BaByliss Pro Porcelain Conical Wand Review

BaByliss PRO PORCELAIN CONICAL WAND

The first thing I want to talk about with this wand is the RRP in Australia.  I searched australian websites looking for one of the these and the cheapest I could find was RRP $89.95 on special for $79.95.

One of my favourite online website from the UK is  HQhair (they sell more than hair products),  you can read about them here.  They sell these wands for £21.60 with free international delivery.  In aussie dollars this equates too, $32.53 delivered.  No comparison really is there?   That's less than half price.  The only thing with purchasing electrical goods from the UK, you need to invest in a UK to Aus plug adaptor, Korjo sell them here.  

Or you can buy them on ebay, they aren't all that expensive and it means you can purchase other electrical goodies from O/S.   Just make sure it is UK to AUS, not the other way around.

There are two size wands to choose from,  25mm - 13mm and 32mm - 19mm.  Because I wanted loose wavy curls I went for the wider barrel.  Included extras with my BaByliss were a large heat mat and a pair of finger protectors.   The BaByliss has 25 heat settings,  depending on your hair type, the thicker your hair,  the more heat you need to penetrate and hold the curl.

My first experience told me I needed more practise, my arms got tired.  I found the finger protectors to be useless because they didn't fit properly and the thumb was HUGE.  As long as you are careful and use a mirror you won't burn your fingers, I didn't burn my fingers but I did get it too close to my scalp, so you need to be careful if your curling around your face, the wand gets very hot.  

You can vary the curl depending on the amount of hair you pick up, less hair means tighter curls.  I found with my thick hair, I was counting about 20 seconds for each section of hair.  The larger wand (wider end closest to roots) meant that the curl was concentrated more around my mid to lower sections and just added some body around my scalp, which is exactly what I wanted it to do, so I was really pleased.

The day I washed my hair, I only curled the top layer and as you can see it ended up being wavy with straight bits. It was curlier straight after styling but by the time I took this photo the weight of my hair had dropped a bit but I was very happy with the result.

www.matillysthisnthat.blogspot.com.au

Products I used were. John Frieda Frizz Ease Curl Perfecting Spray the instructions say to apply to damp hair and then blow dry, I did this and it made my hair frizzy :o(  I don't know if I am doing something wrong but it certainly didn't add curl as described.  It was still a little frizzy in the photo here and it isn't normally like this.  I received this in my Feb BB box but my experience so far isn't a positive one.

So with that failure I sprayed it all down with TRESemme Heat Tamer Protective Spray.  This is what I regularly use to straighten my hair as it protects from heat and helps style your hair.  It worked a treat as it always does and helped set my curls.

I then finished with some TRESemme Salon Finish Hairspray just to help hold the curl.

The following day when my hair was less 'just washed' frizzy, I used the BaByliss Wand again and the photos below were the result.

www.matillysthisnthat.blogspot.com.au

Please excuse my lack of makeup!  I still kept the curl mid-length down but using the wider end of the barrel up top has given me some lift at the roots.  I found that the Wand was much easier to use the second time around and the curl/wave has stayed in a lot better.  To keep the curl you are better off just running your fingers through your hair and scrunching, brushing makes it more wavy.

www.matillysthisnthat.blogspot.com.au

Overall I am really happy with my BaByliss Wand.  I think I need to play around a bit more with it and experiment with different styles.  Even though it is the wider barrel, you can still get some pretty tight curls so unless you want really curly hair I would recommend the larger BaByliss.

You can find a Conical Wand Tutorial by Tanya Burr here, there a probably hundreds of others but I really like watching her.

I certainly recommend that if you want to save some serious money that you purchase from a reputable overseas seller like HQhair.  I have purchased from them several times, they ship within 24 hours and delivery is usually between 4-8 days to Australia.  My items are always well packed, communication is great and I have never experienced any problems.  They always have tempting discounts and special offers and I guarantee you will save money.