Carolyn J. Braden • 4 Minute Read
How to Use a Heatless Jumbo Curler Set
Original article published: 8/15/24
Article updated to show my hair after sleeping in the curlers: 9/4/24
I am always experimenting with my hair. I love adding curls to my hair using hot tools, but I also love exploring heatless hairstyles too. I recently saw a set of 3 jumbo heatless curlers come up in my Temu shopping feed and wondered how merely 3 curlers could curl my hair. So, I bought the set and got right to work experimenting. Here’s how I curled my hair with a heatless jumbo curler set.
The final results of the three heatless curlers
I’ve written many articles and made lots of videos about heatless hairstyles. Sometimes your hair just needs a break from heat styling. My sponge roller tutorial still gets watched and saved on my YouTube channel and TikTok. I especially love my mermaid waves tutorial that comes together via Beachwaver Braid Balm and braiding your hair. See it in my article here or via my 1-minute YouTube video below or via my channel @carolynjbraden.
Heatless hairstyles sometimes is helpful if you are trying to grow your hair longer. Writer Clare Stephenson wrote an article about her experience for Women’s Health about how heatless curlers are very important in maintaining her long hair. She calls it a “heat detox” and says it can help rebuild and strengthen bonds that are damaged by heat tools.
My roller results after sleeping in them
If you heat style every day, you may want to consider giving your hair a heat detox too. Beauty brand Nexxus even wrote up a full tutorial for giving your scalp a detox too, which can help give your hair roots a good cleaning, which can be helpful too. Read about it here on the Nexxus website. You can do their DIY version or use a scalp scrub or clarifying shampoo like this one from Kristen Ess. We love many of her products.
The big curls lasted for a while
If you absolutely need curls in your hair, heatless curlers can help give your hair the same curl that a hot tool can, and may even give you more volume, like heatless curlers do for me. Now for my heatless curler tutorial. Granted, you can come up with your own method for rolling these into your hair, but my process is what worked for my hair, which is currently long, layered, naturally slightly wavy, highlighted and aging.
The rollers are very lightweight and soft
I used a set I got on Temu that was abot $7.50. If you shop Temu, use my link here and search “heatless rollers”. Use code afe55197 for 30% off (new app users only). Amazon and Walmart have similar roller sets and here are the links. Sometimes they are called “pillow rollers” and many sets come in lots of sizes for different lengths of hair:
Here’s how I did it. Please note, these rollers are quite large, so if your hair is shorter than shoulder length, you probably won’t be able to get all your hair wrapped around them, but you could certainly try to see what works for you. Mine were covered in a velvety material which had a bit of “grip” so I’d choose these over a satin covered one.
My heatless curling kit
First, I washed my hair and allowed it to air dry for a while. To speed up the drying, I used my Dyson dryer for a few minutes so it would not be soaking wet. I think rolling your hair when it’s slightly damp and allowing it to dry while rolled is easier and will help your hair curl better.
See my 1-minute video tutorial below or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:
If you get it too dry like I did, use a misting spray bottle to add some water back in. I added a bit of my favorite Beachwaver Braid Balm to help hold the curl, as it’s been effective for many of my heatless curl methods.
The front curler gives you a “rolled bang” look
I first separated the front section of my hair out using a comb, then I rolled the first roller from the ends of my hair to towards my forehead (in a downward rolling motion) and secured it using the hook and loop attachment that is at the end of each curler.
I then separated out a second section of my hair and rolled my hair from the ends to the root down towards the back of my head and secured it with the hook and loop. You can see how I wrapped it in my photo below.
Heatless roller #2
The bottom and last section of my hair was the trickiest because of the length of my hair. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get it tight enough to stay in my hair so I decided to roll it from the tip of my hair up towards my head and then I looped it around the second curler. That made it stay secure!
How I looped the bottom curler around the middle one
If you want it to naturally dry and curl, wrap the silky scarf (my set came with one) around your head and sit outside (if it’s nice) or sleep on them. The ones I bought were extremely soft and I think I could actually sleep comfortably on them.
Three curlers are in my hair
My husband said I looked like Rosie the Riveter as the roller in the front of my head definitely looked like rolled bangs. The scarf definitely secures that look. It’s cute and I could wear my hair like this while doing errands. You could not see the roller, so it just looks like a hairstyle choice.
A hair drying bonnet can speed up the drying process
If you don’t want to sleep on them, and you don’t mind adding some heat, you could use a hairdryer on a low heat setting and a bonnet. The bonnet slips over the curlers and you add your hairdryer to the tube connected to it. I did this to speed up the drying process. It did dry my hair out a bit, so if you are prone to dry hair, you may want to opt to let your hair naturally dry.
I sat in the sun for a little while to speed up the drying
After about an hour of the bonnet drying, I unrolled the rollers and was surprised to see some nice, big voluminous curls. My end pieces (the last curler I rolled) could have stood to be in my hair for a bit longer as it didn’t curl quite as well, but my overall curl experiment worked.
The finished result of my three heatless curlers
My hair ended up being big, curled and bit of hairspray made the style stick in my hair for a few hours in the Southwest Florida humid heat of August. Curls fall fast in the humidity here, even with hairspray. I do believe that if I had slept in the rollers, my curls would have been even more defined and would have lasted even longer.
The final look for my heatless curler style
If you are looking for heatless ways to curl your hair, I’d look into these. If anything, they will give your hair a volume boost and should add some curl to many hair types. If you have “uncurlable” hair like my mom’s, you may need to stick to heat tools. I love my multi-barrel Beachwaver and wrote about it here. Definitely check it out too!
Update: Results from Sleeping on the Rollers
How to Get Voluminous Curls While You Sleep
About a month after doing my tutorial with the hairdryer and the bonnet, I wondered what my results would be if I slept on the rollers.
Using a hair bonnet protects hair
I pretty much followed the same process as I wrote about it above. I washed and dried my hair until it was almost dry. I had a comment about this on my social media and the person demanded that I needed my hair to be wet while rolling my hair.
The overnight method left me with big volume
I cannot roll my hair when it is really wet. If that works for you, then great, but my hair is thick and long and will take literal DAYS to dry if I rolled it wet. Basically, do what works for you, but even my hair stylist said she does not roll wet hair.
These rollers give your hair curl without heat
I left my hair damp after drying (it was almost dry) and then rolled my hair in the three rollers. I now sleep in a silk hair bonnet, and I put that on to sleep in to protect my hair and to keep the rollers in better. I bought my bonnet at my hair salon, but you can get an adjustable bonnet similar to mine here on Amazon.
The curlers are best for mid-length to long hair
I slept fine in the rollers. I was afraid they may hurt my neck, but they were much more comfortable than most curlers. The next morning, I unrolled each roller to very similar results as I had with using the dryer bonnet.
My hair was SUPER BIG, even bigger than when I used the dryer. The style reminded me of Jessica Rabbit’s hair or maybe “Big Texas Hair”. The curls were about the same but the curls lasted longer and the volume did too. Maybe the time your hair is in the rollers is the key to making the results last longer, but remember, weather can affect hair too.
The curls give me Jessica Rabbit vibes
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Carolyn J. (C.J.) Braden is the owner of Carolyn’s Blooming Creations is a regular contributor and editor for CBC. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.