4 Tips To Achieve The Perfect Curly Afro With Perm Rods

There are few things greater than finally forming your hair into a perfect big, curly afro. Of course it comes with a lot of manipulation, tweaks, and styling for certain looks, but it’s so worth it when our hair FINALLY comes out like the tutorial.

Styling a curly afro tends to be one of the more difficult styles to achieve because the curls never really come out how we imagined, we can never get the volume how we really want, our hair becomes incredibly frizzy, among many other things.

However, all of these problems can be easily solved and you’ll have your desired hairstyle in no time! Below are 5 tips to help you achieve the perfect curly afro with perm rods*.

1. Pick the right rod size

Before you just start throwing all types of rods and clips in your hair, you need to determine how big you want your afro and how tight or loose you want your curls. If you want a super defined voluminous afro, try using smaller perm rods*. If you’re looking for a Diana Ross-inspired, loose curl look, then maybe you should go a lot bigger–perhaps a perm rod that looks like an average hair roller.

Keep in mind that you’re not only picking the right rod size for the look, but also for your hair length. Obviously tiny curls are going to look a lot different on someone with a TWA when compared to someone with waist length hair; so make sure you adjust the sizing so you can get as close to your desired look as possible.

2. Make sure the rods are placed correctly

Often times your afro isn’t coming our correctly because your rolling all of your rods in the same direction. In reality, you need to be rolling them in a way that is going to add volume and compliment your features.

For an example, you have a thin crown so you roll the perm rods* away from your face so you can tease the roots and work in volume. However, you also rolled the rods away from your face in the front and now your afro doesn’t sit right. What you should have done was rolled the rods towards your face so that your curls would fall forward and not back.

Depending on the look you’re going for, you’ll probably need to adjust the rods around your face and on the crown of your head accordingly.

3. Use a blow dryer and diffuser

Women usually shy away from diffusers and blow dryers* because they tend to create an awful amount of frizz and using heat is a big no-no; but when used correctly, they can try your roots faster and add volume to the crown of your head.

If you do any type of perm rod set or twist out then you know how much of a pain it can be to unroll/twist out your hair and part of your scalp are still damp. Damp hair really affects your curl pattern and can potentially ruin your whole look.

To eliminate this problem, start blow drying your hair with a cool shot while it is still in the perm rods*. This way, the drying process is sped up and you can absolutely make sure that the roots of your hair are going to be dry by the time you’re ready to take the perm rod set out.

After you blow dry and let down your curls, add your favorite styling products, and then place the diffuser* directly on your roots and start blow drying. Place the diffuser* anywhere that needs a little extra volume.

The products you use beforehand, like a conditioning pomade or light hair mist, should take care of the frizz. Make sure you don’t use a heavy product or dampen your hair too much because it will take away the body and fluff of your afro.

4. Pick at the roots 

Behind every great afro is an even greater hair pick! They’re an age-old styling method that is an absolute necessity when trying to achieve the perfect afro. Afro picks are great for perfectly separating curls, adding volume, and making sure the length of your hair is even all the way around.

When you first let down your curls from the perm rod, they are super tight and defined; using an afro pick to pluck at the roots would allow you to bring out the rest of the length without compromising curl definition and making your hair undesirably frizzy. They are also a great tool to use when you want to loosen up and shake down your curls a little bit.

Like with every other hair tool, be careful when teasing around your roots because they can experience damage if they are manipulated too much. If you are a little weary about picking your roots, tease an area right before you reach your roots or use a really soft paddle brush* to tease your hair.