• Curlers
• Curler paper
• A hairbrush
• A comb
• Hair elastics
• Hairspray or spray gel
• A blowdryer
• A video

Start by turning on the video. It makes the time go by faster and distracts your daughter. Many would disagree with me by insisting that curling time be quality time, and that would be fine if you go to only a few feiseanna a year. When I curled hair, we attended over 20 feiseanna a year, and I had two heads to do! Plus my older daughter had a "sensitive" head, and curling was always torturous for her (or so she said).

Right away you have to decide if you are going to curl full-head or ponytail style. This is a matter of personal preference, depending on whether you want the front section of hair held back by the headband or with a half-ponytail. If using the ponytail, make a part on your daughter's head from just behind one of her ears up to the top of her head where her natural part would end. Make a part from the other ear meeting the other one, and brush or comb the hair until the "bumps" are gone. Put it in a hair elastic that is strong enough to last through the feis. Curl the ponytail first. With the comb, gather a small section of hair. Spray it lightly with hairspray or spray gel (over time you will figure out what works best with your daughter's hair), fold the paper in half at the end, and roll it around the middle of the spike curl as far as you can. Put the pointy part of the curler into the loop at the other and, and pull it tight. Continue until the ponytail is done.

For the rest of the head, part your daughter's hair in half and put one half in an elastic to get it out of the way. With the comb, make four "columns" out of the half you are working on. Put three of them in elastics to also get them out of the way. In the column you are curling, with the comb, gather a small "row" of hair, always gathering from the top and moving to the bottom. Spray each section lightly with hairspray or spray gel (over time you will figure out what works best with your daughter's hair), fold the paper in half at the end, and roll it around the middle of the spike curl as far as you can. Put the pointy part of the curler into the loop at the other and, and pull it tight. My daughters have teased me endlessly about my geometric sectioning of their hair while curling, but it works!

We used to have curling parties in our hotel rooms during major competitions.

Once you have completed putting the curlers in, have your daughter use the blow dryer for a few minutes to dry the hairspray or spray gel that may have not quite dried while being curled. The heat will also help the curls set. Whatever you do, do NOT let her hair get wet! That will destroy your efforts as it uncurls her hair.

In the beginning, you will most likely put too much hair on a curler, since there is arguably no such thing as too little! For major competitions, it is not uncommon for girls to have over 100 spike curlers on their head, more if they have long hair! After a few tries, you will know how well your daughter's hair curls and how small you need to make each curl.

When taking the curls out, simply unroll the curler. Unroll in the opposite order that you curled, i.e., from the bottom of the head up towards the top and the ponytail last. Once a "row" has been uncurled, split the curls gently if you prefer. This can be done by running about three of your fingers through each uncurled section from the roots to the end. Then hair spray the uncurled row before uncurling the next. If you use a scrunchie around the ponytail, put that in after you uncurl but before you split and hairspray.

In no time, your daughter will go anywhere comfortably with curlers!