This essay first appeared on Wednesday, February 28, in The Strategist Beauty Brief, a weekly newsletter in which our beauty writers share their must-tries, can-skips, and can’t-live-withouts. But we liked it so much we wanted to share it with all of our readers. If you want more first impressions of buzzy launches, quick takes on what’s trending on TikTok and Instagram, and deep dives into the week’s best beauty launches, sign up here. The Strategist Beauty Brief is delivered every Wednesday.
If you follow beauty trends, chances are you’ve coveted the Airwrap at one point or another. I got the original Airwrap as a Christmas gift in 2021, and the brand sent me the new and improved model last year. Since then, I’ve used it to blow-dry my hair straight — and it’s great at this. It gets the job done, fast. But at least once a week, I futz around with it, trying to actually curl my hair. The Airwrap is supposed to be able to do this well. But honestly — and I know this might get me in trouble — it’s just not the best tool for the job
Rather than curling hair directly with high heat, the Airwrap uses high-speed hot airflow: You wrap the hair around the barrel, and jets of air create the curls. There’s less heat involved so less heat damage. The curls look great — bouncy, soft, shiny — but I could never get them to last.
I’m not alone. There are countless tutorials urging people to not give up on their Airwrap, even if their curls are falling flat after a couple hours. The tutorials follow that plea with a laundry list of tips and tricks: Make sure your hair is damp: not too wet, not too dry. Hold the barrel horizontally. Make sure you add tension to the curl. Prep the hair properly with mousse. Work in small sections. Hold for at least 30 seconds. Set curls with the cool-shot button. Rewet the hair if it gets too dry. “Slide” the curl off, don’t pull. Hair spray, hair spray, hair spray. Don’t brush them out right away. Don’t brush them out at all. I stopped just short of using rollers to set the curls, the most old-school trick of all, because I felt ridiculous resorting to a $10 beauty technique of my grandmother’s to get a $600 high-tech hair tool to perform as advertised.
After a lot of trial and error, I got better at using the Airwrap, but my curls still never lasted beyond a few hours. And then I remembered curling irons.
I was so preoccupied with getting the Airwrap to submit to my will, I hadn’t used a curling iron to curl my hair in weeks. Then, in November, I called in a sample of the GHD Curve Classic Curling Iron to test out for my “Best in Class” curling irons story. It came highly recommended from a handful of stylists. While I’d spied plenty of pros wielding Dyson hair dryers in salons, I’d never seen a hairdresser use anything other than a classic clamp curling iron while sitting in their chairs. When I tested the Curve Classic, it became clear to me why. First, it’s lighter in my hands than the Airwrap and less clunky. I could style without any hand and arm strain. And it was blessedly quiet, no loud blow-dryer motor blasting my ears, so I could listen to my podcasts and playlists, which makes the time I spend curling my hair more pleasant. And it actually is faster. It took me 30 minutes to curl my full head with the Airwrap and about ten minutes with the curling iron. I didn’t have to waste time waiting for my hair to “catch” on the Airwrap or hold each curl for at least 30 seconds. Curling with an iron is familiar and easy; you don’t have to think about it: Clamp, roll, and release. That easy, and you’ve got a lovely, bouncy curl. And the style lasted all day.
While I hate to be the bearer of bad news, the reason the style lasted much longer with the iron was because it’s actually using direct heat to set the curls, as opposed to the Dyson, which utilizes air to minimize damage. Of course, I understand wanting to keep your hair healthy — my hair is very fine and more fragile than most — but what I can’t understand is spending all that time styling with the Airwrap (which still exposes your hair to some heat anyway) just for it to fall flat in the end. Sometimes heat styling is necessary. And while a traditional curling iron is, of course, going to bring a lot more heat, the thing that makes the Curve special is that it is also designed to minimize hair damage — it heats up to exactly 365 degrees, which is on the low end for irons, many of which go over 400 degrees. The ceramic plates distribute heat evenly so the curls are smooth from root to tip and the clamp holds the hair more gently so it’s easier to manipulate. My hair never smokes or smells like it’s burning when I use it. I’ve also invested in an excellent heat-protectant spray, Living Proof Restore Perfecting Spray, which has a very lightweight finish. Add that $33 to the price of this top-of-the-line curling iron, and it still nets out to a little over a third of what the Airwrap will run you.
It’s been about three months since I started using the Curve Classic and I haven’t noticed any significant damage besides the usual wear and tear (the heat-protectant spray has really been doing its job). While it feels kind of disappointing to give up on my Dyson — the cult of the Airwrap is hard to escape — it’s not nearly as disappointing as watching my hair fall flat after only a few hours.
This article originally appeared in The Strategist Beauty Brief, a weekly newsletter from our beauty writers on their must-tries, can-skips, and can’t-live-withouts. Sign up here.
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