Heat-Styling at Home. Which Tools to Use to Style a Fabulous Hairdo?

Dreaming of a flawless hairdo? You don't need to visit a hair salon to realize the dream. Styling a fabulous ‘do is possible at home - it is easier thanks to curling wands, blow dryers, straighteners, waving irons, etc. Check out the best heat-styling tools and unravel the way to use them properly.

Women treat hair as the attribute of femininity. We love to enhance it so it goes along with an outfit or makeup. We choose different hairdos for daily look and special occasions (a date, job interview, wedding). It is the easy heat-styling that lets us effortlessly turn the looks of hair around.

Heat styling at home

A few dozens years ago, heat-styling tools were not as popular and easily-accessible. We should appreciate the fact that nowadays styling hair at home is so simple and delivers as fabulous outcome as salon treatments. Still, it doesn't mean you have to give up on the hairdressers' services completely. It simply gives us a chance to make choices and style hair the way we desire. Gorgeous and long-lasting curls can be achieved within a few minutes.

You can help yourself using the right products, hair oil treatments and heat-styling tools. By following the instructions of professionals, who like to share their hairstyling tricks more and more often, you can style a hairdo of your dreams. Just remember that heat and lack of protection rapidly lead to hair damage.

Heat-styling tools

How to style your fab curls and add some volume? You need a good curling wand or... straightener! Use a crimper to lift the roots and give your hair incredible texture with a waver. You can also choose heated rollers, hair straightening brushes, automatic curlers and multifunctioning styling tools which are equally effective as hair salon gadgets. Why don't you try finding the right device for your hair?

Here's the basic division:

• single-function heat-styling tools having one purpose: curling, straightening or waving, you need a separate device to get each of the effects;
• multi-purpose heat-styling tools, e.g. a curling blow-dryer, a curler with attachments, a flat iron with crimping plates, which let you get a variety of styles with just one device.

Types of heat-styling tools - curlers, flat irons, etc.

What kinds of devices let us style hairdos nowadays?

1. Blow-dryer

   A professional blow-dryer and a set of round brushes make up a basic tool for a hairdresser. So little is needed to lift roots of hair, make hair silky smooth or get voluminous curls. The right moves of the brush and proper temperature let you blow dry your hair easily, quickly and with a stunning result. No rollers, no curlers, no backcombing. You can read on about the device in the article how does a blow-dryer work.

2. Curling wand

   Our grandmas had to reach for curling rollers or pins if they wanted to get a gorgeous hair curl. Today, we have easier solutions. All you need is a good curler so you create a fab style in a few minutes. It doesn't matter if you desire loose curls or coils. With a curling wand, you can get a variety of effects. The choice of the suitable tool is the key.

   The most popular types of curling wands:

   • a traditional curler with a simple heating unit which has a tube shape (15-25 mm diam) and a special clip on the side for holding the hair in place easily;
   • a thick curler has the same shape but its diam is bigger (even 32-38 mm) so you can get soft waves and voluminous curls;
   • a conical curler usually has no clips so you must hold the strands with your fingers, the heating unit has a narrowed tip so you can magic out natural curls of various thickness;
   • spiral curler is a variation of a classic curling wand and its heating unit is spiral-shaped for incredible romantic kinky curls;
   • triangle curler - its heating unit isn't oval; it has three straight walls which let you get characteristic ‘irregular’ messy curls;
   • a flat curler is cut out for creating soft feminine retro-style curls because it has a flat, well-shaped tip;
   • an auto-rotating curler is the most modern out of all wands, its heating units are hidden and the device pulls the strands inside, keeps them in and signalizes when your curls are complete and you can take the strands out.
3. A curling blow-dryer

   It is often categorized as a curler. You must remember that only a curling dryer is fit for using on wet hair whereas other types of curlers used on wet strands equal hair damage. It is not just a styling tool for wet hair - this gadget lets you save some time.

   Curling blow-dryers have various attachments, too. Thicker or thinner for a variety of styles. Regrettably, they fail to give a strong curl effect so you should know how to define your curly hair after using this kind of tool.

4. A flat iron/ straightener

   For the fans of straight silky smooth shiny hair - a flat iron makes a far better choice. This tool consists of two heating plates that let you straighten your hair. The way a flat iron works is simple; you just need to choose a high-quality device to avoid ruining your hair with too high temperature or sharp edges of heating units.

   Do you know you can magic out incredible waves using a flat iron? All you do is gently wrap a strand on the iron - its sides are slightly heated so you can get a nice curl.

5. A straightening brush

   Electric brushes are meant for smoothing hair, too. It is a pretty new invention which ensures desired hair smoothness during the brushing routine. We are fully aware of hair brushing benefits and we can add easier styling to the list. Straightening brushes also perform a variety of roles - they can have ionic function, rebuild hair structure thanks to infrared radiation, additionally massage your scalp. What's more, such brushes don't have to use the heat to make your hair silky smooth.

6. A hair crimper

   Another hairstyling tool which lost its glory years ago (it was a thing in 1980/90s). Its structure resembles a flat iron but the plates are not smooth. After pressing the strands with the device, you get fine, regular, square-like curls and your hairdo amps up its volume.

   Currently, crimpy hair is not so popular but you can see that designers like to bring back its glory on the catwalks. In practice, women like to use crimpers for lifting the roots and boosting volume.

7. A hair waver

   A waver is surely the least common styling tool among hairdressers. This device looks like combination of a curler and iron or crimper. You put a strand of hair between the curvy plates to give it a beautiful wavy shape. Possibly, wavers didn't manage to gain immense popularity because you can get a similar effect by using a curling wand the right way.

Which hairstyling tool to choose?

If you have fragile thin hair, you might be scared of heat-styling damage. Are there any devices you can use without worries? What about those having thick hair? You must have problems with taming it and look for a strong hold effect. What to choose?

Nowadays, we can all find something suitable among stacks of hair tools. You just need to know how to search for it. The key things to look at while picking the best curling wand, flat iron and blow-dryer:

1. Heat control - each and every device should have an option for increasing and lowering the temperature so you can match it to your needs and hair type;
2. Ceramic plates - heat styling tools which have high-quality heating units (e.g. ceramic, titanium or mixed) are far better; teflon-coated plates make the worst choice;
3. Ionic function or mineral-coated plates - they give extra properties which let you prevent static flyaways or additionally nourish your hair.