Conair Hot Sticks (1989)

[jocelmeow.livejournal.com]

I didn't have a crimping iron, but I had a set of these! I never really figured out how to get the look they're advertising...I remember one time freshman year I twisted my hair, then set it on the Hot Sticks, thinking I'd get a nice tight curl. When I unwound it in the morning, it was tight, all right...like I'd just stuck my finger in a lamp socket. I didn't have enough time to wash it out and start over. I'll never forget the look the junior boy in my French class whom I had a crush on* gave me when I walked in. He looked like he couldn't figure out whether I'd done it on purpose or not. Humiliating!

I still have them, though. I could look stupid all over again!

Watch on YouTube

*Apparently my hairstyling disaster wasn't that bad, because he did eventually ask me out. I thought for sure he was pulling my leg, so I made a joke out of it. His wounded look told me he hadn't been kidding! Then I felt like an ass and couldn't find a way to turn it around to say yes. More humiliation!

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

How styles have changed: they look so good with their smooth hair before they start mucking about with it.

They don't really show how they worked though. What did you do with them? When was this - the 80s?

[jocelmeow.livejournal.com]

I got mine in 1989, and I think they had just come out. Notice the mention of "you don't have to perm," because perms were the style of the era. (I never permed because I had hair that held a curl really well, so I would just put mousse in my hair, then dry it upside down, scrunching it as I dried it, which gave a very perm-like effect.)

You use them by rolling your hair up on them, then putting one end of the stick through the loop at the top. There are some recent tutorials for these on YouTube - the one I ran across a while ago was this 40s-esque style (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwmqsRjm3lY) and here is someone using them for the first time (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68l-JUZwOGk).

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks! They seem to be really good for vintage styles and do what they're meant to very well. They can't be that hot though because people can hold them easily enough.

I like my straighteners though. I have messily wavy hair that just randomly sticks out if I don't straighten it and the smoother look suits me a lot better than curls but I bet those would do a good job on my hair.

[koneko-wish.livejournal.com]

The end without the loop was only plastic, without whatever was inside them -- so the middles heated up quite a bit more, but you could hold the ends comfortably.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

A good design then. The people who demoed them certainly seemed impressed with how well they work.

[jocelmeow.livejournal.com]

They are Really F'ing Hot in the middle - like curling iron hot. You have to be very careful when you start rolling them. The ends stay cool, though.

[stuberyl.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does seem like Taylor Swift is the only girl who sports this Hot Sticks hairstyle anymore.

[charlotterhys.livejournal.com]

omg. We had those. I got my hair all curled up with those for like, my fifth birthday. The curls fell out within thirty minutes.

Of course I had a childhood friend with the most perfect curly hair. >.>; Worst case of hair envy ever.

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

If your friend's hair was natural, I guarantee she hated it. Everyone I have ever known with naturally curly hair hated it, except for that girl from Charley Brown.

I really like that look back when it was popular and never could get that look either no matter what I did.

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

Oops: "Charlie" not "Charley"!

[charlotterhys.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she probably grew up to hate her hair. But at the time, Natalie really was one of those perfect little girls. She always dressed nice, her hair was always perfect, always nice and kind and fun to play with. I'd almost think I was making her up but my mom remembers her being perfect, too. XD

But yes. If you had dead-straight hair, you want curly hair, and if you have curly hair you want straight hair. I like all curly hair, though! African and non-African hair. I was in awe of all the little braids when I was younger, too. x3

[veronica-jay.livejournal.com]

This is true - I had the worst stick straight hair ever, and even using curlers would keep it curly at max for about three hours. I finally, in a fit of determination got a perm my senior year of high school, and ended up looking like a 70's or 80's hair band member. Which might not have been so bad if it wasn't the early 2000's :-/

[cremepuff.livejournal.com]

Perms. *Shudder*

[girlchild0aglow.livejournal.com]

I had those, and pretty much once a year, for five or six years, I would put them in, sleep in them, and take them out in the morning to great fanfare, expecting to have bouncy, tight, adorable curls. Instead, what I got was mad poodle frizz.

I think I still have these, even. BRB, gonna curl my hair for old time's sake.

[hootie-mcboobs.livejournal.com]

I never had these, but I did have a crimping iron. And oh lord, was that a bad, bad idea. I know the light-socket look well. Plus my hair would somehow hold the crimps, so that it looked hideous for like a week.

And your story is so adorably awkward. Or awkwardly adorable. Or both. :)

[viens-avec-moi.livejournal.com]

Every Conair hair styling tool I ever bought has been useless. I've had these, an iron with 2 different crimping plates and a straightening plate and a set of curling irons, and they never work, just fry my head.

[donnalee-kiss.livejournal.com]

Those are only going to really work well if your hair can hold some curl, and if you use a vent brush to brush it out a bit.

[whoseline_wlsc]

I remember seeing those at my house! I think one of my sisters had a set. Didn't seem used much, though.

[mystical-chickn.livejournal.com]

I think my mom had a set of those!


Also, perms. Gah. I got my hair permed (not by choice--at least, not my choice) when I was about ten or eleven (1989-1990), and it lasted about two years or so. Longest frigging two years of my life. I could not wait for it to grow out.

LOL

[xayeidemon.livejournal.com]

Available at this fine store!

CVS

[spuzzlightyear.livejournal.com]

That font, with the exclaimer, "Get on the hot sticks!" totally screams 80's porn.

[koneko-wish.livejournal.com]

I had these. Every time I tried them, my hair would get stuck on the rubber, get all tangled, and usually wind up pulling some of it out.

They got pretty warm, but didn't -stay- that way, so by the time I was done rolling up each chunk, they weren't that hot anymore.

And there weren't enough of them! Maybe that was just me. Even when my hair isnt very long, everyone tells me I have a lot of hair, so I guess that could just be my problem to deal with. XD

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

Ah, they were out of my price range. I used them once because someone in the dorm had them and they were awesome, but I had a couple of years of rag-rolling experience to fall back on.

Didn't stay curled though. Walked outside and it was back to flat

[anagramofbrat.livejournal.com]

Hahaha I'm pretty sure if I went through my parents house I'd still find mine. They were excellent for bangs... for 2 hours anyway.

[christies-world.livejournal.com]

haha!! This boy I liked asked me to prom in high school and I thought he was kidding too so I gave him a withering look and said "Are you joking?"

Turns out he wasn't. He's still my boyfriend....

weird...

[radteacherally.livejournal.com]

its like they are....time warping backwards and forwards....all in the same commercial.

2010...1985.....2010....

I wonder if they knew they'd be sporting those "boring styles" in 25 years?