a product to wet hair and smoothing it flat against the scalp,

using a comb and your hand, short hair is molded into place using the shape of the

head. This process produces soft, smooth strands that are ever so slightly bent at the

ends.

This wrapping technique usually calls for the wet mold to be dried with the use of

heat. Once the hair is dried, the hair is combed out of the wrap and left soft to the

touch. Heat styling and other products can then be added to achieve the desired style.

The short hair wrap has evolved and can also be used to achieve varying styles that

are not only smooth or straight in nature. An example of this would be the waved

look that is super popular, at the moment. The wet mold can be used in many

different ways, but for the sake of this book, I’m going to be referring to the basic

flat wrap.

What are the benefits of wrapping hair?

Let’s just get real. Black hair is textured. Short hair is no different. Short, relaxed

hair does not magically dry into a perfect shape. If short, textured, relaxed hair is left

to air dry without product, it will be sticking up on top of your head, similar to Don

King. If you don’t know who that is, Google him. The image alone will help you

understand the importance of molding the hair.

WHY SHOULD I WRAP MY SHORT HAIR?

That being said, the technique of wrapping short hair allows the hair to be smoothed

down into a particular direction. This wrapping method is a way for you to smooth

the hair into place in a non-abrasive manner. Tugging on the hair or forcing strands

into place using heat or rough combing and brushing, cause breakage and dryness,

among other harmful things.

You can do things with hair when it’s molded, that you simply cannot do using other

styling techniques.

Wrapping short, relaxed hair and then styling it, helps maintain the health of your

hair by reducing the amount of manipulation needed to achieve certain looks or

hairstyles.

Why is wrapping short hair important?

What makes the short hair wrap so important is that it aids in the preservation of the

final hairstyle. When you mold the hair, you comb it into place from the root to the

tip. You do this while it’s wet. Then, when it dries, the hair strands are set. The

beauty of it all is that once you comb through the hair after its dry, the hair is pliable

and soft and set in the position you chose.

HOW DOES THE SHORT HAIR WRAP HELP MY HAIR?

As days pass, the hair remains set at the roots, which will help it keep its shape longer

than it would if the roots were not smoothed and straightened to lie flat against the

scalp. What this means is, that even if you curl the hair or sleep on it, because the

roots are locked into place, you can easily manipulate the hair back to the original

style and together and extend the life of the styles you create.

The short hair wrap is also important because it smooths the strands of your hair and

keeps them straightened. Short hair can easily fold over or crinkle up. It can also curl

up because of the natural texture at the roots. Depending on how far post relaxer you

are when you wrap your wet hair, you may have more of this curling at the roots

than you would if you have a fresh relaxer.

Straightened hair means less work when you curl the hair for styling. Smooth,

straight strands also reflect light better than fold and bends, so your styles tend to

look shinier and sleeker when your mold is done the right way.

Straight hair that obediently falls in the position you want, is what you aim for when

you wrap short, relaxed hair into place. This equals less fuss, easier styling and

longer lasting results.

What happens when a short hair wrap is done wrong?

When a short hair wrap is done wrong, your style will not be as polished as it could

be. Your hairstyle will also kick the bucket a lot sooner than it would if you build it

on top of a solid wrap foundation.

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY WRAP IS WRONG?

There are many ways a wrap can go wrong. One of the more common errors is that

the mold is not smoothed properly. Smoothing is majorly important. The strands of

hair need to be combed into the direction of the final mold from root to tip. Any bits

of hair that are not in line, will create ripples or crinkles in the final dry mold.

Another error is using too little or too much product during the molding process.

Wrapping foams are mainly what are used for short hair, so I’ll focus on those. Too

much wrapping foam can cause the hair to dry with flakes or to turn out too stiff and

hard. Too little wrapping foam can mean a style with more frizz and movement to

the hair than desired.

These seemingly small errors, and others, lead to a final wrap that will require

additional heat or harsh pulling and combing in order to achieve the final style.

Bottom line, make sure your mold is done correctly before you get under the dryer.

