Babyliss Big Hair Styler- €60/£45
Volumising hair tools have been available for yonks. I've had mine for ages, but only recently started using it when I jumped on to the middle parting bandwagon. My hair was in an awkward length phase, past shoulder length but not long enough to have beautiful full and bouncy tendrils a la Kate Middleton or Kim Sears.
I ended up having to get a minor trim, although it ended up being sufficiently more than I had hoped, and I ended up with even shorter hair. To compensate for this, I impulsed cut and asked for a middle parting. I have only ever had a middle parting once in my life; before hitting my teens, so I never really knew how to style it without looking like a Hanson brother.
Enter the Babyliss Big Hair. For me, this has to be used when my hair is 95% dry. Any wetter and it just doesn't work. Essentially, it's a salon blowdry at home. No fancy bristle brushes, no hairdryer attachments, just this.
My hair is slightly layered all around my head, so this affects the overall look, but if I take the time and effort to do it properly, the end result is quite satisfactory. I tend to focus more on the lengths of my hair rather than the roots, so I end up with a more polished look than a 'big hair' look.
I have seen two other newer 'big hair' products from Babyliss; another 50mm barrel whose only difference is that it includes three temperature settings, and another smaller tool, a 42mm barrel, which would supposedly be perfectly suited to fringes and shorter lengths. Personally, I think one of these tools is enough, so I think I'll stick with my trusty old 50mm.
Overall, I quite like this hair tool, although having to dry my hair with a dryer first, before using this, kind of misses the point of it being a blow dry styler. I may try the Remington Hot Brush next, it seems like the perfect go between tool. Heat and styling, without the blow dry.
What do you think, have you used this styling tool?