How to Curl Hair Perfectly With a Curling Iron, Step by Step

Tools and materials:

• Curling iron
• Hair ties
• Butterfly clip
• Styling cream, hair oil, leave-in conditioner, and blow dryer (optional)
• Brush
• Curl hold spray/heat protectant
• Volume and texture spray

1. Prepping

After washing your hair and conditioning your hair, apply a styling cream, a hair oil, and then a leave-in treatment just to prepare your hair before curling. Blowdry your hair on a cool to medium heat.

2. Part and detangle your hair

Start by parting your hair ear to ear and start with the bottom section. Brush through it and make sure there are no knots or tangles.

3. Apply hold spray/heat protectant

A curl hold spray has conditioning agents that help hold the hair in its shape for much longer than usual. I’m spraying this while brushing my hair to distribute the product evenly.

4. Curling the bottom section

With each section, separate it into three new sections on each side, so you end up with a total of six.

Start with the middle section and curl towards the face. With each curl, do a twisting technique as it creates the longest-lasting spiral curl.

As you’re wrapping the hair around the bottom of the barrel, twist the strand of hair and then wrap it all the way around. Leave about an inch or half-inch of the hair at the very end.

I prefer not to use the clamp as intended, instead choosing to allow the clamp to pat the hair gently and rotate the tongue as I do it. This smoothes the outside of the hair as well as the inside while preventing that undesirable indentation.

Each time you curl a section, curl in the opposite direction as the previous one. 

If you like it less curly, hold the very end of the curl and pull it outwards, then just bounce the hair up and down so it cools in a slightly softer curl. Otherwise, create a pin curl while it cools.

5. Grab a new section and curl

Take a new section and work in three individual sections on both sides.

This is my preference in terms of thickness, but depending on the density of your hair and how many curls you desire, you can do more or fewer sections.

The spiral technique I’m using enables the curl to stay for longer, so if you completely wrap the curl around the iron without twisting, you’d get a more traditional lock curl. 

Here, I’m holding the curling iron above my head and in a vertical position. If you want more volume, you can hold it horizontally so that you get more lift at the root.

6. Curling your bangs

I like to do my bangs towards the end. I either wrap them really quick and take them out really quick or I turn the curling iron off before I wrap them around.

These strands tend to be a lot thinner so they’re really quick to curl and don’t need as much heat. I tend to wrap them over the clamp which isn’t as hot as the barrel.

7. Curling the top of the hair

For the last bit of hair at the very top, do a center part so you can get more volume. For this section, hold the barrel more horizontal and curl it backward away from your face to give more lift to the root.

8. Separate the curls

Use a wide-tooth comb to separate the curls. You can use your fingers, but this is a bit easier.

9. Spray your hair with a volume and texture spray

Finally, spray your hair with a dry volume and texture spray. This is going to add more volume and dry texture and also act a bit like hairspray to give you more hold.

10. Create the ponytail (optional)

To create the ponytail, just lift it up in one go. Don’t fiddle with it or try to make it neater as the first lift is going to have the most volume.

Pull some tendrils down the front then wrap it twice with a regular hair tie. Be very careful not to disturb the volume. 

Pull the very outer edges but also the center to tighten the hold, then use a metal butterfly clip just under the hair tie to prevent the hair from becoming limp throughout the day.

How to curl hair tutorial

Here’s the finished look! It’s very effortless-looking and sexy which I love. Now you know how to curl hair with a curling iron, so let me know how this technique works out for you!

Products used and recommended:

• Redken Acidic Bonding Shampoo
• Olaplex No.5 Conditioner
• Redken Extreme Anti-Snap Anti-Breakage Leave-In Conditioner
• Olaplex No.6 Bond Smoother
• Olaplex No.7 Bonding Oil
• GHD Helios 1875W Advanced Professional Hair Dryer
• L'Oréal Professionnel TECNI.ART Pli Thermo-Modelling Spray
• T3 SinglePass® 1.25-Inch Ceramic Curling Iron
• GHD Bodyguard Heat Protect Spray
• Denman D90L Tangle Tamer Brush
• Diane Oil Detangler Comb