Jul 1, 2023 9:00 AM

The Best Curling Irons for All Hair Types

We’ve tested tongs, wands, curling irons, and dryers in our pursuit of the best tools for all hair types and styles. These are our top twisters.

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Featured in this article

Dyson Airwave curling wand and attachments

4 / 10

It may seem that curling irons are all created relatively equal, but depending on what style you’re after, your hair type, skill level, and budget, they can vary wildly. What suits one person won’t suit another, and this can make choosing the best curling iron a minefield.

The size of the barrel, for example, can make a huge difference to the size of the curl and how defined it is. If you have long, thick hair, you’re going to want a styler that offers higher temperatures than someone with thin or fine hair. And if your hair is damaged or brittle, you’ll likely benefit from an iron that’s been infused with oils and proteins, or a styler that curls your hair with hot air rather than hot metal.

To help you navigate this tricky terrain, we’ve tested a range of curling irons, wands, tongs, and stylers for ease of use, how well they curl the hair, and how well the curls last. We also factor in if they have any safety features, and we recommend alternatives for different hair types for those curlers that serve more specific needs.

For more hair and beauty guides, check out Best Hair Dryers and Diffusers, Best Hair Straighteners and the Best Creams and Tools for Removing Hair.

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Photograph: T3
A Versatile Top Pick
T3 Switch Kit Curl Trio
Included in the wonderfully versatile T3 Switch Kit is the styler handle plus three attachments: a 0.5-inch barrel for tight, defined curls and for enhancing the texture of natural hair; a 1.25-inch barrel for soft, natural curls; and a 1.5-inch barrel for larger curls and waves, which comes with a clip to help keep hair in place. For my fine, shoulder-length hair, the 1.25-inch barrel gave the best results. Not only did it create natural-looking yet defined curls, they lasted for hours. The larger barrel created great-looking, large curls that fell almost immediately, with an end result more akin to bouncy waves. Finally, the curls of the smallest barrel were very tight but ideal for the short pieces of hair around my face.
Each of these attachments twists and locks into place with a small dial on the side. Swapping them in and out mid-styling can be tricky, because of how hot these attachments get, but once it’s cooled down, they’re just as easy to remove. Plus this detachable design makes the Switch Kit an easy appliance to store. There are nine heat settings—ranging from 260° to 410° Fahrenheit—though you can’t choose a specific heat. You need to cycle through the settings from 1 through 9 and experiment to find the one that suits your hair best. For me, setting 4 offered a good balance of styling, longevity, and shine. This will vary depending on your hair type and thickness, though—WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano (another Switch Kit fan) prefers setting 5 and the smallest barrel.
If you’re happy to play around, the T3 Switch Kit will reward you with consistently great results. We love its versatility, its ease of use, and the fact that styles can be dialed up or down to suit different hair types and occasions. This Switch Kit has a minor issue, in that the cooling tip is almost indistinguishable from the hot barrel, but it also comes with a heat glove to minimize your risk of burning.
$288 at Amazon
$300 at Best Buy
$300 at T3
Photograph: L’ange
On a Budget
L’ange Hair Le Curl
The L’ange Hair Le Curl is simple but effective. It doesn’t come with many of the bells and whistles seen elsewhere on this list, but that’s what makes it so affordable and so easy to use. Simply switch it on, wait 30 seconds, and start curling. I tested the 32-mm (1.25-inch) version, and it worked well on my mid-length fine hair, creating large, loose curls that lasted for hours with very little effort or skill. It’s also available in a 25-mm (1-inch) model if you have shorter hair or want tighter curls or to enhance your natural texture.
There are some downsides to its cheaper price. First, it offers only one temperature setting of 410°, which is much hotter than I’d usually use on fine hair. This does make it great for longer, thicker hair types, though. Second, it doesn’t come with a cool tip and doesn’t ship with a heat glove. Given how hot this styler gets, I highly recommend buying a glove separately. Also avoid creating curls too close to your scalp to avoid burning the skin, as I found out the hard way.
$59 at Amazon
$47 at L'ange Hair

