What is the best way to make hair hold a curl?

I have relatively thin hair but a lot of it. Its what I like to call ';naturally nasty'; aka its kinda straight with some curls but when I straighten it, it is extremely silky. It is also fairly long (past my shoulders). I have been curling my hair this summer but my hair won't hold a curl for very long.



I use nice and hot curling irons (mainly 1'; and 1 1/2';) and curlers don't do squat in my hair except make my hair poofy.



What is the best way to curl hair like mine and how do you make curls stay the way they are when you finish doing your hair so the curls don't fall?What is the best way to make hair hold a curl?
Garnier Fruties Curl shaping gel spray... lol weird name



http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productD鈥?/a>