The Best Curling Irons and Curling Wands of 2024

When I think of my ideal curling wand, it’s one that grants me room for creativity. The perfect wand is also intuitive, heats up quickly, and makes the sometimes painstaking process of styling my hair all-around easier. In every way, the GHD Curve Creative Curl Wand is exactly that. Whether I want soft beach waves for an undone look or tight curls for a classic-yet-voluminous style, I can achieve that with the GHD.

The GHD has a unique design, with a tapered barrel that starts off round and graduates to a flat oval at the top, tapering from 1-inch to 0.9-inch. Both of these traits keep the curls from molding into a strategically tapered curl, which can sometimes look too perfect and unnatural. The slight taper and the gritty finish of the barrel keeps the hair from sliding down as it can do with a barrel that has a super-glossy finish.

The most impressive feature, though, is that it heats up in about six seconds—faster than any other iron I tested—and alerts you with a loud chime when it reaches 365ºF. The only downside is that the iron doesn’t have heat adjustability—it can only hold a steady 365ºF. That temperature is appropriate to give a great curl to pin-straight hair, but the option of adjustability for other hair types would’ve been more ideal. Another (smaller) bummer: It only comes in the one barrel size.

In terms of mechanics, the GHD has a single power button, which you have to hold down for a good two seconds, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally turning it off mid-style. The wand is lightweight and has a cool-tip end to keep you from burning your neck and forehead (we’ve all been there). It has a well-placed kickstand that prevents the hot iron from teetering or tipping onto your vanity. For safety purposes, the iron automatically shuts off after 30 minutes.

Heat adjustability or additional sizes could improve this iron, but it’s a clear winner.

My first-ever curling iron was one from Conair. That’s no surprise: The brand makes quality products at reasonable prices, and they’re typically very beginner-friendly. All of this is the case with our Best Value pick, the InfinitiPro by Conair Nano Tourmaline Ceramic Curling Iron 1-Inch.

This iron features an extra long, straight barrel with a clamp that spans the length of the iron. You can clamp the ends of your hair and spin the iron upward toward your head, wrapping long hair around the barrel to create a perfectly round ringlet, which can then be finger-brushed to look more tousled.

Because the clamp is almost flush to the barrel, you can easily wrap your hair around the barrel and clamp as if it's a wand. I achieved the best curls when I used smaller sections of hair with this iron, which makes sense because it’s able to evenly distribute the heat to the hair when you use small amounts and place the hair against the ceramic iron.

The iron heats up quickly—Conair claims in 30 seconds, but there wasn’t an indicator of when the iron was done, so I couldn’t time it accurately—at the touch of a button and it has four temperature settings ranging from 310°F to 400°F, which is average for a hot tool. Conair claims that the iron shuts off automatically for safety, but it doesn’t specify after how much time. My curling sessions lasted about 30 minutes, and it was still going strong.

This iron became an obvious choice for the Best Value pick, as you can use it to your specific needs, like me mostly using the clamp during testing to see the iron’s capabilities but also using it as a wand when I struggled to achieve my desired look. And, of course, it’s priced reasonably for a hot tool, costing in the double digits.

Perhaps the most talked about curling tool on this list—the Dyson Airwrap Styler Complete—is also the most expensive curling wand we tested.

The pricey kit includes the following attachments: two 1.2-inch Airwrap barrels, two 1.6-inch Airwrap barrels, a firm smoothing brush, a soft smoothing brush, a round volumizing brush, and a pre-styling hair dryer to remove excess moisture when you intend to style just-washed hair that’s reminiscent of the Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer.

Unlike other products, you may use the Dyson on damp hair. For this guide, I tested the 1.2-inch barrels, as they are the closest comparison to the other wands and irons on this list in size and promise to create voluminous curls or waves.

The kit includes two of the same size barrel because each creates curls that spiral in opposite directions—you switch attachments when you approach different sides of your head, depending on whether you want the curls to twist toward or away from your face. Unlike a heated curling wand, the Dyson uses a continuous flow of air (sort of like a targeted tiny hair dryer) to blow the hair around the barrel to form “voluminous curls and waves without extreme heat.”

To an onlooker, it appears like the Dyson is sucking up your hair, like one of the brand’s beloved vacuums, but it’s actually pushing air out to create a current that your hair follows. While in use, the air is heated (to below 302°F degrees, which is less than the typical curling iron barrel) but there is a cool shot button, like on the hair dryer, that sets your curl into place.

Using air instead of a ceramic barrel limits the amount of heat on your hair and greatly reduces the risk of burning yourself.

Despite creating beautiful curls, the Dyson is not our overall winner because it has a steeper learning curve than other products to achieve the same results and you have less control over the style and placement of the curls it creates. It also takes longer than I—and I’m sure others—would like to spend on their hair.

But if you are a hair tool enthusiast, a hairstylist, or someone who wants a lot of versatility in their hairstyling, this kit (with its variety of attachments) may be your dream.

The T3 Whirl Trio Interchangeable Styling Wand comes with three interchangeable barrel sizes: a 1-inch, a 1.5-inch, and a 1 ¼-inch that tapers to ¾ inches. I used the “Undone 1” Barrel” because it’s the most similar to the other models on this list.

The wand has five lights that each indicate a heat setting, though I wasn’t sure how many degrees each one reaches, and the instructions don’t clarify other than to say that the maximum temperature is 410°F. I chose the second setting closest to the top because I typically choose the second or third highest heat range and watched the lights cascade upward until they reached my chosen (but unknown) temperature.

The wand was easy to wield and wrap my hair around, and the result was spiral curls that I finger-combed for my desired tousled, curly waves. I enjoyed the glossiness of the barrels, which are undeniably beautiful in white with rose gold trim.

I’d be happy to use this again, but it didn’t make it to the top of our list because there are less complex models that offer similar results.

The Bio Ionic curling iron offers six labeled heating settings ranging from 250°F to 430°F, increasing in increments of 30°F. I chose 360°F, which the brand recommends for “normal hair.” The longer, 1.25-inch thick barrel makes it easier to curl larger sections of hair at once without forfeiting your desired style. While clamps can sometimes leave kinks in the hair that force you to redo a lock of hair, this one didn’t.

I enjoyed using this iron, but some with short or medium-length hair may find it bulky or unnecessary for achieving their desired style. On the other hand, if you have long hair that makes it difficult to get an even, tight curl from root to tip, this extra-long curling iron could be your solution.