How is it that one of the most basic of hair tools can easily be the most intimidating? To us, the curling iron represents a world of endless style possibilities — if only we weren't so wary of ending up looking like a pageant girl gone wrong. But, now we're kicking ourselves for lack of trying: If we had known how to wield a curling iron like this, we'd have rescued the once-terrifying tool from the depths of our beauty cabinet long ago.

So, though we mourn the loss of good hair days that could have been, we're looking forward to a future filled with bouncy, beachy, beautiful hair that looks anything but contrived.

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