BaByliss Boutique - Salon Soft Waves
BaByliss Boutique – Salon Soft Waves

As big fan and an avid user of ghd hair straighteners, I can be a little sceptical when it comes to other heated stylers, but I was excited to give the BaByliss Boutique Salon Soft Waves Wand a try… perhaps my hair has been straight for too long?!

The wand itself is bigger than I expected – not that I really knew what to expect, but I have become used to my ghds.  It is packaged very nicely in an excellent-quality pale pink box – a refreshing change from the sleek black packaging we’ve seen for so long – and it’s packaging certainly impresses for its price-tag (RRP £40).

In the box is the wand itself, a heat mat that doubles up as a lightweight wrap/roll/bag-thing, a glove (DO wear this!) and a little instruction booklet.

The instructions are pretty simple and the wand is easy and light to use, despite its size… I did however catch my neck and my face while paying too much attention to wrapping my hair and not enough attention to where I was pointing the wand – ouch!!  So do take care… luckily I had Arbonne’s Nappy Cream close by to soothe the little burns straightaway.  While this was my own fault, it does make me question the size of the wand, and I wouldn’t recommend using it if you’re in a rush, or leaving a youngster to themselves with it – the tourmaline-ceramic barrel is very exposed.

Aside from my little mishaps, the wand gives a really nice curl – Soft Waves is definitely the right description and the waves are natural-looking and easy to achieve once you get the knack or wrapping the hair around the barrel.

My hair is perhaps a little on the short side for this wand – about an inch or two past my shoulders – so I’d recommend this for much longer hair than mine, but it still gives a great look.

With five heat settings, you’ll need to experiment a little to get the right heat setting for your hair – start low and increase the heat if you’re finding the curls are dropping out quickly. The barrel heats up very quickly (about 30 seconds), but it’s not easy to know when it’s at the temperature – it would be better if the light changed colour, or a little sound let you know.

My hair is also in pretty bad condition at the moment, breaking and dry from central heating, air-con offices and too much blow-drying and straightening, so not all curls look that great – on better-conditioned hair, these curls would look amazing, and I’ll definitely be keeping my Soft Waves for when my hair is back on track.

You would be best to use a styling product ahead of using this – choose one with heat-protectant, the barrel is excellent quality, but the temperatures it can get to can really hurt your hair over time. John Frieda have some excellent ranges that will help.

All-in-all this is an excellent styling tool and I was surprised at the cost for the quality of the tool – RRP is £40, with many stores such as John Lewis and BaByliss themselves selling it for £30.  It would make an excellent gift too.

Available from:
BaByliss
Boots
John Lewis

 

Watch the BaByliss Boutique Soft Waves video…

Related Posts