{Beauty} How-To: Curl with a Flat Iron

It used to take me an hour and a half to curl my hair with a curling iron. AN HOUR AND A HALF. This self inflicted torture was something I’d only endure a few times a year for very special occasions. Needless to say, I was over the moon when my hairstylist friend Marlee opened my eyes to the wonderful world of curling with a flat iron.  Now it is my turn to pass on what I know to all of you lovelies, with the help of my beauty expert Kahlia Adams, of course.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MY MUFASA HAIR

My hair is naturally confused.  What do I mean by that?  Well, it’s straight in parts, wavy in others, and usually pretty frizzy, but for the most part will do what I tell it to (aka, it can hold a curl).  Another thing you must note is that I have VERY thick, coarse hair.  This means that my locks can handle a lot of heat and requires it in order to get results.  I usually have my flat iron at about 415 degrees.

THE NECESSARY TOOLS AND FIRST STEPS

My flat iron is A Fashion Love Affair‘s xo Styling Iron.  It’s a great price and perfect to maneuver for both straightening and curling purposes.  A bonus is that it reaches my heat requirements.

Start with a heat protector like AVEDA Brilliant Damage Control or Kiehl’s Heat Protective Silk Styling Cream on damp hair.  Then, hair must be dried completely.  I get the best results when my hair has had many hours to dry, ideally overnight (heard good things about this hair dryer if you’re in the market). Then part your hair in half to even the workload and separate a small section of hair so the styling magic can begin.

Before you clamp that sucker down, you must be reminded of the golden rule of curling with a flat iron: YOU HAVE TO KEEP MOVING!  If you stop, the heat will create unsightly kinks and or/damage.

Just don’t over-think it.  Once you make flat-iron-to-hair contact, you begin moving the iron down that section of hair, keeping the flat iron horizontal or slightly angled, slowly rotating it so that your wrist is now facing forward.

I’ve had a few gal pals express that they figured out how to achieve flat iron curls on their left side, but not the right.  If you are twisting the curls back towards you, I completely agree!  The right side just isn’t as natural for some reason.  My little trick for long hair is to flick the section of hair over the flat iron once you’ve started moving downwards.  This will make the twisting motion much easier.

For extra grip, or perhaps just an old curling iron habit, I sometimes hold onto the top of the flat iron (as pictured below) to achieve that full twirl/rotation of the flat iron.

Pictures don’t do it for ya?  We also did a quick 30 second video to show you my flat iron curling motion.

Once I’m done curling, I spray my absolute favourite AVEDA Control Force Firm Hairspray all over and scrunch upwards, then smooth out and finger comb the frizzies.  It can honestly hold my hair in place for up to 5 days with only a slight touch up here and there.  Let’s not go spreading that around though, I can’t let everyone know all of my secrets!

 I really hope this little tutorial helped give you a better understanding of my everyday curl methods.  If you have ANY questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!