.:: CybeleSays ::.

There have been some developments in the hair tools category in terms of making them more user-friendly. Here are three that are rockin' my strands right now.

KWOF Series Finishing Iron ($189.99 @ kwofiron.com) – this one is designed to give your wrist a break! The plates are at a 30° angle so you can still get stick straight hair but without tiring out your hands. And like every good flat iron should, this one uses Ceramic and Tourmaline Plates to help seal the cuticle and make hair shiny.

Wanna see more? Click the link after the jump!

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I should start an on-going feature on the site called “I Saw It on TV and Now It’s in My Home. Was it Worth it?” The only thing is that most of the products are not beauty-related. I guess I should just start another site dedicated to it. Anyway, the latest one you’ve probably seen on TV is the INSTYLER. I swear I tried this or something like it many moons ago and have no idea if I liked it or not. I think it tangled my hair more than anything else, so that’s probably why I blocked it out, LOL. If you haven’t seen the commercial yet, it does the job of a flat iron but has a rotating barrel to give you more passes per second, thus straightening strands quicker than your typical flat iron. The most important thing here is to section off the hair so that you don’t tangle the hairs once the barrel starts rotating. If you have the time and patience to section and run each section of hair through this, you really get a great shiny finished look.

There are three temperature settings and an auto shut off, which is convenient. And on their site right now is a limited trial offer for two InStylers for 30 days for $14.99 (and S&P on the second one). And then after 30 days, you will be charged three monthly payments of $39.99. So grab a friend and go in on this together only @ getinstyler.com.

Disclosure: The following item was provided to Cybelesays.com for review purposes.

Money is tight for me too here at Cybelesays.com and in the beauty category of tightening my belt, it seems to have most affected when I get my hair cut and colored. And since I was able to experience the Brazilian Hair Treatment earlier this year, I really liked it so I think I can do it maybe twice a year. I’m a little overdue for my next treatment so I’ve been using the H2PRO Pink 300 Special Edition Styling Iron ($109, 1" plate @ grandperfumes.com) and it’s pretty much kept all my hair in check. Using Nano Silver and Nano Titanium Oxide, which they claim removes chemicals and bacteria from the hair with each pass. Huh? You mean, I don’t have to wash my hair and can just use this one to basically clean it?? Kidding but that is sort of what it implies, no? I know that Nano Titanium helps enhance the ionic effect so each hair is able to absorb moisture and leave behind shine.

 
  

1. Heats up quickly – this one is less that 15 seconds to get to 450 degrees – check!

2. Fully straighten with only a few passes – check!

3. Does not grab or grip as you slide the hair through the plates – check!

As with most of the ones I have tried lately, this too can be used on damp hair but we wouldn’t do something stupid like that, right ladies?

Did you ever really think about the hair tools you use? I mean, they’re all really “one size fits all” and we each have different hair types with different needs. What may be perfect for one head of hair might be quite damaging to another. Enter SMART HEAT by Gold ‘N Hot Elite and did they ever educated me on some hair facts. It’s pretty straight forward that fine hair is less flexible and more prone to damage from styling tools than medium or coarse hair so did you ever think you could get hair tools that were made for your specific type of hair? These use an electronic heat sensor to keep the irons and dryer at the right temperature for your hair type. So no more over-drying or over-styling, which can both wreak havoc on hair!

Choose from the following:

smart heat by Gold ‘N Hot Elite: The Dryer ($115)
smart heat by Gold ‘N Hot Elite: The Straightening Iron ($115)
smart heat by Gold ‘N Hot Elite: The Curling Irons – ½”, ¾”, 1”, 1 ¼” (“$80)

All @ belsonproducts.com or 800-327-8384.

I can’t say that I’m used to looking at a pearlized white and orange hair dryer. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before but I love the combo. Very now. The new Brazilian Heat line from MEGA HOT is comprised of 6 overall products -  Ionic Hair Dryer, two different sized Brazilian Straight Irons and three different sized Brazilian Curl Irons. Here’s what’s sets these apart from the others out there –

Ionic Dryer - $180

• Rheostat dryer instead of switches that let’s you control the air flow
• Cool shot button and turbo shot button
• Lightweight @ 14.6oz.

Straight Iron - $150 - $175

• plates are treated with a new double-dip ceramic treatment (less wear and tear)
• Temp-lock feature so you don’t accidentially change the setting (I do this all the time!).
• 1” and 1 1/2” sizes
• Heat up to 450 degrees and has digital display.
• * I also had my hair dresser, Berrie, try this one out when she was applying the Brazilian Keratin Treatment to my hair and she really liked it and said it was probably one of the best straightening irons she's used to date.

Curl Iron - $80 to $100

• plates are also get the double-dip ceramic treatment
• Temp-lock feature
• Available in ¾”, 1” and 1 ½” sizes
• Heat up to 450 degrees and has digital display.

All @ folica.com in May.

I really wasn’t prepared to be wow’d tonight but I was. I had heard TURBOION’s Croc professional straigtening irons were good but I never tried one. I even drooled over them at January’s ISSE show! And this past week I was able to give one a spin. And wow! I was used to straightening irons making my hair straight but this one made it stick straight with not a lot of runs through the hair. It was almost too straight!

And I put this one through quite the test. I ran the blow dryer over my hair to dry it but I didn’t style it with a round brush, which I usually do to make it straight. So with no round brush love, I grabbed a section with a comb, and three runs later with the Croc Titanium Wet to Dry Flat Iron 1 ½", voila, stick straight strands. Finished my whole head and it looked like I just came from the salon. The iron uses the most advanced “Nano-fine Ceramic Heating Plates” to seal the cuticles and eliminate frizz, while preserving the hair’s condition. If you want to read more about the technology behind this one, check out their site. All I know is what it does!

Now this one can be used on wet or dry hair but I don’t recommend using it on wet hair. I’ve consulted a few hairdressers and they don’t recommend it either.

And watching this one heat up was kinda fun (yes, I’m easily entertained) too. It has a blue digital display and the hottest it goes is 430 degrees. The heat can be set to your hair’s needs, which they recommend: 280 to 310 for bleach or fragile, 310 to 390 for normal and 390 to 430 for coarse or thick.

So help me welcome the Croc Titanium Wet to Dry Flat Iron 1 ½" to the Hall of Fame. $150 @ misikko.com. And make sure to check out the other hair tools on misikko.com.

Let’s talk tools. This is a topic I like and know quite well. I recently tried T-PRO’s Slik Stik Mini ($19.99 @ amazon.com) with tourmaline nano ceramic technology. This little straightening iron heats up to 400 degrees in three minutes. It even comes with a glove to protect your hand from the heat and a storage pouch. How does it work? Flawlessly. It straightens just as well as its big sister but what I like most about is that it’s really light and easy to maneuver. I love this baby! As far as hair types it will work well on, it gets pretty hot so those with thick or curly hair will probably fair well with this one. Since there is no way to control how hot it gets, you might want to opt out of this one if you have fine hair.