I want that style again.

Hey everyone. Hope I'm posting in the right place, this forum seems to have loads and loads of sub forums which makes it kinda confusing to be honest!

Anyway, I have always had really curly hair, and so i kept it short for most of my life. From Sept 05 I started to grow it, and it was very long and wavy. I got it cut yesterday, went for some outrageous style, which I quiet liked. It looked good at the time.

However since washing my hair this morning, I havn't been able to do a thing with it. I cant straighten it, cant keep it in place, cant keep it flat, cant make it look shiney. At the moment, its one big, uneven, dry, dull, mess.

Before getting my hair done, I bought some cheap 140c straighteners. I should of known better. I have purchased some nicky clarke ones today, that go upto 230c. So hopefully these will help.

However I am still unsure about how i can get my hair to hold in place without looking silly with loads of gel. I have been told I need some sort of syrum as well as some wax. Can anyone confirm exactly what I need to do before I make an even bigger mess of this?

For reference, this is how my hair was just after it was styled - the way I want it to be now. http://a125.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/9/l_aea354966eb939423ec7cc16be0a31c4.jpg

Many thanks.