The Best Curling Irons and Curling Wands of 2023

The T3 Whirl Trio Interchangeable Styling Wand comes with three interchangeable barrel sizes: a 1-inch, a 1.5-inch, and a 1 ¼-inch that tapers to ¾ inches. I used the “Undone 1” Barrel” because it’s the most similar to the other models on this list.

The wand has five lights that each indicate a heat setting, though I wasn’t sure how many degrees each one reaches, and the instructions don’t clarify other than to say that the maximum temperature is 410°F. I chose the second setting closest to the top because I typically choose the second or third highest heat range and watched the lights cascade upward until they reached my chosen (but unknown) temperature.

The wand was easy to wield and wrap my hair around, and the result was spiral curls that I finger-combed for my desired tousled, curly waves. I enjoyed the glossiness of the barrels, which are undeniably beautiful in white with rose gold trim.

I’d be happy to use this again, but it didn’t make it to the top of our list because there are less complex models that offer similar results.

The Bio Ionic curling iron offers six labeled heating settings ranging from 250°F to 430°F, increasing in increments of 30°F. I chose 360°F, which the brand recommends for “normal hair.” The longer, 1.25-inch thick barrel makes it easier to curl larger sections of hair at once without forfeiting your desired style. While clamps can sometimes leave kinks in the hair that force you to redo a lock of hair, this one didn’t.

I enjoyed using this iron, but some with short or medium-length hair may find it bulky or unnecessary for achieving their desired style. On the other hand, if you have long hair that makes it difficult to get an even, tight curl from root to tip, this extra-long curling iron could be your solution.

The Bed Head Curlipops wand is yet another head scratcher. The wand looks ordinary, but it offers a single on and off switch with zero heat settings or ways to adjust the temperature. You need to look at the instructions to learn that the temperature heats up to a high of 400°F. When I flipped the switch, it lit up green, but with no blinking or changing of colors that indicated it was ready to use.

Despite the puzzling setup, I enjoyed using this iron because it’s so simple. It left me with zero choices to make and it’s a standard, easy-to-use wand. The hot barrel formed solid spiral curls that looked beautiful and shiny even after I combed through my hair.

If you have fine hair and are worried about heat damage, you may opt for a product that allows you to choose a lower temperature, but I liked the fuss-free nature of this and wouldn’t hesitate to use it again.

The Chi Spin N Curl Ceramic Rotating Hair Curler is the oddest looking curling tool I’ve ever seen. It’s one that makes you—dare I say—pull out the instruction manual. If it delivers amazing results, though, I don’t mind consulting the instruction manual before diving into a beauty or styling tool. The Chi is incredibly easy to use once you practice with one or two strands of hair, it feels very durable, and the mechanism it uses keeps you from burning yourself.

Here’s how it works: Take a small section of hair and drape it over the open chamber, then press one of the arrow buttons (depending on if you want to curl toward or away from your head) and the tulip-looking device pulls your hair in and twirls it around a ceramic barrel to form the curl.

When it’s done, the device beeps to let you know you can pull the iron away from your head, releasing your curl with it. Yes, you read that right: you’re curling your hair without any tugging, wrapping, or burning.

The downside of this device is that it only creates loose waves, unless you leave the same section of hair in the chamber for a second or third spin, or if you make good use of styling products.

You may also have better luck creating tight curls if you increase the temperature; this tool goes up to 450°F (the highest any of our curling tools went to), but I used it at 350°F, which was on par with the setting I used on most of the other irons and wands. The Chi heats up in about 40 seconds and automatically shuts off after an hour.

If you’ve had negative experiences with traditional curling irons and wands, or if you have fine hair that curls easily without being held tightly to a ceramic barrel, I’d suggest giving this one a try.

My experience with the Hot Tools curling iron was just so-so. The iron has a dial that can be placed on 280°F, 330°F, 380°, 410°F, or anywhere in between those temperatures. I chose 380°F, which is the top of the range that the brand recommends for “normal” hair.

The dial does not have any notches or produce any clicking noises to indicate moving from one temperature to the next. There was also no light or chime to indicate when the iron reached its temperature, though the instructions say to “allow the appliance 60 seconds of heating time.”

My hair curls came out looking smooth and shiny, but it took going over the same spots a few times to see these results. I started curling smaller sections of hair at a time and saw an immediate improvement. You could call this user error, but, for comparison, curling irons with larger barrels can handle more hair at once.

Ultimately, this gets the job done, but the ones listed above provided a better experience at a faster rate.

The BaBylissPro reminds me of the Conair iron that won our Best Value spot in both looks and feel—except it has a much heftier price.

It features a turnable wheel that is labeled with 250°F, 285°F, 330°F, 390°F, and 430°F, each of which represents the bottom or top of the heat range the brand recommends per hair type. I chose 360°F, as it was in the middle of the recommended temperature range for “normal hair,” but this was probably my first mistake, as my hair didn’t hold a curl with this iron as well as it did with other ones where I chose 380°F.

The same wheel that spins to control the heat settings is also a button that has the instructions “push in for turbo heat” above it, but there is no additional information about what “turbo heat” actually means in the iron’s included leaflet. There was no audible or visual notification when the iron reached its temperature. These two attributes prompted more questions than answers in the setup stage. In the end, the iron produced fine-enough curls, but they fell over a 30-minute period.

With the right hairspray, this iron may work fine, but there are plenty of better options on this list.

This device claims to give you voluminous curls or sleek straight hair, and all you have to do is change how you position the wand before running it through your hair from root to tip. Of course, we only factored in its curl efficacy for the purposes of this list, but who doesn’t love a dual-purpose product?

Unfortunately, though, the Tyme Iron fell flat during our curling tests.

It has a clunky design that is difficult to maneuver even on the front pieces of hair, let alone the back of the head. It heats up quickly and, like the T3, allows you to choose from five different heat settings, but there’s no way to tell exactly what the temperature is from looking at the wand. According to the pamphlet that accompanies the iron, the temperatures are 300°F, 325°F, 350°F, 375°F, and 400°F.

While using the iron, I was only able to create undone ringlets rather than voluminous curls. The worst part, though, was how bad the iron smelled of burning before I even put my hair in it. I had to go over the same pieces of hair to achieve a curl I liked, but I didn’t even want to do one pass through my hair because of the odor.

Like the Tyme Iron, the InStyler Airless Blowout Revolving Styler can be used as a tool to straighten or curl hair. To achieve curly locks, you wrap your hair around the barrel and then clamp down so the brush part is keeping the hair in place. According to InStyler, the idea is to avoid “crushing hair between two scorching hot plates.”

The InStyler is a simple design, with a single on/off button and four heat settings that, again, do not specify a temperature. It worked fine as a curling iron, but only because you are wrapping your hair around a hot barrel, which you can do with any of the ones previously mentioned on this list.