Hot Tools Tapered Curling Wand

As you all know, my hair is naturally stick-straight.  You know how they say the grass is greener on the other side?  Well, I double heat style my hair on a daily basis in order to give my hair more body and curl.  But even with my Hot Tools 1.25" barrel curling iron, the curls don't stay, rather, they turn into voluminous waves.  Looks great.  I get tons of compliments on my hair, which I appreciate.  But sometimes, I don't want waves.  I want curls, darn it!  Curls! 

Well, holy smokes, I think I've found a way to get curls that actually stay!  Wheeeeeeeeeeee!  Yeah, I've seen those tapered curling wands that they sell at the mall kiosks for $100.  To be honest, I was skeptical.  First off, the people working the kiosks are pros with these things, so of course your curl is going to look perfect while they're pushing their product on you.  Second, it just seems so complicated and inconvenient...I like that my curling iron has a spring-loaded clip.  These curling wands require a two-handed effort, one hand holding the wand, and one hand keeping your hair wound around it.  With my lack of hand-eye coordination, it's just a recipe for disaster!

But, after hearing so many great things about it, I finally gave in earlier this week and bought one off of Amazon.  Hot Tools, my favorite curling iron manufacturer, makes one in 3 different sizes: small, medium, and large.  I went with the medium tapered wand, which cost me $28.75, shipping included!

Check out my results from using a curling wand for the very first time!  Not bad!

It was a little awkward to use at first,  but I got the hang of it after my 4th or 5th section of hair.  A number of people have complained about having straight ends because of the fact that you have to hold on to the end of your hair to keep it wrapped around the wand.  Yes, I did have to hold my fingers precariously close to the hot wand to keep the ends from remaining straight, which was a little scary.  Even so, I did experience straight ends.  But that didn't really pose a problem for me because I just went back and wrapped any straight ends around the wand after I was finished, which only took a sec!

 It does take a little longer to curl your hair this way.  With a normal curling iron, I'm usually done in less than 10 minutes.  This took about 15-20 minutes.  Right after curling, you're going to have really tight, ringlet-like curls.  They relax a little, but your hair remains pretty curly.  If you want massive, and I do mean MASSIVE, amounts of volume...shake out your hair and you will triple your body.  I wish I would have taken a picture after I shook it out.  It was crazy how much volume I had!

Best part, the curls last and last and last and last.  I woke up this morning and, yup, still here!

 If you want curls, I can't recommend this product enough!  My curl-resistant hair is the ultimate test and this curling wand passed with flying colors!  I'd love to do a tutorial on how to use one properly, but I haven't been able to figure out the filming logistics in my new house yet...if push comes to shove, I might consider doing a low-resolution video via my laptop webcam.  I really don't want to though, because I want to give you guys higher quality video!  We'll see. :)

TGIF everyone! 

Hugs,
Cat