I was first given a demonstration of the Instyler Rotating Iron in Boots a few months ago, it seemed like such a novelty, but I couldn't believe how shiny it made my hair. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and these are my thoughts.
The product consists of a heated rotating barrel, and a bristle flat iron - when the two are clamped together, the heated barrel spins.
The aim of the product is to style and polish hair, without damaging the hair from the high temperatures. When the hair is passed through the styler, the bristles separate the hair, and the InStyler can gently style and shine the hair.
With the InStyler, hair can be straightened or curled, depending how you use the tool. It also adds volume to the hair, with the use of the barrel.
The InStyler has three heat settings, high, medium and low. I usually use a medium or high setting, as my hair is rather thick. To change the heat settings, you simply touch the on/off button until the lights correspond with the heat setting. I was surprised at how quickly it heated up, probably in under a minute!
As my hair is short, I found this quite hard to get used to (at one point quite badly burning my head!). I usually use my trusty GHDs (still going strong after 6 years) to straighten and curl/wave my hair so as the InStyler is a bit bulkier it took a bit of practice to get right.
For a curled/waved style, you wrap your hair around the barrel and hold for 20-30 seconds before slowly pulling the barrel down. As the tool is clamped, the barrel will be rotating, meaning the hair is all heated as well as being polished. This isn't usually how I curl my hair with my straighteners so I found it quite hard, it also is a little bit dangerous having my hands so close to the hot barrel!
To be honest (as always), the curl didn't do much to my (reasonably short) hair, it barely created a wave - although it was slightly shiny with a bit of volume. I've tried many times, but my hair just doesn't seem to want to curl with this tool!
It probably would be better for those with longer hair, and I have seen some brilliant results of tousled locks as a result of the InStyler.
As for straightening, you use this like your would any flat iron. Take a small section of the hair, clamp it in the barrel/brush and slowly pull down for straightened, shiny hair. This did have a slight affect on my hair, it was slightly more glossy but nothing like what straighteners would do!
Personally, I find this product to be a bit useless for myself! Admittedly, it makes my hair slightly shinier and adds a small amount of volume, but it's bulky and hard to get the hang of. I can imagine it being much more easier to use on longer hair, but I think in the mean time I will be sticking to my current straighteners.
I love the idea, it's great to combine a product if you're using two or separate styling tools at the moment. I think the price is reasonable for that reason, as it currently retails for £99.
