OMG this is gonna sound hysterical coming from a curly haired person but i had a friend show me how to do *better* curls with a curling rod (mini size one bought from Priceline a few years ago) ... the trick was to start at the end of a big clump/strand of hair and twirl the curling rod until the hair is wrapped around it quite tight (make sure not to burn the ears, etc ..) and hold it without the hair loosening for a few seconds then instead of unwrapping the hair curl from the rod, let go of the tong leaver and ' slip' the rod slowly downwards until it's out of the curl ... and PRESTO nice curl