Correcting errors has to happen while the hair is still wet and moldable.

What happens when it’s done the right way?

Your final style is easy to achieve, it’s shiny, polished and sleek. That’s when you

know your wrap was done right.

WHAT SHOULD I LOOK FOR IN MY SHORT HAIR MOLD?

Before you begin to style your hair, but after you come from under the dryer, the

dried mold should appear smooth all over. You should be able to run your hands

over the shape of the mold and there shouldn’t be any bumps or folds. Once you

break the mold, or comb through it, the hair should retain its shape, but feel softened

and have body.

When a wrap is done the right way, your hair will look as if it naturally falls into the

shape you’ve molded it into. The hair should be light and airy, free of product

buildup and your comb should run through it easily without snagging or pulling.

A perfect mold will leave your hair looking like it grows from you head and falls

into the position it’s molded into.

I feel like we have established the baseline for the actual molding process. So far

we’ve covered what a short hair wrap is, what the benefits of it are, why you should

wet wrap your hair and how it should look when it’s executed perfectly.

There’s nothing left to do, but to jump into breaking down each step. Read the

following steps carefully. I suggest going over them a few times before you try it on

your own hair. The more you read and familiarize yourself with these steps, the more

confident you will feel when you try it.

STEP-BY-STEP

Step 1

The very first thing you want to do is to wash and condition your hair. Use a

moisturizing conditioner and shampoo. After you wash and condition, thoroughly

rinse your hair to ensure there is no leftover product remaining on the strands.

After you’re sure you got it all out, apply a deep conditioner. If it calls for heat, apply

heat. I want to emphasize here again, rinse your hair well. Conditioners and deep

conditioners tend to leave residue on the strands of your hair. It’s a light coating.

There isn’t anything wrong with this, but for a wrap to perform well on relaxed hair,

you want to remove all of that. So, I’ve told you, if you don’t rinse well and your

wrap is limp, you will know why.

Step 2

Now that the hair is clean, conditioned and free of product, take a large comb and

gently rake the hair into the position of your final mold. This is a preliminary step,

so please don’t stress yourself about how it looks or how well you manipulate it into

position.

The point of this step is to eliminate the need to tug and pull on wet hair with product

in it as you try to redirect it into the position of your final molded wrap.

I do not use leave in conditioner most of the time. This is a personal preference,

however, additional products on naked hair can impact the outcome of the wrap as

they tend to slightly change the way the wrapping foam performs.

That being said, if you buy a complete line of products from a particular brand, those

products are usually formulated to work well together. In that instance, a leave-in

conditioner may be applied and it may not cause any less than stellar results.

Another point here is that, when your hair is in a healthy state, you won’t need the

assistance of additional products to produce a certain result. If your hair is colored

or bleached or over processed, then by all means, please take the necessary steps to

enhance your strands prior to wrapping your hair.

Now, onto the next.

Step 3

Here is where you want to decide where your part or starting point will be. Many

popular styles don’t have a defined part. However, if you are new to things, don’t be

afraid to part your hair into sections. It will make wrapping the hair easier for you

and you can always go back and disguise a part later.

Once you have a starting point you’re ready to apply your foam.

Step 4

Ok. Now you should have the hair combed roughly into position and you have your

part or starting point mapped out. Now you want to take a few pumps of whatever

wrapping product you’re using and apply it to a small section of your head. You will

be working in sections, so don’t drown your entire head in wrapping foam right

away.

Working in sections will help you achieve a smooth mold and it will prevent over

use of product. When you haphazardly apply foam all over your head, you have to

mold your entire head of hair before any of the product begins to set. This is not easy

to do for beginners, or even pros sometimes.

To make things easier, work in sections and only apply foam to the next section

when you’re ready to begin wrapping. Another good thing about working in sections

is that you can rewet hair that may dry. If you need to rewet naked hair, it’s no big

deal. You can rewet it and then apply foam when you’re ready to mold that section.

If you apply foam all over your head and then a section dries before you get to it,

you will have to rewet hair that already has product in it. That leaves you with a less

than ideal starting point.

