Hair Styling Tools

The expression “the grass is always greener…” applies to more than just your neighbor’s lawn. Most of us are perpetually unsatisfied with what we have, and our appearance is no different. In American culture, we prize bronzed skin, while people in India bleach their skin to appear whiter.

Many women follow the same trend when it comes to their hair. Those with straight hair use a curling iron to give their hair “body” or “personality.” While those with naturally curly hair, on the other hand, often complain about the unruliness of their locks.

                                                                                                      I’ve never been one to be able to master the use of a curling iron.  For whatever the reason, I have always had a problem with the clamp part of the curling iron putting a crease in my hair and my hair always gets snagged in the process.

So, how can you avoid the problems that I have described?  Le Angelique curling irons has the answer.  I call their product a curling wand because that is what it looks like.  There is no clamp to lift up so all you get is the curling wand that has the barrel heat up.  How does this work you ask?  You just take the section of hair that you want to curl and with one hand holding the curling wand and the other you are twisting the section of hair around the iron.  Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it?  Well it is.

The fun thing about using the Le Angelique curling iron is that it is available in a variety of  barrel sizes.  The smallest size is the 13mm (1/2″), with the largest size being 25mm (1″).  They have also come out with three inverse sizes which are 13mm – 25mm, 18mm – 9mm, and 25mm – 18mm.  From small to large or large to small, you choose what size curls you want and in which order with this 100% ceramic curling iron.  You have a choice of a black or pink curling iron in all of the sizes available.  Each curling iron comes with a glove to protect the hand that is being used to curl the hair.  And, you can feel completely protected as le Angelique provides a Lifetime Warranty on all of their hair styling tools.

How many of you honestly can say that styling your hair with a blow dryer and styling brushes is relatively easy for you?  I have no problem admitting that while I seem to be able to style one side of the hair on my head, I always have problems with the other side.  I don’t know if it makes a difference when you or left-handed or right-handed, but being right handed I always have problems with styling the left side at the back of my head but no problem styling the right side.   Perhaps it all boils down to being able to have one hand free to help do the job.  However, as we all know, it takes one hand to hold the styling brush and one hand to hold the dryer.

If you fit into the category of at-home stylists as described above, then this question is directed to you.  Have you ever tried using a hot air brush?  If not, you just might want to try one because in my opinion,  hot air brushes   are definitely the solution to one hand styling.  While styling the sections of your hair, you can easily use one hand to hold the hot air brush and use the other to help roll the section of hair around the barrel.  This makes it so much easier to make sure you are getting the hair properly wound around the barrel. 

Hot air brushes basically come in two different styles.  First there is the flexible and soft ball-tipped bristle type.  This hot air brush gently grips your hair and rests softly against the head.  The Helen of Troy Professional Tangle-Free Brush helps do the finishing touches on drying your hair along with the styling brush all in one.  It is best to start out with relatively dry hair when using the hot air brush.  I feel that damp hair works best.    The rotating vented barrel will release tangle-free curls and with its 250 watt motor it is enough power to style your damp hair in a relatively short period of time.   Please note that unless your hair is extremely fine and short, you don’t want to count on a hot air brush to take care of the drying and the styling all in one.  With this particular model, you can select from three sizes, 3/4″, 1″ and 1 1/2″.    

The second type of hot air brush is the nylon brush bristle type.  Both Helen of Troy and Hot Tools have very good models available.  Between the two you can find them also in the 3/4″, 1″ and 1 1/2″ sizes.  The nylon brush bristle hot air brushes help hold your hair in place while styling.  I find this to be true with those of us who have fine or thin hair.  On the Hot Tools model, a curl release button allows the curls and waves of your hair to be released tangle-free.  The two different models available by Hot Tools come in 800 watt and 1000 watt versions.  With this increased wattage, you have the capability to dry more of your hair along with the styling.  The nylon bristle Helen of Troy model comes with 300 watts of power. 

If you are looking for ionic features, the Hot Tools 1 1/2″ Ionic Hot Air Brush is the one to get.  The anti-static ionic dryer and styler dries your hair faster. Negative ions reduce the size of water droplets on your hair, allowing more water to be absorbed. This helps condition, soften, and make your hair shinier while adding volume.

Most of us are used to picking up our curling iron to curl our hair.  Some of us use hair straighteners if we are looking for a loose curl, and then there are the hot rollers that will provide our hair with curl.  For those of us who have short hair, or layered hair with shorter lengths, I have found a wonderful, fairly new to the marketplace, 1″ styling brush.

Spornette, who makes a wonderful collection of styling brushes, has now added what they call the Spornette 1″ Boar Rounder.   This lightweight styling brush is aerated and has boar bristles.   Boar bristles on this brush are great because not only will you be contributing to  your hair health, boar brushes also remove shed hair which is great while you are in the process of styling.  Any time that you can integrate a boar bristle brush into your styling routine, you will be glad that you did.  The benefits of a boar bristle brush, whether it be for curling, styling, or just brushing through your hair, you will be enjoying the fact that these type brushes help distribute your natural healthy oils from the scalp to the ends.

