INFINITIPRO BY CONAIR Tourmaline Ceramic 1 1/4-Inch to 3/4-Inch Curling Wand, Tapered wand produces beachy waves , Metallic Grey

I tried both the regular You Curl and the XL size, so this review relates to both. Yeah, I'm wordy but I'm giving all the info I would have liked when I was deciding what to buy!We all have different hair, so the same item won't work identically for each person. Me, I have fine hair (as a kid it was somewhat wavy, but now is fairly straight after blow drying) that curls fairly easily and also damages easily. Due to coloring, my hair is fragile so I've always avoided hair tools like this that apply direct heat. I always dry my below-shoulder length hair with a dryer, and curl the ends a bit with a hot air brush. But I really wanted beach waves, so I bought the smaller size Conair You Curl as my first attempt at this. I kept the heat on the lowest setting and only did about 5-8 seconds, but the curls were too small and tight. The wand tapers quite a bit at the bottom (1/4" perhaps??), so you really get a small curl down there and the hair does tend to slide down the wand, so no avoiding that. I wasn't totally happy with the effect as it was just too tight for my taste. I read reviews like crazy but in the end, the Conair seemed to have the most enthusiastic reviews, and frankly, I couldn't see anything to justify paying a hundred or more for pretty much the same technology with a fancy brand name price bump: Let's face it, there isn't much overly special about curling wand technology, the thing heats up. I think it might be the other features that determine what you like. Some of the more expensive wands seemed to lack good features that I liked on the Conair.I decided a larger barrel might work better, but the question was how large to go. Since I liked the basic features of the Conair and they had a larger model, I ordered the XL on Sunday, and with Prime it arrived Tuesday. BINGO! The larger barrel size on the XL is just what I needed to get the effect I wanted. Perfect beach waves and I did my whole head in under 5 minutes. Since I'm not a fan of the tight curls, I'm not keeping the smaller one. Other people who like Taylor Swift type curls would like the smaller size.Features I especially like and which are not necessarily on other brands:1. One button to turn it on or off. Second button to click thru the four labeled heat settings, 310 to 400. I stuck to 310 due to my fine hair, it's plenty hot. I liked having temperature choices rather than just "on" and "off" as is the case with some wands. It heats up really quickly, which is great (under 30 seconds). I really don't get the complaints about accidentally turning this off or changing the heat, that has never happened to me. On the heat button, you don't press straight down, you press to one side (with a +) to move the heat upwards, and the other side (marked with a -) to reduce heat, so it would be hard to accidentally change the setting. You have to push the on/off button down enough that I don't think you would accidentally turn it off, either. It needs to be a deliberate action with the tip of your finger.2. Ceramic wand surface: Seems fine, although I would actually doubt that any of the hype on "special coatings" for any of the brands means all that much. I suspect this type of "ceramic" surface (feels like Teflon) might be a bit better than the shiny metal that older curling irons had, but perhaps not, they all get dang hot, that's how you get the curl. The smaller size wand tapered quite a bit starting at the middle and was quite small at the tip, whereas the XL didn't taper so extremely, and from that standpoint I had less hair slippage with the XL The XL box stated that the wand size was 1-1/4" down to 3/4 inch. I don't know what the smaller one is, the box didn't give this info, but the tip in particular is much smaller on it. I found the XL much easier to use, actually, and it seemed somewhat quicker to use overall by a few minutes. When I was reading reviews of various brands, I noticed some went as large as 2", but from my experience with the XL, I know I wouldn't like one that large, I don't think I'd get the waves with it.Final comment on size: I saw a major difference in the type of curl I got with the two wands, both in 5 to 8 seconds for my fine hair. Less time with the smaller wand didn't mean a looser beachy wave, it just didn't look all that good, it wasn't shaped very well. A bit more time made a tighter ringlet type curl (again, on my hair) if you want that and all the fullness that goes with it. I had to mess with my hair more afterwards, trying to loosen up the curls, and I really couldn't ever quite get the look I wanted (loose, flowing beachy type waves).I felt I had more control with the XL...in 5 or 6 seconds I got I nice loose beach wave that looked right, and a bit more time gives more of a curl. So I feel I get the best of both possibilities with the XL. Overall, I want to get the look I want with the least possible time of hair around the hot wand. 5 seconds seems pretty good to me.3. Ease of Use: Ladies, there's maybe a three or four time usage learning curve, that's it. I never even bothered with that mini-glove and I haven't burned myself. I've used the wands maybe 5 times now and it's easy as pie, you get the hang of it pretty quickly. I'll add that I'm pretty much a hair moron with very little experience doing special things with my hair, I've always been a dry and go type of girl. With this wand, you just need to be careful as you use it, watch your face and ears and finger tips, and that's it. I don't really see how you could use this wand with that silly glove on anyway. It gives a false security, and you don't need it.The key to doing the waves is hold the wand with your left hand when you are doing your right side, and vice versa. You can hold it somewhat horizontal when wrapping it, then point it down, and this minimizes the slippage people complain about. If you try to wrap your hair with the wand in the vertical position, yes, hair slips down a bit too much, but mostly it doesn't matter. You figure out how to hold things and how tight to wrap your hair, it all becomes natural rather quickly. Don't totally wrap the end of your hair, you hold onto that while and after winding the strand of hair around the wand. Then release. Really, it's all quite easy to do. For my fine hair, smaller chunks of hair make a tighter curl/wave, and more hair makes it looser. You figure this all out quickly, what you like. Coarser hair might need higher heat or more time than I use. Also, I'll mention that after washing and conditioning, I apply a Tresemme split end remedy leave-in cream and a bit of something like Pearatin's Fortifyiing Repairative Serum (love this stuff!!), then blow dry, curl up ends a bit with my hot air brush (so the ends aren't straw like straight). THEN I use the curling wand. When done, I leave the waves alone for 5 to 10 minutes before messing with it.It sounded like I needed a heat protectant spray to protect my hair if possible due to the heat of the barrel touching my hair, so I tried the Tresemme Thermal Creations Heat Tamer Spray. It's great, doesn't gunk up the hair, and smells nice and not overpowering. With a light hand in the spraying of it, when you are done you can't even tell it's on the hair, no stickiness or stiffness at all, so I like it. I hope it protects well enough. I'm still trying to decide the best time to use this: on my wet hair after applying my Pearatin etc. but before blow drying, or whether to blow dry and then put it on before using the You Curl. Not sure yet on this. http://www.amazon.com/TRESemme-Thermal-Creations-Tamer-Protective/dp/B000H88QOM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1358287161&sr=8-2&keywords=tresemme4. Cord: plenty long enough, with a swivel feature that is nice. Regular plug, not one of those block things.5. It seems to cool down fairly quickly, and has a little stand type thingy on the barrel handle so when you lay it down on a surface, the hot part isn't touching anything. (tip touches, but it doesn't get hot)6. Five year warranty, but be sure to register with Conair.7. Finally, price: Hands down Amazon has the BEST price I found anywhere. There may be sales here and there, but I looked all over and couldn't find the XL in any store. Lots of places had the smaller wand for nearly twice Amazon's price and in the usual pharmacies it ranged from ten to twenty bucks more than Amazon. The price differences are amazing, I was quite shocked. A few dollars I'd expect, but twice the price in a couple of places! Yikes! And some online places charged ten bucks more for the XL than the smaller size, whereas on Amazon there is only a one dollar difference!Overall, excellent, and I'm quite happy with the XL. I really don't see how anything at a higher price point could be better.

