^ Again its in the technique! You just place a section of hair between the plates (from the root) and twist the iron round whilst holding the end of the section. Then you glide the iron through to the bottom of the hair...and wallah, u should get a beautifully-crafted curl!
Well first off you need to get your hair feathered and you should be able to create that by blowing your hair out if your stylist does a good job with the layers. also i have a big revlon curling iron i've had for like 8 years it's gray with a black handle and takes like 30 seconds to heat up, long story short it does the trick.