Curling/waving your hair

[wickedfairy]

Have shoulder length straight hair and would like to put some loose waves into it. I was out a few weeks ago for my Christmas do and got the hair dresser to do it - she used slimline straighteners and it looked lovely. I tried it myself but failed spectacularly! I do have the "wrong" straighteners - mine have square edges and I don't want to have to buy another pair....

So, would I be better buying a curling wand or some tongs? I am not really good at doing hair, so have never used either. Don't want to spend too much (maybe up to £40) - can anyone recommend what to buy please? (Erm, and also how to do it? )

Thanks in advance!

mme would like to know too.... have wavy hair anyway and use a curly creme and twist it round my fingers and let it dry naturaly, but it doesn't look as 'pro' and blow drying it wavy.....

I have naturally wavy shoulder length hair that I straighten. I can't get away with curling with straighteners so got some curling tongs for xmas - I am now curltastic! I use a setting product to make it last and once I have created a ringlet type of curl rather than pull it out with my fingers I just leave it and find that it falls naturally into a loose curl.

which ones did you get? are they easy to use for cack handed time short people ?

I have a cheap pair of tongs that were about £15 that seem to do ok.

Just marking my place.

Thanks for your thoughts! Which make of tong did you get please?

I use those bendy rod things, about £3/4 from Boots. I have thick hair put in 6 or 8 in chunky 'knots' straight after washing for an hour (or more if you don't need to leave the house). Then I 'scrunch' with a bit of product and run my fingers through any tangles. Easy and cheap!

marking my place

There's some great videos on youtube about this, using straighteners to curl. It's all in the turn before you pull the straighteners through. Grip the hair near the scalp with the irons, turn the straightener for a full turn, then pull straight through to the end. When you get to the end, the curl should spring back. Using smaller sections of hair gives tighter curls, big sections gives the loose, wavy look.

Here's one, skip till around 4:30 curls with irons

I've never found tongs to work as well as straighteners, dunno if that's because the straighteners are just a lot hotter or not? I'd also not use products beforehand unless it was once in a blue moon, you don't want to fry your hair. Just a bit of hairspray afterwards to hold.

I really love my Babyliss curling wand and find it easier / quicker than using straighteners or tongs with a clamp - you just wrap a piece of hair round the barrel, hold for a few seconds and release!

I have long, thick hair which is naturally v. straight and can style it in loose waves in around 20-30 mins using this.

I got the Corioliss glamour curling wand for Xmas and its great

Plait your hair in thin sections before running straighteners over them, leave to cool and shake out = beachy waves.

I always use my ghd's to curl my hair though, it gives volume as well as the wave and holds really well. As with most things, it's about practice. Once you've got the hang of it, it doesn't take that long (no longer than a wand say)

I had a wand for Christmas and its fab really easy and the curls last well. I could never get the hang of curls with my GHDs

I can do it with GHDs but it falls out within an hour or so. Find it very tricky to do round the back as well so very rarely bother.

I have the Babyliss wand but can't get away with it on my midlength hair - can only get the curl in the middle of the hair not all the way through - so got some Babyliss tongs off DH for xmas (so doubt if they were mega expensive!)