Me encanta es excelente

This is an effective curl wand. It will takes me a few times using the wand ; to perfect how to use it. I looked at some videos on YouTube. However, one have to try on their own. This is my first time trying one side of my hair with the wand. This one curled my Light Yaki human hair wig. I’m very happy with the results. I did not use a high temperature. It was around 300 degrees. It is best to use heat protecting gloves when using ; so you won’t burn your hand.

Before purchasing the YouCurl, my idea of "doing my hair" was putting it in a pony tail. For special events, I had to either coax a friend to style my hair or get a blow out at a salon I couldn't afford. I don't have the kind of hair that looks good naturally all the time - the salty hippy hair unfortunately only works in the summer time. My hair is long, thick and wavy so I never had the patience to learn how to blow dry with a round brush or how to use heated curlers. This curling iron is so easy that even I have figured out how to make my hair look great and somehow it only takes me around 25 minutes (remember I have very thick hair - it usually takes a professional hair dresser about 45 minutes). The iron warms up really quickly so be careful!SOME TOP LINE TIPS:- For tighter curls - work with smaller strands, wrap the hair closer together, and hold the curl for more time (never longer than 15-20 seconds, don't want to burn your hair off!)- For looser curls - use bigger strands, make sure the hair doesn't overlap, and hold the curl for less time.- The hair you're not curling, put on a bun on top of your head.- Curl your hair layer by layer starting with the bottom (I do 3-4 layers, but again my hair is thick) and once each layer is complete then spray with hairspray. Place finished curls behind your shoulders.- Part your hair down the middle and put all hair you're about to curl in front of your shoulders. This gives you the best results for the back of your head (and is a lot easier than trying to curl hair you can't see!- Hold each strand of hair straight out and place the widest part of the iron closest to the root and on top of the strand (curling iron should be perpendicular to the line of your shoulders)- I hold the curl for about 12-15 seconds before releasing.- Placing the curling iron on top of the strand of hair (as opposed to below) curls your hair towards the top of your head - this gives you more lift, away from the scalp.- I let my curls set for 2-3 minutes before shaking them out so my hair looks more natural and less like I just got a perm (flip your head over and lightly shake out your curls using your finger tips).- The best hair spray I have come across (my sister recommended it to me): L'Oreal "Elnett Satin" - I use the "strong hold." It's much more expensive than the average drug store hair spray but it gives you a really natural look (not crunchy at all) and also smells really great (as opposed to the horrible chemical smell of most hair sprays).OVERALL:I absolutely recommend this curling iron. It's inexpensive, easy to use, and gives you great results. One complaint is that the "glove" it comes with is completely pathetic. It doesn't fit at all and is just awkward to use so I would recommend buying a real glove (none of this 3 finger stuff). I burned myself pretty badly one of the first times using this iron so use a glove and be careful! You risk being burned on any curling iron so might as well buy a cheaper one with great reviews and just take the necessary precautions.