A few days ago I found an article on how to create headband curls and I knew I was going to have to give it a try. I tried to locate the article again so that I could link it to my post, but I can’t seem to find it now. I guess the lesson there is, always bookmark! Since I can’t link to it I will go ahead and give you my tutorial instead.
Now remember that my hair is extremely fine and doesn’t hold curl so your results may differ and you may not have to follow all of my steps exactly.
I started with wet hair, added my volumizing mousse, thermal protection cream and then dried my hair till it was almost dry. If I was to let my hair dry naturally this is how it would look. I told you it was straight.
Next, I slid my elastic headband around the top of my head, making sure that I arranged my bangs under the band in the position I was satisfied with. Once I had the headband on and my bangs sorted I made my first curl by grabbing a section of hair. I wanted bigger waves so I am using a larger section of hair. As I understand it, the smaller the sections of hair, the smaller and tighter the curls.
I looped that section of hair over and then under the band pulling it all the way through and then adding that to the next section and then pulling that one over and under the band until I got to the back. 
Do both sides first before doing the back.
When I got to the back I continued by doing one side then the other alternately until I was left with one section in the middle.
I wrapped my last section around the band twice, this is dependent upon how long your hair is, then tucked the last of the section into the center of the curl beside it.
Once I had all of my hair tucked into the band I could either spray it with a veil of hairspray or simply let it rest. I hit my hair with a shot of spray then blasted it with my hair dryer for a few minutes on medium heat just to get the hair warm around the band. If you are doing this overnight you can use slightly damp hair and just let it rest until morning. I left mine in the band for a few hours while going about my day as normal, occasionally hitting it with a little more heat from my dryer to set the curls.
Once my hair was dry, (this could be when you get up for those leaving the band in overnight) I removed the headband by pulling it off from front to back and release the curls gently by tugging lightly at them to remove them from the band. DO NOT yank the band from your head because it will only tighten the curls around the band and pull your hair out.
Once I released my curls from the band I had a few options on how to proceed. I was happy with the body that the band left but wanted more definition in the waves so I pulled out my trusty flat-iron and following the curves of each section gave them just a bit more tightness.
If you have thicker hair, or hair that is more prone to curl you can simply use a large styling brush to give your waves more definition by wrapping the curve of the curl around your brush smoothing as you go with your hand.
Once I achieved the amount of definition I wanted with my iron, which took about 3 or 4 minutes more, I sprayed my hair then bent at the waist and tossed my hair around a bit to release the curls naturally. I find that the more I touch the curls the faster they fall flat so I use the tossing technique which seems to keep them set, but adds more volume.
This could have been the finished product, but I decided that I wanted to pull the sides back with a couple of combs; you could use a headband or some bobby pins or whatever you like.
Here is the back.
And there you have it. A simple way to curl your hair involving little to no heat depending on what effect you desire. Next time I will try smaller sections on a smaller width band and see what effect that produces.
Update: 2/26/12
So I tried this technique again using a smaller width headband, smaller sections of hair and leaving it in overnight and I took pictures of the result. The curls were much tighter and stayed in for two days. So in my opinion I suggest leaving the headband in overnight, but will leave it to you to decide whether you like a wavier or curlier result.
Front
Back
cjackplay 
gonna try hope it works!
If it worked on my hair it can work on anyone’s. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck!
An amazing article, thanks for the writing.
Hi CJ! I have tried this headband curls a couple times by leaving it overnight. Sometimes, I just want to have this wave instantly that I was thinking to use hair dyer to set the curls (have heard that the key to get the curls is to unwrap the hair when it is completely dry). Have you ever try to use your hair dryer to set the curls? Just wondering how it would look like. I love this headband curl 🙂
I have tried using a hair dryer before with other techniques, like rag curls and pin curls, but it usually still remains wet on the interior of the roll unless you stay there drying for a very long time.
My suggestion, if you want to speed the process up, is to dry your hair until it is almost completely dry, (use a bit of light weight mousse or styling gel before it gets too dry) then put your hair in the band and run the dryer on high around the band area until your hair is warm to the touch. Let it set for as long as you can, hours if possible, then remove. If your hair isn’t completely dry it won’t work so the longer you can keep it up the better.
Thanks for reading! Let me know if this helps.
I have done the headband curls twice. Just like you- I have very straight hair. For some reason, even after making hair slightly damp/using moose/sleeping in headband overnight, my hair in the back will wave slightly, then fall straight with in the hour. My hair in the front curls great and holds all day. But the back is straight before i can even leave the house. I must be doing something wrong. Any suggestions?
How thick and long is your hair? When mine gets to a certain length it doesn’t matter what I do, it will go back to straight just from the weight of my hair and gravity. When I had long layers cut into the back it helped reduce the weight and gave me a thicker look while allowing for more manageability and easier styling. Could that be a possible problem for you as well?
I love how you did it, but am confused about the flat iron part. Could you explain that a little more?