What I liked about the Spornette 1″ Boar Rounder brush was that the bristles held my fine hair extremely well while blow-drying each section of hair.  The aerated feature helped to calm down some of the heat  coming from the dryer and as I unrolled each section of hair from the brush, the hair came out very easily and the curl was just as tight as if I had used my curling iron. 

My only word to the wise is to just be aware that any styling brush that has a metal core, will take on the heat from your hairdryer (this is what helps form the curl with your brush)  and you want to be certain you are not touching it with your fingers or getting it close to your face or scalp.

I was out shopping recently to see what the marketplace had to offer in the way of professional hairdryers to see just how many came with attachments.  First of all, most of the professional hairdryers that I am familiar with seem to be only sold in beauty supply stores and hair salons.  The web has far more to offer.  Secondly, the majority of hair dryers only come with concentrators and not diffusers.  So, the hunt was on on for finding diffusers that were sold separately.  This became a very difficult task so I gave up and came home to shop online.

What makes shopping for a diffuser for your hair dryer complicated, is not necessarily where you can find them, but what will fit on the hairdryer you already are using.  Many brands make diffusers for their line of dryers, but not all.  The other thing to take into consideration is what type of diffuser do you need?  Do you have curly hair, straight hair, wavy hair, and what is your goal?

There are basically, three types of diffusers available in the marketplace.  Two of the three are made from a very hard plastic and are typically found as cone shaped.  These usually can be found in a couple of different sizes (small or large) and with prongs or fingers or without.  The third type of diffuser is the Hot Sock, which is made of soft, flexible lightweight foam that adds volume to your hair. Its unique design gives you better overall diffusion.  It literally is so small and weighs only ounces that you can take it anywhere with you.  

So, which diffuser is right for you?  No matter what type hair you have, if you are looking to increase the volume of your hair and don’t really need to style the hair , the prong-type diffuser will work best.  The reason is simple.  While you are blow drying your hair, the diffuser is restricting the bolt of air to a milder force of air, that would otherwise be blowing out an extreme force of air.  At the same time, the fingers of the diffuser are lifting your hair from your head to create volume and maintain whatever type hair you already have.  If your hair is curly, it stays curly.  If your hair is wavy, it stays wavy.   This gentler force of air and diffusion of heat results in less damage to the hair and definitely less frizz.

The second type of diffuser mentioned above is one that does not have prongs.   This type diffuser looks like small round speakers.  Diffusers without fingers generally do the same job as the ones that do have fingers, however, in my opinion typically takes a person a little more time to dry their hair.  Of course it also depends on the size of the diffuser that you are using as a larger model will dry more hair at one time than the smaller.  If you are not necessarily looking for extra volume but still want to reduce the air flow and heat concentration, then this is the one to buy.  The Hot Sock does a similar job but the difference is that this diffuser fits on any size blow dryer, is easier to travel with, and focuses on a smaller section of hair at a time. 

Now, to get to the point of finding a diffuser that fits.  There are many universal diffusers to choose from.  If the nozzle of your blow dryer is perfectly round, the universal diffusers will generally fit.  However, many of the newer brand hairdryers are coming out with elliptical shaped nozzles and some other shapes.  The universal diffuser will not fit these and you will have to contact the manufacturer of your hairdryer to see if they sell one that fits.

One of the more common diffusers sold in the marketplace that a shopper can pretty much rely upon to fit their hairdryer if the nozzle is round shaped is the Helen of Troy Euro diffuser.  The reason this is so popular is that it comes with 4 different size adapters to fit different size round nozzles.

Whatever hair type you have, or hair dryer you have, if you are looking for yet another way to protect the health of your hair, then the diffuser is for you.

Just as with clothing, trends with hairstyles come and go.  I like to call it recycling.  Why not?  We are definitely in a world where recycling is so very important.  What is so amazing is that if you hold on to things long enough, whatever it is, it will resurface once again.  Such as is with parting your hair on the side.  For how many years now have females been parting their hair down the middle?

What seems to be coming back into fashion now as displayed by many of the celebs, is that sultry hairdo that is swept to one side.  Mostly you see the part on the side with a slight wave or slight curl to the hair.  This particular style is actually very easy to achieve.

1)  Wash your hair with your favorite shampoo and then blow-dry your hair.

2)  Part your hair with a styling comb on whatever side seems to work best for you. 

3)  Take no more than a 2 inch section of hair and using a larger diameter curling iron wrap your hair around it and hold for approximately 5 to 10 seconds.  Continue to do this around your head till you reach the other side.

4)  Flip your head over and shake out the curls.  If necessary, take a brush to help loosen some of the curls that may not want to fall free.