Photograph: GHD
Best for Long-Lasting Curls
GHD Curve Classic Curling Iron
GHD sells a range of curling wands and irons within its Curve range, and the best of the bunch, in my opinion, and one that will appeal to the most people, is the GHD Curve Classic Curling Iron—known as the Classic Curling Tong outside of the US.
Its 1-inch ceramic barrel is small enough for short styles, but large enough for creating curls in longer, thicker hair. It has a clamp and easy-to-use handle that keeps the hair in place as you twist the barrel, and its cool tip is larger than on other curlers I’ve tried. What’s more, this tip is tapered. That may not seem significant, but this shape helps you know exactly how close you are to the burning hot metal barrel when you’re concentrating on creating curls. If you place your fingers on the thin end, you know you’re further away. If you’re grabbing the thicker end, the risk of burning yourself is higher. This is particularly useful for beginners and people with visual impairment.
It can take a bit of getting used to, and I recommend practicing using the clamp and barrel when the curling iron is switched off. This can also help you learn the angles needed to create curls that go in different directions. Once I mastered this it became second nature, and it gave me the confidence to experiment with creating tighter curls or looser waves. What’s more, any style created using this iron lasted all day on my medium-length fine hair. The biggest downside is that you can’t adjust the temperature of this curling iron, which is the case with all GHD stylers. It’s locked at 365°.
$205 at Amazon
$199 at Walmart
$205 at GHD
Photograph: Dyson
Curls With No Heat Damage
Dyson Airwrap
The Dyson Airwrap has won numerous awards, spawned countless dupes, and has more than 4.5 billion views on TikTok, because it offers much more versatility than a lot of hair stylers. It’s high price tag also likely has something to do with it.
The Airwrap is probably best known for its curling attachments, because they use what’s known as the Coanda effect. This effect pulls the hair toward the barrel and wraps it around automatically, almost hands-free, without any twisting or contouring your arms to get the curler in the best position. I say “almost” hands-free because you do need to hold sections of hair up to the barrel; you can’t just put it near your head and let the curler do the work. This process can take a bit of getting used to, and to get the best results you need to make sure your hair is about 70 percent dry. I also find that the curls don’t hold quite as well as with other curlers in this list. However, using hot air rather than hot metal is a gentler way to curl your hair and reduces the risk of getting burned. For the price of the Airwrap, you get two curling barrels (1.2 inch and 1.6 inch) as well as a soft smoothing brush, round volumizing brush, prestyling dryer, storage case, nonslip mat, and filter cleaning brush. All in a storage box. The Airwrap then offers four heat settings, three speeds, and a cold shot button to set whichever style you opt for.
$600 at Amazon
$600 at Ulta
$600 at Dyson

Photograph: GHD
A Beginner-Friendly Hot Brush
GHD Rise Hot Brush
The GHD Rise is a bit of an anomaly because it's technically a hot brush, but I've included it in this list because of the styles it can create. Designed primarily to help add volume and lift at the roots of your straight styles, I also use it to create curls by wrapping the ends around bristles and twisting the GHD Rise up toward my hairline. By changing the direction, and how long you hold the hair in the styler, you can create defined curls or looser waves.
The Rise has the same tapered cool tip as seen on GHD’s Curve curling range, and even the bristles are cool to the touch. This all adds up to make the GHD Rise great for beginners or people who don’t feel they have the skills to use regular curling wands and irons. For me, the bristles make it easier to control the hair and keep it in place than with regular curlers. They also help smooth the curls, remove any knots, and don’t cause any snagging or pulling, which can be common on curling wands with clamps. I should note that during the review period, two of the bristles fell off. Hey, this was my fault, because I dropped the brush onto the hard side of my dressing table, but at this price, I would have expected it to be more hardy. Like with all GHD stylers, it maxes out at 365°.
$189 at Amazon
$189 at Walmart
$187 at GHD
Photograph: Revamp
An Easy-to-Use Curler
Revamp Progloss Hollywood Automatic
If you lack the skill or patience to master a regular curling iron, the Revamp Progloss rotating hair curler brings movement and bounce with almost zero effort. Place the end of your hair inside the curler’s chamber and as it rotates, your hair is wrapped around a hot rod and your curl is set. I’ve tried a handful of rotating hair curlers, and this is by far the easiest to use and the most effective. This is because of the tapered design of the chamber that’s long enough for even long hair, the easy-grip silicone handle, as well as a choice of temperature settings: 340°, 380°, and 410°.
These settings are great for different hair types and thicknesses, but they also mean you can opt for loose waves or tighter, more defined curls depending on how hot you make the curler, how long you hold the curl in place, and how much hair you feed into the chamber. You can then rotate your hair left or right to create natural-looking curls. This convenience does come with a small downside—it can take longer to curl your hair than with a regular iron. By the time you’ve sectioned the hair, fed it into the chamber, pressed the rotate button, and held each curl for 10 seconds, the minutes start to rack up. It’s not a huge issue, and the results and ease of use are worth it, but it’s worth noting. Especially if you have thick or long hair.
$120 at Amazon
$50 at Walmart
$68 at Argos
$60 at Boots

