Hair Curling Utensils

The barrel of a curling iron is too hot to touch.

Many highly effective utensils for curling hair are available. Some are more expensive than others, and your hair type dictates the best curling utensils for you. With the curling iron, the hot-air curling brush or the spiral curling tong, you create one curl at a time. Hot rollers curl all the hair simultaneously. Some women like to use a combination of curling tools in achieving their own personalized look.

Curling Iron

The curling iron is an useful hair-curling tool for all types of hair. For straight hair, you can create beautiful curls of all sizes with a curling iron. The size of the barrel the hair wraps around determines the curl size. The bigger the barrel, the looser the curl. Naturally curly hair can be tamed and formed into relaxed curls by using the large-barrel curling iron. Curling irons also have a thermal switch that shuts the unit off when the temperature gets too high, and turns it back on when the iron cools off.

Hot Air Curling Brush

Hot-air curling brushes follow the blow-dryer/round-brush technique, where hair is rolled around the brush as hot air is blown on it. With the hot-air curling brush, you have the luxury of a free hand. You can section your hair, and roll a section at a time around the brush, while hot air blows from the inside and is disbursed evenly through the brush's barrel. With the hot-air curling brush, drying and curling is faster because the air comes from the inside and works its way out.

Spiral Curling Tong

The spiral curling tong is the best curling utensil for creating spiral curls. This is because the tong has a raised design on its barrel, designed to create spiral curls. The hair is wrapped around the entire barrel, top to bottom, with no hair overlap. Shop around for your spiral curling tong because not all spiral curling tongs are equally effective. Your curling tong should be infused with a ceramic core because ceramic does not damage the hair. Also, insist on a professional spiral curling tong. These are better made and last much longer.

Dry and Steam Hot Rollers

Both dry and steam hot rollers work by heating up hair wrapped around a roller. Both are very efficient at producing bouncy, long-lasting curls and waves. The main consideration when using hot rollers is to use a roller that is either Teflon-coated or velvet-flocked. These two coatings protect the hair from heat damage. Rollers with a ceramic core are safer because they prevent burns when handling them. Sponge rollers that are steam-heated are the safest hot rollers for fine, damaged hair.

References

• MadSci Network: Engineering; How Does a Curling Iron Work?; Jim Stana, Mechanical Design/Analysis Manager, Lockheed Martin Orlando; April 2000
• Style Hair Magazine: Hot Air Brush a Styling Revolution
• Curler; Hair Curling Tong; 2011
• Daily Makeover; Your Ultimate Guide to Hot Rollers; Megan McIntyre; 2011
• Devine Caroline; How to Use Hot Rollers to Create Volume; August 2011