Find out about this method to create curl structure prior to diffusing or air drying

It may sound like some new exercise trend, but “plopping” refers to a method of helping to create curl structure prior to diffusing or air drying, and the method has become a favorite among NaturallyCurly.com members.
As described by a member, after you wash and condition the hair, you apply product to wet hair and get ready to plop.
- Put a t-shirt or Aquis towel down on a chair — some use the toilet with seat down.
- Leaning over the towel/t-shirt with your head hanging down, bent over from your waist, position the wet hair onto the towel so the curls are all concentrated on top of the head.
- Then, pull the towel taut against the top and sides of the head, grabbing the two sides and twisting them into long sausage rolls near each ear.
- Take these rolled up towel extensions and pull them to the nape of the neck and secure them by tying them together.
Need a non-terry towel? Look no further!
Curl-ease towels are available here.
Says one reader, “Then I put go about my morning routine — makeup, coffee, etc. The towel helps to absorb excess water while letting the curls ‘set’ into clumps. When you take the towel off, gently shake down the curls and diffuse ‘s’ shaped, individual curly locks, with some volume at the roots.”
If you want extra control, another member suggests spritzing on on some spray gel, or scrunch in a bit more gel after you take the towel off.
Catch the video below to see how it’s done!
This entry was posted on Friday, August 16th, 2002 at 4:38 pm and is filed under Care Methods, Hairstyles, Products. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment.




March 7th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
[...] I use it with a technique called ‘plopping’ or ‘plunking’ and my waves come out great afterward! Naturallycurly.com: Where curls come to life! Demo Videos-Curl-Enhancing Styling Products-Moisturizing Conditioners ^other great how-tos besides [...]
June 14th, 2008 at 3:48 am
[...] my waves and wear it natural most of the time now. I learned how to do so from these two sites: Naturallycurly.com: Where curls come to life! Demo Videos-Curl-Enhancing Styling Products-Moisturizing Conditioners (the Plunking video) It [...]
September 10th, 2008 at 10:31 am
[...] afternoon, I read the article that I linked to above, and learned about ‘plopping‘ so I used a spray bottle to wet my hair, and tried ‘plopping’ before going to [...]
September 28th, 2008 at 6:10 am
[...] only wash, slapped on an intense conditioning treatment, added gel and leave-in conditioner, then plopped for 20 minutes (a perfect time to get the apple pie I had made out of the oven and devour it with [...]
October 7th, 2008 at 7:19 am
[...] lot of people with curly hair, both afro textured and other, like to do a method called “plopping“. Plopping was a no go for me. Turning my hair upside down did not yield results that I [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:39 am
[...] eher vermeiden, viele Lockenk
January 30th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
[...] fast-forward a few months. I have a Curlease towel that I love to use for plopping, the material was a bit thin for scrunching moisture out of my hair, and I was in no mood to have [...]
May 3rd, 2009 at 11:28 pm
[...] My hair was dramatically more curly and looked nice with almost no work. Just a shower and a plop and my hair looked like [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
[...] ospänstiga liksom. Oh well. Körde igång. Tvättade bara med balsam, packade in det ofta och ploppade det varje [...]
July 15th, 2009 at 11:54 am
[...] How could I not know about all this stuff – about The Curl Whisperer and homemade flaxseed gel and plopping and Deva cuts and Ouidad cuts and everything else???!?!? It’s enough to make a [...]
July 27th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
[...] change. Shortly thereafter I also discovered NaturallyCurly.com, where I learned even more: plopping, a more detailed hair-typing system, new products to try, and [...]
September 14th, 2009 at 9:44 am
[...] possibility is plopping. CurlTalker Littleamazon says “I’ve heard a lot of good things about plopping (the [...]
November 16th, 2009 at 7:35 am
[...] explain “plopping”. I referenced it once in this post, but here’s a picture from NaturallyCurly.com that’s very helpful. Plopping is supposed to help the hair dry and encourage curl [...]
December 15th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
[...] details because I read on the Curly Girl Method that you should use a non-terry towel to ‘plop‘ your hair because it absorbs too much water. I find that it’s perfectly OK to use a [...]
