Do TikTok ‘Bathrobe Curls’ Actually Work? We Tried the Heatless Curls Trend to Find Out
Amy Clark is Adore Beauty's former Senior Editor and co-host of Skincare School the podcast (and self-appointed beauty road-tester!). Amy's worked as a journalist, beauty editor and podcaster for several years, previously writing and talking about all things beauty at Mamamia and You Beauty. When she's not writing honest, no BS product reviews and taking selfies 'for work', you'll find Amy eating halloumi in a hair towel turban and... taking more selfies.
Anyone else spend way too long watching TikTok beauty trends and other random videos before bed? Same.
Sorry, that's a lie. I'm way too old for TikTok.
But when I found myself with a Saturday afternoon and zero plans not too long ago, I decided to try out the TikTok 'bathrobe curls' trend popping up in my feed.
What are bathrobe curls, you ask? Excellent question.
Keep scrolling for my bathrobe curls tutorial and heatless waves before and after photos.
What Are Bathrobe Curls?
Remember rag curls? Bathrobe curls are exactly the same.
Bathrobe curls are a pretty decent way to get heatless waves overnight, without using a curler, straightener, curling wand or any heat tools.
While your mum might've used torn up bits of fabric to give you heatless curls as a kid, the young people on TikTok are using the belts from their bathrobes.
Such is the power of TikTok, you can now buy heatless curls sets that essentially mimic the bathrobe tie effect.
Kitsch The Satin Heatless Curling 3 Set comes with a luxe satin tube (for lack of a better word) and two satin scrunchies.
It's super comfy to sleep in and the satin fabric helps to reduce frizz and breakage.
We'll get to our Kitsch heatless curlers review a bit later...
You can check out our TikTok beauty trend bathrobe curls tutorial in our YouTube video below!
TikTok Bathrobe Curls Tutorial.
To try this TikTok beauty trend at home, you'll need:
- Kitsch The Satin Heatless Curling 3 Set OR grab the tie from a bathrobe.
- A hair serum - KEVIN.MURPHY Young Again Immortelle Infused Treatment Oil 100ml is the one I used.
- A hair dryer to rough dry prior to styling - you can skip this if you want truly heatless curls.
- A sea salt texture spray - O&M Surf Bomb Sea Salt Spray and ELEVEN Australia Sea Salt Texture Spray - 200ml are my top picks.
How to Do Bathrobe Curls.
Here's your step-by-step instructions on how to do bathrobe curls.
Watch the video above for a visual reference, or read on for the step-by-step:
Step 1: Rough dry your hair to about 80-90 per cent dry. Focus on drying your roots. (Want heatless curls? Skip this step and air dry.)
Step 2: Spray a sea salt spray through your hair for grit and texture, and run a hair smoothing serum through your lengths and ends to avoid frizz.
Step 3: Part your hair as you'd like it and split your lengths into two sections. Grab your heatless curler (or bathrobe tie). Pop it over your head so it's sitting like a headband. Secure one side of your hair and the tie into a ponytail to keep it in place.
Step 4: Starting at the front of your hair on the other side, take a section of hair and wrap it around the tie, away from your face.
Step 5: Pick up a second section of hair and wrap both around the bathrobe tie - the technique is similar to braiding. Continue until all your hair is wrapped around the bathrobe tie with two inches left out at the end.
Step 6: Secure your hair to the bathrobe tie with a coiled hair tie or a silk scrunchie to avoid hair tie marks. Repeat on the other side, always wrapping the hair away from the face.
Step 7: Go about your day/evening as you are, or secure your two sections into Princess Leia-style buns.
Step 8: After five to six hours, or overnight, gently unwrap your hair and remove the bathrobe tie. Brush the curls out with your fingers or a wide tooth comb, and add any styling products as you wish. Fin.
Bathrobe Curls Before & After.
Hold on, because my TikTok curls before and after journey is WILD.
After hanging out and sleeping in my bathrobe curls for well over 15 hours, the initial results were very defined, coiled curls.
My mum reckoned they looked like the natural curls I used to have before I dried all the life out of my hair with heat styling.
A few hours later, the curls started to soften and drop, and by the end of the day, I had EXACTLY the kind of waves I'd get if I used my straightener or curling wand.
The waves were big, loose and relaxed - just how I like 'em.
These waves lasted me another day or two, so in total, I got three days out of my bathrobe curls, and that's without using any styling products to hold the waves post-bathrobe.
My clever colleague Maddy gave this heatless curling trend a try using the Kitsch The Satin Heatless Curling 3 Set and guys, she says it's a game-changer.
"I was sceptical as to whether this would work on my long, fine hair, but I was a convert the first morning I woke up with gorgeous, heatless curls."
"The volume lasted for a few days, it's honestly so good."
"Pro tip: If you have bangs or long layers around the face, wind them up into a velcro hair roller, and then pop the headband thing through and wrap your hair normally."
Here's Maddy's results. STUNNING.
Our Verdict on This Heatless Curls Hack...
It's a yes from me. If you can be effed.
It's also a BIG yes from Megan in our Social and Content team, who as you would've seen in our TikTok beauty hacks YouTube video above (seriously, go back and watch it), was vibing her Farrah Fawcett hair.
Maddy highly rates the satin heatless curls set, too.
If I was going to do this style again, I would grab the kit and leave the bathrobe tie.
So, if you have absolutely nothing to do, might as well get on this TikTok beauty trend.
It's a good time.
Want more tried and tested beauty road tests? Check out these trial and review stories from our Adore Beauty staff below!
