What Are Velcro Rollers - Best Tips & Tricks On Using Velcro Rollers

90s blowout is having a comeback, so do velcro rollers are making a comeback. they're on Tiktok, they're on Instagram and they are everywhere. Today we are going to learn everything we can about velcro rollers for your hair and virgin hair wigs as well.  Velcro rollers are probably new for a lot of you, here are tips and tricks to teach you the basics of how to use velcro rollers, how to like to not get them stuck and tangled in your hair and not have frizzy snarly ends.

What is a velcro roller?

Plastic roller with velcro on it. The velcro is there to help to grab your hair so that it just easily adheres to the roller and you can roll it right up on dry hair. The benefit of this over your typical plastic roller is that it gives you just enough grip that you're able to wrap the hair up easily without wetting the hair or anything beforehand. You can get them at your local beauty supply store some drugstores and definitely online. The benefit of using a velcro roller is that it lets your hair set to cool in its curled shape. That's important because your hair doesn't fully form the curl when it gets hot it forms the curl, once it cools down from getting hot. It's the process of breaking and then reforming your hydrogen bonds. We can use that to our advantage with the velcro roller to help our curls last better and achieve bigger volume.

The anatomy of a curl

Basically, you have three parts to every curl, you have the stem which is the area from your root to the first arc of the curl. The stem is important because it determines the direction that the curl is going to fall, its position also impacts the amount of volume that your hair can have. Because if the stem is pointing up this way, you're going to have a lot of volumes, whereas if it's pointing down this way you're going to have a lot less. This is also where we typically end up with creases from our clips, you never want to clip over the stem. The stem should always be perfectly straight in whatever direction it's going and uninterrupted. The curl is all of the hair that goes around the roller and the size of the curl is determined by the size of the roller. The bigger the roller the bigger the curl.

Then we have the base. the base is the rectangular section of hair that you pick up to curl and then wrap on a roller and the position of the roller in relation to that base section is going to tell you how much volume your hair is going to have. Because it impacts the stem, it's like the stem plus the base together shows you the volume. The most important thing about the base is that it always needs to be the size of the roller. So that is the anatomy of a curl.

How to place a curl?

1. There are three basic ways to place a curl and that is on base, half base, and off base. For on-base, you direct the hair to an obtuse angle. If you're doing your little mohawk section here and then you roll it back down and that ends up putting the roller directly on the section that you took to curl. That's going to give you the max amount of volume because the stem is right here it's very short and it immediately goes into the curl. So you get the curl closest to your root but also the stem is pointing up and that gives you the most volume.

2. Next, you have a half base and for half base, you're just going to go straight up or straight to the sides. Basically straight out imagine your hair is a chia pet and go that way. Then you roll it up and the roller is going to be sitting half on the section that we took and half below in order to get you half the volume. The stem is a little bit longer, so the curl starts a little further away from the scalp and it's not as over directed or as straight-up, so it's going to have a little bit less.

3. The final version is off-base. For that one, you make an acute angle. If you have a side section, the section would actually be pointed downwards at a 45-degree angle and then you would roll it up or if you were going straight back it would be going backward at a 45-degree angle. Basically the opposite of on base and that will have it set directly under or behind the section that you took to curl your hair that is going to be the least amount of volume. The longest amount of space between the root and the curl. 

If you're doing some tight curls, you want to keep that in mind because you might end up with a really big straight piece and then little tiny curls might not be the goal whereas if you're doing something that's a lot looser and you don't quite want as much volume that could be a good option to condense all of the base placement in case that's confusing and overwhelming. Basically the higher you lift your hair before you wrap it, the more volume you get. The lower you wrap it, the less you get.

How to avoid common problems when using velcro rollers?

1.Never take a section of hair larger than your roller

The roller is your measuring stick when you stick it down on your head, your section should never be any wider or longer than your roller. The reason for that is one so you have the correct amount of hair on your roller, but two to keep everything really clean because if you have hair that's attaching from other places and getting stuck in other areas of the roller when you go to unravel it. It's going to get stuck and it might even get tangled and hard or impossible to remove. So keeping it clean and just very tidy helps everything to be a lot easier.

2. Always clip your rollers in place

Because over time they do start to sag and so even if it's perfectly placed here. Just getting some little duckbill clips, and you just clip the roller to the hair underneath it and you're good to go.

3. Use a hair oil for more slip

You’d better use a hair oil either while your hair is damp or just before doing this, just because it makes your hair a little bit more slippery and less likely to get caught and tangled in the velcro. Another thing that is very important to remember is to wrap lightly, that means that you're gonna get your hair around the roller but you're not going to be like pulling away from your head and making it as tight as you possibly can. You do that with a wet set when your hair is wet and then you're drying it in rollers, but if you do it with the velcro you're going to be netting your hair in with the velcro and it's a lot harder to take it back out afterward. So wrap lightly!

4. Don't sleep in velcro rollers

Some people are recommending sleeping in velcro rollers, which sounds like a bad idea. If you are a messy sleeper, you would have no hair by the next day. There would be a viral story and the sixth hairstylist it took to remove the velcro rollers from your head.

5. Getting a trim to avoid frizz

If you find that there are a lot of tangles especially at the ends, just consider getting a trim. That can really help just in general, but the more wispy the hair, the easier it is to get caught and tangled in the velcro rollers.