I've always wished I had tight ringlets curls due to my boring straight hair. I'd seen this little hair tool floating around the beauty world back at the start of the year. I saw people rocking these gorgeous tight curls that could quite easily pass off as being someone's natural hair if they didn't know they had used a heated product on their hair. I just had to find out how they achieved this look. It was everything I was looking for to bring something different to my hair!
The Chopstick Styler by Lee Stafford was the answer.The curler it's self is my favourite style of curling tool. It's a wand based curler, in a very thin rectangle barrel and it has a rubber like end, which means it is perfect for resting your finger on when waiting for your hair to curl. The barrel is fairly long, so if you have long hair, there's no need to worry about it not being long enough to curl the length of the strand. There is a small switch located on the side, which is used to turn the tool on, as well as a light indicator informing you whether it's on or off. The Chopstick Styler reaches a temperature of 200 degrees, so always make sure you're being careful when using this. I'd recommend using a thermal glove for extra safety!!!
This is my natural hair. Boring. Straight. No volume. This is about two days posh wash here. So it's not really clean, but it's also not completely dirty either. I find this is the best state to curl my hair in, because it gives that extra bit of grip my hair need's to keep the curls in tact. When preparing my hair to use this styler, I like to brush it through and make sure I have got rid of any nots. Once this has been done, I like to spray a bit of dry shampoo over my roots and through my hair, just to give it a bit of texture before curling. My favourite to use is Bastite. Next, I'll spray some heat defence, like this one from Treseme to protect my hair from being damaged by the temperature of this tool.
Once I have prepared my hair and the styler has heated up, I like to section off the bottom half of my hair. To do this, I run my fingers behind my ears and from the top of my ears, I take a small section of hair and pull it forwards. The rest of my hair, I normally either pin or tie up on the top of my head. The reason I like to section off the back/bottom part of my hair is because I find this the hardest to reach when working round my head. Bringing it forward helps me to get as closest to the root as possible, as these parts of my hair are slightly shorter than the rest of my hair length, so it ensures that the curls will sit around the same place when all my hair is brought together.
To curl my hair with the chopstick styler, I take a small strand of my hair and wrap it around the barrel. Then I leave it on there for roughly ten seconds. Gently, I pull the hair off the styler and it leaves me with a gorgeous tight corkscrew curl. To ensure these type of curls, you need to make sure you're taking small strands. If not, bigger strands will products bigger and more bouncier like curls. I then repeat this processes for the bottom sections of my hair, before I move onto the rest of my hair which I chose not to section.
Instead, I like to repeat the same steps but with the remainder of my hair. I tend to start on the left side of my hair. Taking a small section from the front, I will wrap the barrel around the section of hair from where it starts just in align with my cheek bone. This creates curls that don't come from the root. Instead, they sit a lot further down and flow down. Hopefully that does make sense to you. Although it is up to you where your curls will start from. After I done the front hair strand, I then work round my head to produce curls that are from the similar starting height. However, I do alternate each strand. For example, one may start slightly higher up than the other and then the next might start slightly lower. This way you don't end up with your curls sitting on top of each other.
This is the finished look! I do apologise for the state of myself in these photos. I am not a very photogenic person at all. But I wanted to show the before and after. As you can see, I've created tight ringlet style curls. If I wanted them more corkscrew, I could have used smaller sections. But I am pretty pleased with how it has turned out!
Finishing off the look, I have sprayed some Treseme Extra Hold:Hairspray through my hair just to ensure that extra hold. But even without hairspray, these curls stay well in tact for a good few days. In particular, I love the look of these curls a day after you have curled them. They have ever so slightly dropped, which I think add's a natural twist on the hair. Even when they are brushed through, they create the most gorgeous beachy waves through your hair, which can quite easily be another look you might go for.
To curl my whole head of hair, it does take a little while longer than the average curler would. This is mainly down from taking small sections and using a thinner barrel. However it is definitely worth it when you get to the finished result!
My first initial thought was that the styler was going to be a little too pricey for my small budget, but I was proved very wrong! This styling tool is an absolute bargain for the look and hold it produces. Available at most It retails at only £19.99 in Superdrug and Argos.I was lucky enough to get it for only £15.99 from Tesco's. At the moment it is currently out of stock online, although it is worth having a look in-store to see if they have it.
I'm really glad I invested in this tool! It's sooo good for the price and creates the most perfect tight corkscrew curls, which stay in place for a generous few days. I've used this so much already since getting it and have gotten so many lovely compliments.
What are your thoughts? Have you tried this? Would you try this?