Step 5

Now you have applied foam to your first section, from your part or your starting

point, take a small toothed comb and comb the section of hair into position. With

this first stroke, focus on positioning the hair exactly where you want it to fall. Think

about when you are curling the hair and where you would want that section of hair

to fall for the style.

Now, go back over that section with your comb again. This time make sure the teeth

of the comb are touching your scalp and that you are getting a smooth stroke. If you

need to comb through it again, don’t be afraid to do so. Just make sure you end up

with the section lying just the way you want the final style to fall.

When you are comfortable with where the section of hair is positioned, take your

hand and gently smooth over the section. This should do two things. One, it should

smooth out any marks in the wet hair that were left behind by the teeth of the comb.

Two, it should push out any excess foam. Both these steps are critical in how smooth,

sleek and shiny your overall style will turn out.

Step 6

Move on to the next section of hair and repeat these steps on each new section. At

this point don’t worry if the sections look disjointed. I will tell you how to connect

them all later. For now, continue to focus on laying the hair into position and

smoothing. Comb, smooth. Comb, smooth. Comb, smooth.

Step 7

When you look in the mirror, you should have a head full of smoothed out sections

of wet hair with foam applied.

For some styles, you won’t need to go back in and do any adjusting. If you are happy

with your wrap at this point, you can move on to the next step. If, however, you do

need to create one solid mold, we’re going to do that now.

Where any two sections of your hair meet, and there is an obvious split or break

between the sections, you want to take your hand and gently go over the obvious

split. Sometimes this is enough to disguise the break or to bring the two separate

sections together.

If that doesn’t do the trick, take your small comb again and gently comb just the line

where the two sections meet. You don’t want to rake hard and you don’t want the

teeth touching your scalp at this point.

What you’re trying to do is simply blend the two sections, first. Try to think of it this

way: If you poured one cup of cake batter into a Pyrex dish and then went back and

poured another cup of cake batter into the dish and there was a spot where you could

see a line in between where the two cups of batter merged, you would take a spatula

and gently go over the top layer to blend that line out. That’s exactl what you’re

doing here. You wouldn’t take the spatula and jam it down so that it touched to

bottom of the Pyrex dish. You would keep the spatula on the surface and only touch

that top layer.

Do that to blend the two sections of hair. When you see that the line of demarcation

has disappeared, take a little foam on your hand and with the same motion you used

with the comb, rub the foam onto the top of where the two lines met. Smooth the

foam out like you did in Step 6.

This should do the trick. Repeat this anywhere you see a hard line between sections.

Step 8

Your entire head should be molded now. Take your hands and run them under some

water from the sink. You don’t want them dripping, but your hands should be wet

when you do this.

Take your hands and gently go over your entire wrap. Smooth the hair on your edges

down, smooth the hair at the nape of your neck and smooth the hair on your forehead.

Look for any flyaway pieces you may have missed.

If you step back and look at your wrap from all angles, you should be able to see any

hairs that are not lying in the right direction. Your entire head of hair should look

like a helmet and it should be one cohesive piece. If it’s not, don’t fret. It takes a few

tries to get it perfect and you will see any mistakes you made when the hair is dry.

Once your hair is dry, if you notice mistakes or pieces of hair that are out of place,

you will be able to tell what you did wrong and the next time you wrap your hair,

you will be able to easily correct that error.

Don’t be discouraged, just keep trying.

Step 9

You’ve done it! You’ve wrapped your short relaxed hair! Woo hoo! That’s good,

but you’re not quite out of the woods just yet. Now you have to apply wrapping

strips to this wet head of perfectly wrapped hair.

This can get tricky. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve destroyed a perfectly good

wrap by applying my wrap strips wrong.

Take notes here and be careful.

Take your wrap strips and tear them apart. They come in one continuous roll with

perforations in between each sheet. Go ahead and tear off at least four strips. Place

them on a dry surface. If your sink is wet from your wrapping your hair, put a towel

over the counter and place your strips on top of the towel.