Photograph: T3
For Long and Thick Hair
T3 SinglePass Wave
The T3 SinglePass is definitely the best-looking entry in this list, but it also offers a number of features that add substance to this style. The key one being the size and shape of the barrel. At its thinnest, the wand measures 0.75 inch, increasing to 1.3 inch at its thickest. This not only makes it great for longer hair but also adds a great level of versatility, allowing you to create tighter curls, especially around your face, as well as loose curls, and beachy waves with a single styler.
The styler gets its name from the fact you only need to curl each section once, with a single pass. There are sensors that control temperature to make sure the heat stays constant and even across the entire barrel, and, in our experience, this also means the curls last for hours. Speaking of heat, this curler comes with five temperature settings—ranging from 260° to 410°—adding even more versatility for different hair types.
Our biggest complaint with the SinglePass is that, as with some others, the cool tip isn’t easily distinguishable from the barrel—they’re separated by just a single rose-gold-colored ring, and this means it can be easy to touch the barrel by mistake, mid-curl. T3 seemingly understands this, though, and the styler comes with a heat glove, which I strongly recommend you use each time.
$150 at Amazon
$158 at Best Buy
Photograph: Bed Head
Another Cheap Wand
Bed Head Twirl Junkie Curling Wand
WIRED writer and reviewer Medea Giordano has been using this affordable curling wand for over a year and loves the results on her coarse hair. The Twirl Junkie has 10 heat settings, from 230° to 430°, and a digital screen makes cycling through temperatures easy.
The 1-inch barrel is a bit too big to fix any wonky natural curls—that's when she reaches for our top pick from T3, pairing it with the smallest attachment—but for creating effortless waves once she's already straightened her hair, it works quickly. It comes with a heat protection glove, but weirdly, it melted when used with a different curling iron.
$32 at Amazon
$40 at Target

Photograph: Hot Tools
Safety First
Hot Tools Black Gold XL Tapered Curling Wand
If you don’t curl your hair regularly, or don’t seem to have the dexterity to master the skill, then using hot irons can be a dangerous pursuit. That’s due to the high risk of burning your scalp, hands, neck, ears, or any other skin that it comes in contact with. The Black Gold XL Tapered Curling Wand solves this by featuring an extra-long cool tip made of smooth plastic, which is instantly distinguishable to the touch from the shiny ceramic barrel.
Beyond avoiding burns, this cool tip also gives you better control of the tapered styler, making it easier to create tighter curls with the thin, 0.75-inch end, and thicker curls and waves with the thicker, 1.25-inch end. To prevent the styler from burning your dressing table or side, it comes with a metal kickstand, and to add to the safety features, this wand ships with a thick heat glove. There are then four adjustable heat settings, controlled via a dial on the side of the styler: 280°, 345°, 400°, and 455°. The latter temperature makes this the hottest styler I've tried, meaning I was even more grateful for the longer cool tip and glove.
$44 at Amazon
$44 at Walmart
$60 at Hot Tools
Photograph: Remington
Best for Shine
Remington Shine Therapy Tapered Curling Wand
Almost every curling iron I’ve tested promises to leave your hair looking frizz-free and shiny, but few do it as well as the Remington Shine Therapy Curling Wand. The tapered barrel—which measures 0.5 inch at its thinnest point up to 1 inch at its thickest—is made from ceramic that’s been infused with argan oil as well as keratin. These help smooth the cuticles of the hair, and it left my hair looking glossy, which is rare for my blonde coloring.
There are 10 heat settings, from 250° to 410°, and you can see exactly what temperature you’re using thanks to a small digital display on the side of the wand. The long cool tip helps make this wand easy to use, as does the inclusion of a heat glove. This wand also has a noticeably longer handle than other stylers I've tried, and this adds to its ease of use and maneuverability. Even at its thickest, this wand is still thinner than most other stylers I've tried, and this creates defined curls. If you’re looking for larger, looser curls and waves, but still want the shine and settings of this styler, I recommend getting the next size up—the Remington Shine Therapy 1-1.5 inch Curling Wand.
$23 at Amazon
$23 at Walmart
$25 at Target

Victoria Woollaston-Webber is a freelance journalist, editor and founder of science-led health, beauty and grooming sites, mamabella and MBman. She has more than a decade's experience in both online and print journalism, having written about tech and gadgets since day one for national papers, magazines and global brands. Victoria specializes in... Read more

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