1 day ago
5
Curling irons and I person a analyzable history. It’s a scarring relationship, built connected burns, breakage, and the faint odor of singed hair. If you grew up successful the aboriginal 2000s, you retrieve the cheap, clampy contraptions that near you with burnt fingertips, regrettable hairstyles, and—if you weren’t careful—a cervix hickey that wasn’t from your precocious schoolhouse boyfriend. But contempt the occasional conflict scars, curling irons person been a rite of girlhood. Bouncy ringlets for mediate schoolhouse plays, romanticist waves for elder prom, a tousled blowout for graduation.
The pursuit of the cleanable curl is arsenic aged arsenic civilization itself. The Romans wielded heated robust rods (calamistrum) to sculpt Venus-like spirals. Medieval wig wearers would cook their curls astatine the bakery, wherever they would wrapper them wrong a protective pastry chopped and flip them into the oven. The Victorians, ever committed to aesthetic suffering, warmed their curling tongs implicit unfastened flames for polished waves. A scorched strand here, a seared forehead there—beauty, they say, is pain.
D. Sharon Pruitt Pink Sherbet Photography/Getty Images
Fortunately, today’s curlers—like our apical pick, T3 Singlepass Curl X ($150)—are smarter and pain-free (for the astir part). With ceramic coatings, adjustable vigor settings, and automatic rotating wands, these aren’t the drugstore relics of yesteryear. I tested a heap of them—some brilliant, immoderate confusing—to find the ones worthy your locks and money. Here are the champion curling irons connected the market. No bakery trips required.
For much quality guides, cheque retired the Best Hair Dryers, Best Hair Straighteners, Best Heat Protectant Sprays, and Best LED Masks (and How They Work).
Updated April 2025: I added accusation astir our investigating process and updated our champion picks, arsenic good arsenic prices and links.
Power up with unlimited entree to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting that's excessively important to disregard for conscionable $2.50 $1 per period for 1 year. Includes unlimited integer entree and exclusive subscriber-only content. Subscribe Today.
What Should I Look for successful a Curling Iron?
Material girl. The tube of your curling robust affects vigor distribution, frizz control, and hairsbreadth health. Ceramic is the astir cosmopolitan choice—ideal for fine, curly, oregon coily hairsbreadth due to the fact that it distributes vigor evenly and helps fastener successful moisture. Ceramic irons besides emit antagonistic ions, which is science-speak for smoothing frizz and preventing crispy ends. Tourmaline takes it up a notch, firing disconnected six times much antagonistic ions for other shine, making it a large enactment for heavy oregon frizz-prone hair. If you person consecutive hairsbreadth that struggles to clasp a style, titanium mightiness beryllium your champion bet. It heats up fast, holds precocious temperatures, and sets curls that past (at slightest until past lunch).
To clamp oregon not to clamp? Traditional curling irons with a clamp make much structured, long-lasting curls. Curling wands are clipless and amended for natural-looking waves with nary creases. Tapered wands are wider astatine the basal and narrower astatine the tip, creating tousled curls that are looser astatine the roots and tighter astatine the ends. Wavers, designed with 2 oregon 3 barrels, present beachy S-shaped bends.
Size matters. The tube size dictates the curl pattern.
- ¾-inch: Corkscrew curls and ringlets. Best for abbreviated hair.
- 1-inch: Classic curls. Suitable for each hairsbreadth lengths. If successful doubt, commencement here.
- 1¼-inch: Soft, tousled waves oregon for adding texture to updos. Best for mean to agelong hair.
- 1½-inch and up: Loose, voluminous waves. Suitable for agelong hair.
What's your vigor range? Not each hairsbreadth types tin grip the aforesaid level of heat. Fine oregon chemically treated hairsbreadth should enactment nether 300 degrees Fahrenheit. For steadfast and medium-textured hair, 300 to 380 degrees is the saccharine spot. If you person coarse, curly, oregon heavy hair, you’ll request 300 to 450 degrees. P.S. Don’t hide the heat protectant spray.
Any add-ons? Some curling irons person a cool-touch extremity for safer handling. Some travel with interchangeable barrels, which means you don’t person to prime conscionable 1 curl type—Marilyn ringlets today, mermaid waves tomorrow. Cord magnitude besides matters. A professional-level curling robust has a 9-foot cord due to the fact that thing shorter is hard to maneuver erstwhile styling. (Bonus points for a swivel mechanism, truthful it doesn’t twist and tangle.)
To find the champion curlers for each hairsbreadth type, budget, and accomplishment level, I archetypal scoured the marketplace for the latest and top tools, everything from accepted clamps to auto-curlers that bash the enactment for you. Each hairsbreadth instrumentality was tested for astatine slightest 2 weeks. Here’s however I evaluated each tool:
- Ease of use. I assessed weight, grip comfort, clamp tension, and whether the cord behaved oregon ended up successful a knotted mess.
- Heat settings. In summation to somesthesia ranges. I besides monitored however accelerated each heated up, whether it maintained a accordant temp during styling, and if it fried my ends.
- Hairstyle longevity. I enlisted WIRED reviewers with straight, wavy, and curly hairsbreadth to enactment these curlers to the real-world test. Did the curls past oregon deflate earlier noon?
- Price and value. I compared outgo to show and volition proceed to trial for semipermanent durability.
- Features. Digital somesthesia control, automatic shutoff, dual voltage for question … if it was advertised by the company, I made definite it delivered.
English (US) ·