Crimped Hair Review: Stylish Momma or Mufasa Look-a-like?

I'm really into the big crimped hair - what you'd see from overnight, medium sized braids, but I'm not always a huge fan of having to braid my hair the night before. I don't like the separation lines either, which more often than not expose my scalp. Not cute.

So I've been looking for a solution to my problem. While heat isn't always the answer - and it's slightly more damaging to my hair than just braiding it - I wanted to be able to sport the poofy look even when I haven't braided my hair. Well during my Goodwill trip on Tuesday (see that haul HERE) I found a relatively cheap hair crimper. Eagerly excited, but constantly busy, I finally got to test it out today! 

It's been known as the 90's hair style, but I was really hopeful that it would mimic my braided look. With a little bit of patience and about 30 minutes of my time, I took the effort to crimp my entire head. Even after my realization that it may not have been the greatest idea ever. 

First off I separated my hair into sections after spraying on a heat protector, I plugged in the iron and got to work. With the heat on level 5 (out of 10), my first press gave me a good idea that this was a highly potential fail. With a shine still semi-present, I just kept on going. Similar to the infamous Dory scene.

In the beginning my hair was straight/wavy with no volume. After crimping I can say one good thing, I got volume. That's about all the good I can give though.

My hair had very little shine left and it seemed as if this had literally sucked the life out of my hair. I sincerely felt as if I had stuck my finger in a light socket, but I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Each little wave was too tight and the smell was incredibly nauseating. Even my padawan said it smelt like cat. I cleaned it and cleaned it and cleaned it prior to using it, but it wreaked of regret. If regret smelled.

After the 30 minute wasted time, I ended up with a full head of crimped, nasty smelling, overly volumized hair. Not to mention a dry mess. 

There was absolutely no styling this insane Mufasa mane, no matter how much I tried. Plus the smell was starting to make me physically ill. 

To relieve my hair of his torment and my stomach, I jumped into the shower and moisturized the crap out of it. I did two treatments after a long shampoo, then sprayed it with a leave in conditioner. Thankfully my hair started to revive itself and didn't hold to much resentment towards me. 

While it truly does suck that this crimper didn't alleviate any braiding pains, you live and learn. $3 down the drain, but knowledge is invaluable. As they always say, look on the bright side. Personally I feel like this isn't a look that they can bring back, but you never know. Perhaps someone can make this work, but it's definitely not me.