How I Got Carrie Bradshaw Curls in GIFS

Curly hair — (Image credit: Marie Claire)

Like most young twentysomethings, I've idolized Carrie Bradshaw since my first brush with Sex and the City (I'd secretly watch it through the crack of the door to my parents' bedroom every Sunday night). I was enamored with everything about her — her style, her friends, her wit, her apartment, but most of all, her blonde, curly hair. At the time, I had a tangly, golden mane of my own — I resented it since birth having grown up with sisters and friends who had effortless, pin-straight hair. But Bradshaw brought me solace. Perhaps, I too, was The Way We Were's Katie with a mess of complicated c-c-c-curls.

Since then, both Bradsaw and I have undergone major hair transformations (and many a Keratin treatment) and essentially left our kinkiest tresses behind. Recently, however, I've been longing to go back to my wild, childhood coiffure. I have yet to master a curling iron, I visited hairstylist Halli Bivona at the John Barrett Salon armed with two things: a video clip of Season 2 Bradshaw and my 3rd grade school photo, seeking an easy technique for getting those big, unbridled curls.

Step 1: On dry hair, make a large section from hairline to behind your ear and pin the rest of your hair back.

Step 2: Take small sections and curl hair around the barrel of a 1 inch curling iron from root to mid-shaft.

Step 3: As you're loosening the curl from the barrel, continue to twist the hair.

Step 4:While curls cool, spray a wet texture hair spray, like John Barrett's hold hairspray, liberally all over.

Step 5: Once curls have cooled, tilt your head back and rake fingers through curls and shake them up. Don't be afraid to fluff the curls, with this look the messier it is the better!

Step 6: C-c-c-curls!

Lauren Valenti is Vogue’s former senior beauty editor. Her work has also appeared on ELLE.com, MarieClaire.com, and in In Style. She graduated with a liberal arts degree from Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts, with a concentration on Culture and Media Studies and a minor in Journalism.