Using a Hair Curler

There are many heated appliances available to use for curling your hair; curling irons, hot curlers, diffusers, and flat irons. Using a hair curler appliance isn't difficult, but it's important to know a few things before you begin. Always prepare your hair before you use heat on it, and don't use a conditioner after shampooing. Follow these tips for using a hair curler:

• Wash your hair, but don't use conditioner. Instead, towel-dry your hair and apply curling crème, curling gel, or a de-frizz product. Comb the product through your hair.
• Thoroughly dry your hair with a blow dryer or, if time permits, allow it to air-dry. Since you will apply heat to your hair with the hair curler, it's best to allow your hair to dry naturally, and not with a heated blow dryer.
• Once your hair is completely dry, section your hair with bobby pins or hair clips. Start with the section above your ears, and pile your hair on top of your head, securing with hair clips. The hair below the ear line will be curled first.
• Determine which appliance you will use to curl your hair. If you want loose curls, you can use a large-barreled curling iron, or a flat iron. If you want more precise curls, use a slim-barreled curling iron. Plug the appliance in and allow it to heat.
• Starting at the nape of your neck, take a section of hair about two inches wide and place the curler in the middle of the section. Wrap the hair around the curler, securing the ends under the appliance clamp, and then wide the appliance around and around the hair until you're nearly touching the scalp with the appliance.
• Allow the hair to remain in the heat for about one minute, and then slowly unwind the hair loosely. Do not pull the hair taut when releasing the appliance, as it will pull the curl out, defeating your purpose.
• Allow the curl to completely cool, and then spray lightly with hairspray.

Continue to curl the rest of your hair in that fashion. Take down the top section of hair that you piled on your head, and curl that hair, as well. When you're completely finished curling your hair, allow it to cool and then separate the curls with your fingers. Spray with hairspray to set the style, and you're all finished.