5)  Spray your favorite shine spray.

6)  If you are feeling nostalgic, pull out an old hair barrette or clip that you haven’t worn in awhile and pin back one of the sides of your hair.  Or, you can put your hair behind your ear on one side. 

Lastly, apply the makeup, spray on your favorite perfume and you are ready to party!!!!!

With the holiday season behind us and the New Year well under way, for many of us January can be a very depressing month.  The parties have taken a dramatic drop-off and the weather can be at its bleakest.  New Year resolutions are in place but are we sticking to them?   

I say that sometimes the simplest change can make a huge difference in one’s outlook.  What about a new hairdo?  It doesn’t have to be as drastic as cutting off your long locks.   So, instead of just looking at your collection of styling combs and styling brushes, use them to create that new look.  It actually could be as simple as changing the part that you wear on the left side of your head to the right side of your head.  Or, perhaps you always wear your hair straight.   Take your curling iron or your hot rollers out and curl away.  And, if you have curls, there are these hair styling tools called hair straighteners (lol) that you can use to straighten away.  What about wearing hair styling accessories such as beautiful barrettes?  Lastly, if your hair is long and you always wear it down, why not pin it up?

While these are not monumental ideas, it doesn’t always take money to make a change.  Just look in your bathroom or dressing area and see what is already there that you can use to make that simple change to your current hairstyle.  You  just might receive some unsolicited compliments and it certainly will bring a smile to that face of yours.

Are you looking for an alternative way to produce bouncy waves over using a round brush and hairdryer?  Using hot rollers is the answer and the rollers are one of the best ways to make those waves last.

Take your damp hair and scrunch some volumizer throughout your hair.  Blow-dry your hair and and then use the largest of the hot rollers to wind around your hair.  After the curlers have cooled, remove them and use a paddle brush to gently run through the curls to loosen them.  Bend your head over, shake, and return your head upright to a headful of hair that has that natural look of body and bounce.

Are you tired of your straight hair style and want to add some pizazz to your appearance?  If you have answered yes, now comes the dilemma of whether to use a curling iron, or would it be easier to use hot rollers?  What are the benefits of using the curling iron versus the hot rollers?

If you already use a curling iron, you know that curling irons are available in different size barrels.  And, if you are a user of hot rollers, you already know that there are various size hot curlers available.  To be able to decide which hair styling tools are best for you however, depends on the type style that you want and what hair type you have.  Time can also be a very important factor. 

Large hot rollers and large curling iron barrels (typically larger than a one inch diameter) will provide volume for any hair type or style.  If you have long hair the larger diameter curling iron or hot roller will provide you with the ability to slightly curl under the ends or add wave.   Just the opposite will be true if you are looking for small curls, ringlets, etc.  The smaller the diameter of the barrel of a curling iron and the smaller the diameter of a hot roller, the more intense the curl will be.

If you are short on time, hot rollers are your best bet.  While the rollers are heating, you can be putting on your makeup or whatever else you need to be doing.   Additionally, once they are hot and you have them in your hair, you can continue to do other necessary things while the rollers are doing their job.  This obviously is not the case with the curling iron.  If you have long hair, or layered hair, curling your hair with an iron will take more time in addition to the fact that your arm may start to tire while you are holding the curling iron for the amount of time needed for each curl.  However, I don’t want  to put a negative spin on the curling iron because with many hair types the curling iron will actually work to your benefit, especially if you are looking for spiral and tighter curls.  For whatever reason these types of curls tend to stay longer in the hair when you have created the curl with the curling iron.

Whether you ultimately decide that you like one styling appliance over the other will depend on what you feel is the easiest and most satisfying in terms of the results.  If you like options and alternatives then I suggest having both a curling iron and the hot rollers so that you are always prepared for a backup plan.

Why is it that individuals who have curly or wavy hair want it straight, and then there are those of us who have straight hair and we want to have our hair curly or wavy?  It just goes without being said , but I’m saying it anyway, it is just human nature to want what we don’t already have.  Well, when it comes to hair, we are all in luck as there are hair styling tools to accomodate just about any style that we desire. 

All one has to do is to go online or go to a local beauty supply store or hair salon and you will find just about any kind of tool necessary to straighten, curl, flip, wave, crimp, and the list goes on and on.  We all definitely take for granted what modern technology has done for us.   Just in the last 10 to 20 years, there has been a marked increase in the variety of styling tools available to buy.  For many of us who have been around a lot longer, we can reminisce about the days when we had to have our hair chemically processed to straighten our hair, or even try to iron long hair on the ironing board.  If we wanted our hair to be curly, we sat under a dryer with curlers in our hair and waited for our hair to dry and curl.  Thanks to the inventors of hot rollers we just plug them in, put them in our hair and within minutes we unroll, brush through, and we’re done.   And, best of all, no more sleeping on rollers!  Oh, how wonderful it is to live in the 21st Century!!