The Best Curling Iron

Our Picks for the Best Curling Iron

Most Versatile

Anjou 1 Inch Curling IronA sleek clamp iron made with the just the right materials and an unmatched lineup of streamlined usability and safety features that’ll keep you and your hair happy.

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We approached Anjou’s iron like we approached every sub-$30 iron we tested: bracing ourselves for deal-breaking flaws that come with a low price tag. But Anjou was one step ahead at every turn and left us grasping for something, anything to complain about. For people who want the versatility of a clamp iron that will deliver frizz-less results and is made of materials that’ll help keep any hair type healthy, this tool is a worthy addition to your styling arsenal.

Thoughtful extras greet you when you open the box, like a heat resistant glove — which inexperienced users especially appreciated — and clips for separating hair into manageable portions. The iron itself radiates femininity through a pearly rose and black finish, but stops itself from going overboard with minimalistic buttons that blend neatly into the handle’s design. Even the cord adopts an “I’ve got you covered” vibe with a thick black-matte coating that prevents it from twisting into awkward knots and an attached velcro strap for storage.

When it came time to curl, testers fell in love with the Anjou’s features. The biggest standout was its digital display — a frustratingly rare feature — that keeps no secrets when it comes to heat and lets you track temperature from the second you turn it on. This rose to the top of a sea of vague dials and confusing systems that had us reaching for instruction manuals to determine exact temperatures (looking at you, BaByliss). And as for safety features, the Anjou left even the most paranoid testers feeling comfortable. It’s got the standard cool tip and kickstand to protect you and your counter from its heat, plus that heat-resistant glove and a 30-minute auto shutoff — a feature that’ll soothe any “did I leave my iron on?” anxiety after you leave the house.

One aspect of other irons was a minefield of complaints: the clamp. Testers with hair that trends toward coarse and thick found that our runner-up Hot Tools had a too-tight clamp that left creases, the Drybar 3-Day Bender’s clamp was obscenely loose and worked better as a flat iron, and the Conair Infiniti Pro iron subjected testers to a creaky-door noise with every open and close. But when we asked our testers for clamp complaints on the Anjou? Radio silence. Instead, one tester described its expert-preferred ceramic barrel as just the right amount of slippery and the clamp as “perfectly snug.” No slipping, no creasing, no problems.

Early on, we thought we’d uncovered one flaw: the power button that takes an abnormally long press to turn on. Most testers figured this out after a bit of experimenting, though, and the extra-long press became second-nature in no time. The Anjou proved our assumptions about affordable curling irons wrong. Again. In the end, the Anjou emerged as the winner because there’s simply nothing to complain about. It checked our boxes, it’s easy to use, and that price ($25) is hard to beat. But before you buy, consider the length of your hair. Long-haired users might be better served by the same iron in the 1 1/4-inch size; The longer, thicker barrel will fit more hair and produce bigger waves and curls than the one-inch we tested.

Most Versatile Runner-Up

Hot Tools 24k Gold Curling IronAlthough it’s not made of the ideal metal, this iron is a fan favorite with a cult following and shiny results to back it up.

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This iconic iron gave the Anjou a run for its money and fulfilled most testers' every expectation. After the Anjou fit all of our criteria perfectly, a few nitpicky flaws in the Hot Tools’ metal type, features, and clamp kept it out of our top spot. However, it’s a solid option to consider; especially if you have fine hair or are most comfortable buying from a time-tested, recognizable brand.

Nearly every tester who got their hands on this iron said something like, “I think my hair stylist has this.” Or “Oh, my mom had this when I was growing up.” It’s no secret that Hot Tools’ gold-plated barrels are a hair styling mainstay; When you use one, there’s an inherent feeling of familiarity that other brands can’t quite match. The company’s years of experience shine in details like its easy-to-hold cool tip, soft matte handle, and durable cord (nearly identical to the Anjou cord we fell in love with). As classic as the design is, though, the look was polarizing: For some testers, the purple and bright gold was just a little too eighties glam-rock and old-school.

Design aside, testers found that the iron kept a few too many secrets. The temperature dial is somewhat unclear, with vague space between increments (annoying after using Anjou’s digital display). The minor annoyance gets leveled up by a lack of indication that the iron has reached the desired temperature. It’s also the only one of our top picks that’s missing the nice-to-have auto shutoff safety feature; That wasn’t a dealbreaker, but it did give the Anjou an edge. And while some testers — particularly those with fine hair — found that the clamp and grippy gold surface held hair at the perfect strength, others with coarser hair found it entirely too tight, leaving them with a few creases. Another pass could typically solve this issue, but one of our criteria for a top-of-the-line iron was that it should produce shiny curls in one go.

The gold plating that makes the Hot Tools grippier than the ceramic models we tested also makes the iron less ideal for keeping your hair healthy. While you won’t ruin your hair by using an iron with gold plating, Dr. Evans told us its grippy surface may lead to more breakage. In the words of Kylie Harris, who’s been teaching hair stylists for nine years, it’s “fine… [but] not ideal.”

