Technique Thursday-- What's up with those clampless curling wands?!

Well, I hate to start this post off with letting you down, but I sadly do NOT have a clampless curling iron, (aka "curling wand"), yet.














(Look how glam she is curling her hair!)

I do, however, have a thumb that hurts from holding my curling iron open to create a similar effect!

Let's discuss:

Luckily my friend has gorgeous long Barbie hair which she lets me style(!)-- and for New Year's I decided to try NOT using the clamp on the curling iron, just wrapping the hair around, to see the effect and also to not get the perfect Annie-esque ringlets.

Results:
SO FREAKIN' GORGEOUS. And I believe they stayed pretty well throughout the night!!
(Correct me as needed, girl!)






















So here's the idea:

This method really works better if you hold the clamp open, or invest in a curling wand. I have read articles about winding the hair around the outside of the curling iron-- which still works, but if you think of the physics behind it, there is still another piece of metal (the clamp) for the heat to transfer through-- so no clamp works better because the hair is curled at a uniform temperature.

Technique:
When winding the hair, don't worry about trying to meticulously make it lay flat to the iron and winding ever-so-carefully--- the beauty of this look comes from each curl being not exactly alike. Also, be careful with the ends in that 1. You don't curl them too long, since this is a loose curl look and 2. Don't burn your fingers!! (In fact, most of the wands come with a glove for your curling hand!)

I curled her hair again the other day, and took some pictures to show the process:

Grab as much hair as you would for normal curling- about an inch square, varying by thickness~ here are the curls fresh from the iron. Leave them alone to cool-- it will help to hold the curl.





















Here is her whole head completed~ she then flipped her head over and shook her hair from the roots to provide a little separation.





















You can finger-comb to whatever degree you prefer, or even gently brush through to get nice Old Hollywood waves!

Gorgeous, huh?

In case you were wondering-- this is what the same process did with my short hair:
It provided some nice movement to my straight hair, but by no means a "curl."





















You can pick up one of these curling wands at Walgreens or Ulta for around $30-$40 (look for coupons!).

What do you think? Ever try this before? Leave me some thoughts!

Until next time--
~Beauty Maven