Curling Wands and Curling Irons Explained

Whether you use a curling wand or a curling iron the results will be similar – beautiful, luscious curls – so, what’s the difference and which is better?

Curling Irons

Curling irons usually have a uniform curling barrel that creates ringlet effect curls. They are comparatively easy to setup and use but do have the disadvantage of not being able to give you different sized curls – for that you would need to use a variety of curling irons that have different sized barrels.

Curling Iron Features

Curling irons generally come with two different heating setting options – single or variable – and have a clasp to hold your hair while your curling it. Some people find the clasp makes using the iron much easier.

The heating plates on these irons are usually made from ceramic, tourmaline, or metal. Some manufacturers also offer a combination of ceramic and tourmaline plates. Due to the extra protection from hair damage offered by ceramic and tourmaline irons, they tend to be a little more expensive. Metal plated curling irons offer the least protection but are also the least expensive.

Most curling irons have a uniformly sized barrel, which will determine how big your curls will be – narrow barreled curling irons give smaller, tighter curls while with a wide-barreled iron you’ll get a bigger, more voluminous effect.

Curling Wands

Curling wands have a cone-shaped barrel that allows you to create different sized curls from the same wand. They don’t have a clip like a curling iron so to create your curls you’ll need to manually wind your hair along the barrel. Curling wands are known to give more of a wavy finish.

Curling Wand Features

The tapered barrel on a curling wand heats up very quickly so there will be no waiting around for those wavy locks and because they don’t use a clip like a curling iron does, you’ll find that your curls will be smooth and even. Also, because there’s no clip, there’s also no clip marks left in your hair!

So, which is better?

Both curling irons and curling wands offer great results so it’s impossible to say which is better as that’s subjective and dependent on what you want and need.

Curling wands are more flexible in terms of curl size whereas curling irons take more time but it will give you shinier, smoother curls that hold for longer.