I have a long history of being rubbish with my hair. I’m obsessed with my eyebrows and will spend forever perfecting a bright pink pout, but my hair is done within three minutes and never commands much attention.

Sadly, that’s not because it’s naturally wonderful and looks effortlessly perfect – quite the opposite. My hair is fine and flat and poker straight, has never held a curl and reacts to any kind of ‘teasing’ with a crap-ton of static. Back in the day I had waist-length hair that drove me insane with its inability to do ANYTHING (see evidence here) and my frustration led to a dramatic makeover in 2009 – I went for the chop.

I’ve had short hair for more than three years now and although I love the simplicity of it, for the past few months I’ve been yearning for long, luscious waves. Queue some serious growing and an amazing new tool – the Remington Pearl Curling Wand.

The photo on the left was taken after my first go at curling my hair in about four years. I uploaded it to Instagram and lots of people asked me how I did it, so I thought a quick post might be useful!

I bought my curling wand from Amazon for £20. At first I was skeptical – there’s no clamp, so you have to wind the hair around the burning hot wand by hand. WEAR THE HEATPROOF GLOVE! And watch your neck – I have a nice burn to prove just how hot this thing is. It takes a bit of hand/eye coordination to get used to the technique but once you’ve got it, it’s really quick and easy.

I started by blowdrying my hair as I’ve been doing for years – I use John Frieda Brilliant Brunette Volumising Mousse and Bumble and Bumble Thickening Creme and rough dry upside down. Then I just went at it in a random fashion and curled whatever I could get my hands on – I’m not the sectioning type. For my first style (left) I used the thicker end of the wand for looser, less structured curls. For today’s look (right), I used the narrower part of the wand which made the curls tighter and a bit more uniform. To finish both looks, I separated the curls with my fingers, scrunched with some wax and then set with Bastise Dry Shampoo (much nicer than hairspray and still gives great hold).

Topshop dress via eBay (thanks Lily!), Michael Kors leather jacket via TK Maxx, Cos flatforms via eBay, Miss Selfridge ring

The most impressive thing about the Remington Pearl wand is the staying power of the curls – my hair has never been able to sustain a curl for more than an hour but these guys stuck around all day yesterday, despite numerous trips out in the rain, and even remained wavy after brushing out that evening. Today’s are holding even better because they were tighter to start with.

If you have straight, short hair and you’re looking for a way to inject a little body and bounce, I’d really recommend this wand. Easy to use, great results and cheap to boot – what’s not to love?

Are you high maintenance with your hair or do you let it fly free?