February 28th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Hard to understand these instructions actually. Can someone make a video of it, and put it on here so that we can see it being done. That would help. Thanks!
April 5th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
[...] Specialist, Jennifer to a technique called plopping. We are totally addicted and want to pass this technique on to all you curly girls. Jennifer and I have had great results with our own hair and find that [...]
April 22nd, 2010 at 11:23 am
Will someone do a video for us? Pretty please? Email me at gretchen@naturallycurly.com if you’re interested.
April 30th, 2010 at 6:45 am
[...] are the perfect texture to keep your cuticle unruffled. Pair these towels with the “ploppling” tecnique and you will have the best curl formation you have ever seen. Plopping/plunking [...]
May 11th, 2010 at 1:16 am
[...] To Plop or Not to Plop (I plop and use an Aquis towel – awesome little guy!) [...]
July 25th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
[...] article “To Plop or Not to Plop”, http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/tips/to-plop-or-not-to-plop – research [...]
July 27th, 2010 at 2:49 am
[...] article “To Plop or Not to Plop”, http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/tips/to-plop-or-not-to-plop – research [...]
August 11th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
…people with extremely curly hair have been doing this for years… but saying some people prefer to plop over the toilet is just comic genius, lol
August 16th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
[...] Go HERE for both a diagram and a video to explain how to plop! [...]
November 3rd, 2010 at 8:18 pm
[...] silicone-free hair products, blow dryers (Ionic? Ceramic? Wait, why tourmaline?), diffusers, plopping, pixiecurl diffusing, Deva cuts… Good grief. It’s almost enough to throw me back into [...]
January 8th, 2011 at 11:48 pm
[...] almost to using my curlformers only not so big. Plopping (also called plunking) is this: How To Plop | NaturallyCurly.com I think you'll like it RNP, as it really encourages waves and curls! I use a big soft tshirt [...]
March 16th, 2011 at 5:27 pm
[...] [...]
March 30th, 2011 at 2:14 am
[...] Dry by wrapping in a towel (“plopping“) [...]
April 18th, 2011 at 12:02 am
[...] So… it’s taking FOREVER for my hair to dry. I’m mastering the plop, but seriously, I don’t have 4 or 5 hours to sit around in a plop in the morning! But if I [...]
May 4th, 2011 at 10:16 am
[...] your plopping purposes, here’s a great vid: Sources: Essence.com, ApparelSearch.com, NaturallyCurly.com, Hotheads, Microfiber Towels, Marathon Books, CurlEase, Home Depot /**/ [...]
May 28th, 2011 at 5:47 pm
[...] Essence.com, ApparelSearch.com, NaturallyCurly.com, Hotheads, Microfiber Towels, Marathon Books, CurlEase, Home [...]
June 5th, 2011 at 10:37 am
[...] Plopped for about half an hour while I dressed and ate breakfast. [...]
June 30th, 2011 at 3:49 am
[...] sito naturallycurly.com troverete la descrizione in inglese del plopping window.fbAsyncInit = function() { [...]
July 19th, 2011 at 7:44 pm
[...] my hair still sopping wet, I put it in a “plop” and leave it in the towel for a half hour or so. I know, all this stupid new terminology. What [...]
August 16th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
[...] I just apply product directly to the wet hair, but sometimes I use a process called plopping. The name is weird, but it’s a curly-girl secret that works wonders in terms of reducing [...]
September 12th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
[...] to try something called “plopping”. We’ll cover that later, in the interim try these instructions This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. ← It’s Self [...]
November 11th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
[...] single one of my hair care products is doing bad things to my hair and also giving me zits. And I learned about plopping. In fact, as soon as I learned about plopping, I had to try [...]
December 11th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
[...] Here is a lovely illustration, from the curly haired folk at naturally curly. [...]
January 26th, 2012 at 7:56 pm
[...] article “To Plop or Not to Plop”, http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/tips/to-plop-or-not-to-plop – research [...]
March 7th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
[...] y la búsqueda más común para encontrarlo en google es “to plop or not to plop”, la página original incluye este [...]
March 8th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
[...] y la búsqueda más común para encontrarlo en google es “to plop or not to plop”, la página original incluye este vídeo. El vídeo tiene una introducción, que si queréis, podéis saltaros y pasar [...]