What Is a Curling Wand?
A curling wand is a device that lets you curl your hair in various ways. Curling wands feature a ceramic barrel and a heating system that is usually connected to a power outlet. The heating system heats the ceramic barrel, and the user then wraps or curls their hair around the barrel once heated up. After leaving the hair on the barrel for a short amount of time, the hair will stay curled, hence the name.
Curling Wand vs. Flat Iron
Something to note in regards to curling wands is that they’re different from another type of curling device known as a flat iron. While the term “flat iron” may allude to the fact that it’s often used to straighten hair, you can use flat irons to curl your hair, too. In terms of effectiveness, however, curling wands are much better at curling.
The reason for this is that flat irons are made for more general use. You can curl, flatten or straighten hair depending on your goals, whereas curling wands are meant specifically for curling your hair. You can’t do much with a curling wand other than, well, curling, and this can be either a good or a bad thing depending on what you’re looking for in a hair styling device.
At the end of the day, it’s best to choose the product that you’ll get the most use out of. If you think that you’ll be straightening your hair just as often as you will be curling it, a flat iron may be the better choice. But if you want better curls and only curls, then a curling wand is the way to go.
Important Considerations
Barrel Width
A curling wand relies on a ceramic barrel to heat your hair. Ceramic barrels transfer the heat from the wand onto your hair without damaging your hair too much in the process. Depending on the manufacturer, barrels can vary in width or shape, with some that are inches thicker than others.
The thickness and shape of the ceramic barrel can heavily affect your results with the wand. A thicker barrel, for example, is perfect for larger curls, whereas a thinner one is more suited for finer and smaller ones. There are also barrels with varied shapes that result in more dynamic curls.
Heat Damage
Did you know that overexposure to heat can damage your hair? Heat can damage your hair by changing the shape of your keratin strands, resulting in overall weaker hair. So, while styling your hair with heat is convenient and effective, your hair may become more brittle due to it.
To make things even worse, heat can dry out your hair as well. As such, you’ll want to avoid using curling wands that are too hot for your hair to handle, especially if you have fine hair that’s sensitive to these sorts of things.
Styling Accessories
Some curling wands come with additional accessories that you can use alongside the curling wand itself. The most common of these is the glove — since there is a real risk of scalding yourself or burning your skin, the glove is there to protect you if your fingers slip by accident.
Aside from gloves, you may also get hair clips, carrying cases, or even additional ceramic barrels for wands with detachable barrel designs. Other than the extra barrels, these accessories don’t change all that much, but they’re nice to have as a bonus.