Take the first strip and with one end in each hand, stretch it just a little bit. You

don’t’ want to pull it to the point where it loses its shape, but you do want to lengthen

it a bit.

While holding the strip with one end in your right hand and one end in your left

hand, place the wrap strip behind your head. Don’t let it touch your wet hair yet. If

you’re facing your mirror you should have both hands held above your shoulders

with the wrap strip behind the middle of the back of your head.

Carefully place the strip on the widest part of the back of your head. You don’t want

to place it low, on the nape of your neck and you don’t want to place it too high, near

the crown of your head. As the strip touches your wet hair, it will give a little, so be

sure not to tug on the ends. Just hold the ends of the wrap strip, but don’t pull because

you will tear the strip and likely disturb your wrap in the process.

Once the strip is on the back of your head, it will kind of stick, because your hair is

wet and the strip is made of paper. Now, take your two hands and pull the ends of

the strips together so that they meet at your forehead. When you do this, you want

some tension on the sides of your head. The point of the wrap strip is to enhance

how flat and straight the hair lies while it dries.

You don’t want a loosely tied wrap strip, but you also can’t pull super hard, because

the paper will rip. You will be able to feel the tension you apply and over time you

will know how hard to pull without breaking the wrap strip. This is not something

that I can measure and put into words. Unfortunately, it’s just one of those things.

Once your hands meet at your forehead, tie the ends of the wrap strip together into

a knot. Here you want to make sure that as you tie the ends together, you’re not being

too rough or moving too much. What can happen is that you can actually shift the

top layer of hair on the sides if you are too rough when you are moving the strip

around as you create the knot at your forehead. As long as you pay attention and

watch yourself as you tie it, you should be fine.

This is another place where if you make a mistake and you see it when your hair is

dry, you will be able to see that you shifted the top layer of hair on your sides. So

the next time, you will be mindful and know to move the strip a little less when tying

the ends together.

You want to repeat this step with the other 3 wrap strips. The others are less intense

since you now have somewhat of a barrier between the bulk of your hair and the new

strips you’ll be applying.

Take the next strip and tie it higher up near the crown of your head. Take the third

strip and place it low, on the nape of your neck and bring the ends together in an

upward motion so that you tie them on your forehead as well. I don’t use 4 strips,

but some people do. If you see that there’s a section you want to cover, then use the

fourth strip to cover it.

NOTE: Be careful where your knots fall. If you tie the ends of your wrap strips into

knots that sit on any portion of your hair, there will be an indentation left behind

once your hair is dry. It’s not something that can’t be fixed, but it’s easier if you

don’t have to worry about it to begin with. After the first strip is placed, the other

knots should sit on top of that strip so that they’re not directly on the hair. The first

strip should be tied with a knot that falls onto your forehead, not your hair.

Step 10

Ta da! You’re done! You did it. Your short hair is wrapped and tied up. Now all

that’s left to do is sit under that hot ass dryer until it is completely dry. Don’t skimp

on the dry time either. I know sitting under the dryer sucks. I hate it too, but it’s so

necessary and the results really are 10 times better when you sit under there and let

your hair fully dry.

For me, 30 minutes does the trick. This will vary for everyone. The thickness,

density, length and porosity of your hair all play a part. And with that many variables

involved, there is no way to predict how long it will take for any one particular head

of hair to dry.

Ok ladies, that’s it. You should be off to a great start with these tips. If you liked

this, but you want more detail or if you’d like a visual of each step, sign up for my

eCourse How To Wrap Short Hair, that will be available in December (2016). In the

eCourse, I will go into even greater detail and I will give my personal tips on how I

make each step of the short hair wrap perfect, EVERY SINGLE TIME. The eCourse

will also include videos of each step with me narrating you through it all.

This eBook is a great start for beginners to get the hang of the basics, but to really

put this to use and cut out salon visits altogether, the eCourse is the right tool for you

to do that. And you will have the eCourse forever, so you can always reference the

videos and the narrated talk throughs.

To pre-register for the eCourse, click HERE and leave your name and email address.