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I was never the girl with curls. When I was younger, my hair was stick-straight, and it slowly got wavier and developed more texture as I grew up. But in the early '90s, my mom maintained a perm, and what little girl doesn't admire her mother's beauty routine? I can still smell the spritz of her Chance Chanel perfume that came right after she shook her curls loose from her bath towel. By the time she was ready to walk out the door and head to work, my mom's curls were dry — loose, wild, and pretty much what I thought hair should look like on a strong, powerful woman.
Enter Carrie Bradshaw, who I sneakily started watching on TV with friends in middle school, even though Sex and the City was supposed to be off limits. Carrie had hair like my mom's, only it was blond. She was small, but her hair was big and loud. I loved her outfits and wanted to dress like her, which was maybe, sort of, (eventually?) doable, and I loved her hair — but mine looked like Charlotte's, which is a far cry from Carrie's. Later in life, I dyed my hair blond from brunette, and while I've since gone through different stages — I scrunched my hair with Dep gel when that was a thing, gave bangs a whirl, and dabbled with curling wands — I've never quite figured out how to pull off "the Carrie."
Let me make something clear: I'm sort of a beauty dummy. I've never touched a dry shampoo bottle, laugh when people ask me if I have eyelash extensions, and haven't gotten a manicure since high school senior prom. Most fashion editors know a thing or two about beauty trends, but not me. I could never even dream up the products I'd need to attempt Carrie curls without tapping our POPSUGAR beauty team for advice.
After hashing out methods that have worked for me in the past, along with the exact look I was going for, we called in some samples and I put them to the test. I ended up devising a successful plan that consists of four steps (wash, scrunch, curl, diffuse) and takes me only 30 minutes. That was another goal of mine: since my normal routine is pretty low maintenance, I wanted to make sure I could easily pull off Carrie curls within the hour block it usually takes me to get ready after my shower ahead of a night out.
You may have to tweak this mini tutorial depending on your hair type — finding the best brands that work for you takes some trial and error — but for someone with semi-thick, long or medium length, wavy natural hair, this is your best bet.