Easy curls with the Babyliss Curl Styler Luxe: does it work or not?

Easy and quick waves or curls with a device that does not cost a third of your monthly wages? The Babyliss Curl Styler Luxe is an affordable option but is it an easy and handy one, too? I put it to the test.

You can do so much more with your hair straightener than straighten your hair: the right technique creates a blowout effect or curls or waves. Babyliss made hair straightener curls easier with its Curl Styler Luxe (79,90 €).

Its quartz-ceramic plates smooth out hair and by using the tool with the right technique you get a nice curl or wave. The outside of the tool has rounded edges, unlike most straighteners, so the curl gets a nice shape. The cool air function immediately cools and fixes the curl. Pretty clever. Also clever: the rotating cord and the heat resistant tip so you can hold it without burning your fingers.

Tested

The technique behind hair straightener curls is pretty simple: you put a lock of hair between the plates of the straightener, turn the tool 180° and slide it down. The slower you pull the straightener down, the more of a curl you should get. The thinner the lock of hair, the curlier the curl, too.

But when putting the technique to the test it turns out it is a bit more complicated than that, at least for my brain and basic hair styling talent. I can curl the right side of my head without any problems. But I end up with very loose waves or just straight locks on the left side of my head. (The first time I try the Curl Styler Luxe, I have a Zoom meeting immediately after. Great.)

A bit of research leads to an Aha-Erlebnis for this hair straightener curl dummy: you have to hold the tool in a different way, depending on which side of your head you are styling. To the common DIY hair styling expert this probably does not come as a surprise, to me it does. (I made a Reels to help other hair curling dummies out there.)

After a bit of practice curling my hair goes pretty smooth and quick and my curls end up looking the same on both sides of my head. They are not tight curls, more of a pretty wavy LA curl, which I like. The cool breeze that automatically comes out of the tool makes a lot of noise but has its purpose: it not only cools the curl, thus setting its shape, it also means I don’t burn my finger tips while twisting the curl around, which I saw people do in pretty much every YouTube tutorial on curling your hair.

You can choose between 3 temperatures to style your hair: 160°C, 180°C and 200°C. I choose 180°C, as all ghd hair styling tools are set at 185°C, the ideal hair styling temperature according to the British brand.

The downside of the Curl Styler Luxe: I loose quite a lot of hair while styling as gliding the tool down does not always go that smoothly. (I find I lose almost no hair while straightening or curling my hair with Dyson’s Corrale.)

As I expected, the curls do not last half a day in my hair but I end up with hair that looks like it had a professional blowout: it has a bit of movement and looks smooth and shiny.

I do wonder whether my curls lose their shape a bit quicker because they are immediately cooled down by the tool. I normally roll up every curl immediately after making it, pin it down and let it cool completely for about 10 minutes before taking the pins out. But it all depends on your hair (type) if I may believe online reviews: other people claim their curls last all day long.

I do think the Curl Styler Luxe is good value for money if it works for your hair. Plus, you could also use it as a regular straightener to make your locks frizz-free, smooth and straight.