no wand, no worries.

i purchased a styling wand from hot tools about a year ago. i was watching an episode of teen mom (sue me, sue me...i know) and fell absolutely in LOVE with chelsea houska's hair. her curls weren't the type you see in the pantene commercials,

( <---- i mean really, who does this?)
 and her hair wasn't "scrunched". i couldn't figure out exactly how she did it. after doing my "research", i found out she used a styling wand. i was getting ready when i could NOT find my styling wand. i looked everywhere and had called all my friends to make sure i didn't leave it at their house. it was no where to be found. then, i realized, "my styling wand, my holy grail...was left at the hotel." there was nothing i could do about it, seeing as the hotel was 15 hours away. i needed to do something-i was completely over the look that a curling iron gave. i. needed. my. wand. so, i improvised. i used my curling iron. i was hesitant because i worried that it would leave a crease in my hair, but it didn't. that's why i'm here to prove to you...

no wand? no worries!


all you'll need:

-1 inch curling iron
(your curling iron barrel needs to be 1 inch. if it's larger than that, there will be too much wand and not enough hair. therefore you're not going to get the look you want unless you have really long hair.)
-hairspray of choice
(they all work the same to me)
-dry shampoo
(hair curls easier when it's dirty and it also holds longer. so, go a day without washing your hair then spray this in your roots. it also adds texture if you want to create a side braid, etc.)
-a teasing comb
(this is optional, but i highly suggest it.)
-brush

click here to purchase the curling iron i used. it's 6 dollars cheaper online.

first, you'll want to section your hair off. if your hair is thin with hardly any layers, you could just section it into two halves. if your hair is thick or you have multiple layers i would divide it into 3 sections.

the next part is tricky if it's your first time. be careful not to burn your fingers- you can purchase special gloves for this that way it's easier to wrap your hair around the barrel of the curling iron.

 click here to order a heat resistant curling iron glove.

wrap your hair around the barrel. you want to get every inch of your hair around it. if you don't, all the ends will be straight.

in the picture above, i don't have the end of the hair wrapped around the barrel just yet. since there is more hair at the top of the barrel, i leave it for about 15 seconds, then wrap the end of the hair slowly and carefully around the barrel and hold it for about 10 seconds.

after 25 seconds, DO NOT pull the curling iron away from the hair. release the hair by just letting go of the end. the results look immensely better if you let the hair fall from the curling iron in a downwards spiral direction.

it's that easy. the results:
(my beautiful friend torri liening)

some people may already do this, or have figured out that you don't need to waste your money on a styling wand when you can use your current curling iron. if not, i hope this helped! another option is to remove the clamp from the curling iron- i don't like to do this because i enjoy having 2 products in 1 :)

thanks for reading!
-leah