By now many of you have seen the poor girl on YouTube who attempted to show a "how-to" video with her curling wand and burns her hair right off of her head. Without the proper technique it is really not too difficult to repeat this process, but fear not! With just a few rules to follow, you can have a beautiful style and you can style your hair with a curling iron, flat iron or a curling wand without causing any damage to your hair.

First, make sure that your device has heat settings that are adjustable. Better brands will have temperature markings, but you can work with thermal tools that have low, medium and high settings. The basic rule is that fine hair needs a lower setting and coarse hair can tolerate a higher setter, but if your coarse hair is damaged or colored, turn down the heat. Work with the lowest temperature you can that will still get the job done.

Hair must be dry! Never attempt to use your irons on wet or damp hair. Brush through your dry hair and apply a thermal protector. Most come in a spray and will easily mist through the hair. You may want to section your hair unto smaller work areas before you begin. It will be easier to do a thorough styling.

We are now ready to apply heat to the hair. As you work with each section of hair make sure that it is small enough to allow heat to go through the hair and don't overlap your curls.  You want the heat to be applied quickly and evenly. Flat irons should start at the root and work evenly through to the ends and when wrapping curls around irons and wands start working the hair that is closer to the root and let the ends slide through last. It is very tempting to start wrapping a curl at the end of your hair and working up to the root, but the ends are the oldest and most worn part of your hair, so if you can apply heat to the ends last, they will benefit. You only need to heat the hair for A FEW SECONDS! Do not count to 20 like the poor girl in the video.

Don't start at the ends of your section, the heat stays to long on the oldest part of your hair!

Start in the middle and work your way to the ends of the section. Keep the ends nice.

Once you have heated each section or curl, let it cool before brushing through. When ironing with a flat iron this will be less of a concern, but when curling with irons or wands you can pin the  hot curl with a clip or bobby pin until the curl has cooled off, or just let it hang until it's cool depending on how tight you want the style to be.

Brush curls or break them up lightly then give your hair a mist of hairspray to finish.

Regan Denning Dakin is co-owner of Elizabeth Nicole Salon  – A family-owned cozy, boutique Hair Salon in Walnut Creek, California.

For more information, call (925) 549-2200.