hair appliances Archives » Beauty Skeptic

straightening brushes

I am lazy to a fault when it comes to styling my hair. On a given day, if there is a part of my professional appearance that has, “opportunity,” it is my hair. I don’t think it is ever appalling or flat-out unprofessional, but it isn’t consistently good, either. It lives in an octopus jaw clip a lot when I’m in the zone. I won’t apologize for this decidedly non-chic choice; it is functional. It saves me on, “nice,” and, “not-so-nice,” hair days alike when I tire of my hair falling forward one-too-many times. Emphasis on the not-so-nice days, though.

I Should Get Over It

It isn’t that hard to smooth the hair. It takes way less effort than curling it does! I realized I can get more mileage between washes when I blow-dry. To say nothing of my curling apparatuses, here’s what I’ve got:

This inexpensive, albeit effective blow dryer.
These also-inexpensive hot rollers that I really love. They’re lovely for volume, smoothing, and big curls depending on how you use them. I am an idiot – every time I use them I ask myself, “Why don’t you do this at least once a week?!”
I actually have two flat irons:
- This Hot Tools iron that I bought in 2016.
- And also this Wazor one that my husband surprised me with this summer (I’m still evaluating it).

Even when I intend to dry it properly, I sometimes leave my hair in a post-shower twist too long and the juice of the dryer isn’t worth the effort of the squeeze. So then I have weird hair for a bit. I could straighten it, but meh.

Straightening Brushes & Hype

It’s no secret that I’m fairly inept when it comes to hairstyling. Fairly might be generous, even. Sometimes, I get the idea that I can do things to my hair. Sometimes it comes out alright. Here’s what comprises my Hair Appliance Arsenal. Don’t worry – I’m not going to tell you that you need a $400 NuMe set.

This 1875 watt Conair dryer has been mentioned on the blog before – and although it’s an inexpensive model, it gets the job done for me. My hair is somewhere between medium and fine in texture, there’s a lot of it, and it’s long. It is lightweight, so I don’t find my arms tired before the work is done. This is the MVP of my hair appliance arsenal; even though I don’t particularly enjoy blow drying my hair, I hate having wet hair in the winter more…so it sees the most use.

I love my Hot Tools 1.25″ iron. It’s sturdy and reliable – heats quickly, works well, hasn’t ruined my hair. It’s fairly easy for me to use despite my embarrassingly low dexterity and whatnot. No buttons or internet in this guy, and that’s just fine – fewer components to get angry with you.

For my birthday, my husband got me this ISO 5P curling wand set with interchangeable barrels. It’s really cool, I’m just still a bit clumsy with it (but I’m getting better!). I wish the tips of the barrels were inert/cool-touch/not heated because I keep thinking to grab it like a classic iron (I’ve avoided injury so far, but I’m not confident I’ll remain so lucky). You ought to wear a heatproof glove with using this unless you’re really experienced with these – because even if you aren’t inclined to steady the wand by grabbing the end, you might brush your knuckles or something while twirling your hair around the barrel. Also, it takes a little while to heat up, so you do need to give yourself some extra time.