How to curl your hair with an iron: styling in 5 minutes

Valeria Chernenko , hair stylist, makeup artist with 10 years of experience, eyebrow master, whose work has been repeatedly published in professional magazines MAKEUP&YOU Professional and Your Hair

A little excursion into the history of working with irons. Just recently, everyone who closely followed fashion trends in the beauty market bought hair stylers in order to perfectly straighten their hair, following the fashion of the 2000s: strand to strand, smooth and perfectly straight. And the main function of the iron was straightening, when the heated plates of the straightener, in contact with the hair, relieve it of excess moisture, which causes the hair to curl.

At the same time, fashionistas were faced with the problem of choosing a flat iron: which is better - ceramic, tourmaline, titanium? Well, if not better, then what are their differences?

In this matter, many factors turned out to be important - both the condition of the hair and the frequency of straightening. In general, tourmaline coating turned out to be the most optimal for everyday use due to the release of negative ions when heated, which help maintain the moisture balance of the hair without drying it out.

But fashion is changeable, everything changes, everything flows. So, the time has come for curls, all kinds of curls: afro-curls, Hollywood waves, vertical, horizontal, large, spiral, careless, etc.

(Work by Valeria Chernenko)

And here we again remember our iron, because it is so versatile that it will help not only straighten your hair, but also do more than one type of curl, and in the fastest way. When working with a straightening iron, sometimes you forget about the existence of other types of curling irons, because it is the one that creates trendy curls that are so easy to create. The main thing here is to get the hang of it, especially if you do the styling yourself and in front of a mirror. It is advisable to practice with cold plates a couple of times.

To ensure that your curls hold well, it is important to dry your hair thoroughly. A very important point is adjusting the temperature, and here it all depends on the condition of the hair: if it is dense, hard, set the iron to 200 degrees, for normal hair – 180-190.

At this stage, do not forget about the thermal spray, because it will help protect your hair from high temperatures, while retaining the moisture of the hair and covering it with a protective layer. So, the hair is well dried and combed so that the iron glides smoothly along the strand. By the way, smooth sliding of the iron along the strand, without creases or additional movements, will make your curl elastic and beautiful.

In order for the glide to be high-quality, do not forget to care for the plates of the styler: just turn on the iron at a low temperature and wipe the plates with a damp towel, clearing them of styling products that may have accumulated previously. We divide the hair into zones - this makes the work much easier and faster. Using a finger or a special comb, we select the work area, remove the rest of the hair using clips and begin working in straight lines. We finished the first zone, select the next one and so on. Remember: the larger the strand we take, the larger the curl will be. We do the cheating from the face. We hold the iron vertically, near the roots, wrap it once around the strand (from the face) and smoothly move the straightener to the ends.

Let the hot strand cool in the palm of your hand, then release it. After this we use texturizing spray. I love the salt spray, which doesn’t weigh down or stick your curls together, but gives them playfulness, stylish casualness and sexuality. Adds the so-called beach effect, but does not dry out the hair like sea salt would. After spraying a small amount of spray onto the curled strand, separate the curl with your fingers - it will turn out natural, natural. The strands on the face need to be given a little more attention - here the work with the strand will consist of two stages.

First: holding the iron at the root, you make a movement similar to pulling, but slightly rounding, lifting at the root, and so on until the middle of the strand.

Second: do the same with the iron as in the entire main curl, only you start it not at the root, but at the part that was rounded at the first stage. The strands near your face can be twisted with a strand and casually pinned - this will add romance to your appearance.

Nowadays, all kinds of hairpins are in trend, with the help of which you can turn an everyday styling option into a more formal one. That's all a simple technique that really takes very little time. Experiment, train your skills, a little diligence - and you will be irresistible!