What kept Hot Tools in our top picks was its results and our testers’ overwhelmingly positive feelings toward the iron after all was said and done. In the end, most testers were pleased with the consistently shiny and smooth tendrils the iron left in its wake, and felt like the grippiness of the gold gave them complete control over their curls. A few testers said they preferred the curls from the Hot Tools iron over those from our top pick, Anjou; Though, truthfully, the difference was too subtle for us to pinpoint.

The curl produced by the Anjou (left) was nearly identical to that of the Hot Tools (right).

Best for Achieving Natural Waves

Remington CI9538 T Studio Pearl Ceramic Curling WandFor natural-looking waves, this pretty pink wand does the job without any fuss — keeping your curling simple, safe, and easy.

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Either of our top clamp iron picks can function as a wand by leaving the barrel closed, but some people prefer the streamlined simplicity of a tapered wand that will consistently produce natural-looking waves. Enter the Remington Pearl.

The bubblegum-pink and eggplant-purple scheme makes the Pearl an exceptionally girly wand, which testers found charming. The dark purple also gives off a regal impression that makes it look more expensive than it is (you can find it on Amazon for $23). Pretty colors aside, the wand itself isn’t anything fancy (let’s face it, a curling wand is essentially just a hot stick). But that’s what a wand is all about: no frills and no unnecessary parts (read: clamps) if all you want is waves.

Much of the Pearl’s intuitive simplicity lives in its heat settings and buttons. The ever-transparent digital display was easy to adjust and didn’t make things more complicated than they had to be. When compared to the Conair Infiniti Pro wand’s five-setting system, this was an easy win. And when it came to delivering shiny, natural looking waves, the Pearl was consistent and unbeatable. The one complaint that came up for testers was that the shape of the Pearl (and every tapered ceramic wand) immediately directs hair to the thinnest part of the barrel. Compared to the similarly designed Conair Infiniti Pro, though, testers reported this one as less slippery and easier to handle. Plus, the tester who was most put-off by the Remington’s slick surface approached us later to reiterate just how much she loved the perfectly sized, cascading waves it put in her waist-length mane. With those results as our priority, we’re willing to chalk slippage up to an occupational hazard.

Best for Automating Your Curling Routine

Beachwaver Co S1At five times the price of our top pick, this automatic rotating barrel iron is a splurge-worthy timesaver that produces consistent results. Consider it if you want to save time and put your curling in the hands of capable, twirling tech.

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This much-buzzed-about, as-seen-on-TV automatic curler tipped the scales from gimmicky to genius the moment we unclamped the first curl. We expected a knot-ridden ordeal but got a device that was hard to pry out of the hands of even the most low-maintenance testers. After comparing it to the more expensive Beachwaver Pro and CHI ARC Automatic Rotating Curler, both of which were strikingly similar in philosophy and design, this one came out on top as a true MVC (Most Valuable Curler). If you’re a newbie to curling who wants to bypass the learning curve or an every-day curler looking to save time, for $120 this is a splurge worth considering.

All automatically rotating barrel irons are intimidating. Their seriously substantial handles, overall heaviness, and mechanical noisiness while spinning are all pretty counter-intuitive. Yet, the S1 still manages to look like a Barbie toy. That playful vibe persists while you use it, thanks to its lineup of features that make it a lot less imposing than the other, similar irons we tested.

The S1’s home button (missing from the Beachwaver Pro), automatically brings the clamp back to a usable position after each curl and was crucial to helping our testers feel like they were in control. And while the Pro has a covert way of letting you change the barrel’s rotation speed (you have to read the instructions to find out how), the S1’s simple “fast/slow” slider makes it even easier to adjust. The large, easy-to-find control buttons on the S1 were also much-preferred over those of the CHI and the Beachwaver Pro, both of which had testers accidentally hitting buttons and turning the barrel the wrong way. That may not sound like a huge deal, but one tester cited it as the culprit for a panic-induced scalp burn.

An unexpected perk we found in automatic rotating barrel irons in general is their sheer versatility. We guessed that they were a one-trick pony with their fancy tech and robo-stylist vibe, but we were pleasantly surprised to learn that they can produce their consistent results in the form of “defined curls,” “loose beachy waves,” and “glam waves,” depending on how you hold the iron (check out Beachwaver’s YouTube tutorial for proof).

After our testers finished curling — they chose the “defined curls” tactic — they were in awe of the ridiculously consistent, shiny results of all the automatically rotating barrel irons. But with such a foreign tool, especially at a high price, usability is paramount. Try as we might, we’re pretty stumped as to why the Pro costs ($70!) more. And the Iron-Man-esque CHI, while it made a more pleasant “whirring” noise than the S1, missed the boat with its tougher to manage buttons.