How to Use a Curling Iron | Hair Tutorials

Today, I'm going to show you how to use a curling iron. A few basic steps before you ever want to put a curling iron to your, is be sure you're using something that has a little bit of hold, and most importantly, a little bit of heat protectant spray. I would also suggest, if you have super-fine hair that doesn't take shape, to maybe add something to it that takes a little bit of texture. Sometimes with my fine-hair clients, I like to actually just prep the hair using a light flexible hold hairspray, just to give it a little of texture and little bit of airiness.

So, what I'm going to do is show you the basic principle of how to use a curling iron. You're always going to want to brush through the section of hair that you're going to curl. I'm going to take my curling iron, and when you're using a curling iron, you always want to curl from the root to the tip. So, it's the exact opposite. You never want to start at the tip and wrap your way up. The reason you don't is because this is the most fragile part of your hair, at the end, and this is the part that needs the most heat. So, you're actually doing it exactly the opposite.

So after you've prepped the hair and brushed it through, you're going to curl it with the curling iron. I always like to go through and season the hair, so I'm just adding a little bit of warmth through the hair and then start at the root, and wrap it around. And if you notice, I'm kind of hovering my clamp open. I'm not pressing all the way down. It's a very light movement. And that might seem easy. I find it really hard because I'm, naturally, not a very delicate person and so for me to be delicate, it takes me to think about it.

You're going to want to start, especially when you're just learning how to curl your hair, you're going ot want to start with a medium temperature and build your way up. Medium temperature is so that you don't feel too rushed while you're doing it. If you feel too rushed while you're doing it, you're going to panic that you're burning your hair and you're not going to have a good experience. So start with a lower temperature, until you get the hang of it.

Another technique that you can do is called tonging the hair, which you would just wrap the hair around the barrel. I'm still going to start by seasoning the hair. If you season the hair by just running it through your barrel, or even if you have your barrel closed and you just give it one full rotation of the hair and wrap it up and down, that's going to alleviate any clamp marks that you might have gotten. So, to tong the hair, you're going to hold your curling iron down, you're going to open it up, and you're going to wrap the hair, from root to tip around the barrel. So you just keep wrapping it around and your going to hold the tip in your hand and then you're just going to touch, I use kind of my middle finger here to just touch the hair. As soon as the hair feels warm, I'm going to go ahead and let it down.

And you'll see you get a very different type of curl. This is a softer, flatter curl, and this one is a little bit fatter and has a more natural end. Both of these curls, of course, can be softened even more by running your hands through. So those are my tips about how to curl your hair. Remember, most importantly, to protect the hair from heat, and to start at the root and work your way to the tip.