Early last year, my beloved Babyliss Pro Ceramic 1″ curling iron died out 🙁 It lasted a good 5+ years. This was my favourite curling iron to use on clients for formal styling and updos. I had gotten so used to the weight and feel of this iron, and I knew it was going to be hard to go out on the market to find something comparable.
I went to my closest Sally Beauty Supply to check out what their selection was. They have a very good return policy, so I knew if I didn’t like it, I could always bring it back. I LOVE Sally’s! It’s my go to when I need budget friendly hair, and even makeup, goodies.
I didn’t know what I was looking for, there are so many new finishes, features and technologies when it comes to hair styling appliances. I didn’t do any research beforehand, but if I did, the decision making would have been way more difficult because I would want everything! (I’m so indecisive!)
The sales associate pointed the Ion Titanium Pro series out to me, because they were also on promotion. She had said that a bunch of customers have come back to tell her that they really loved it. I decided to take her word for it, and got the Titanium Pro 1″.
Titanium
I remembered using my friend’s titanium coated curling iron and really liked it. It has a smoother finish on the barrel than ceramic, and this is a warning, TITANIUM GETS REALLY HOT. A titanium barrel at 400 degrees feels a lot hotter than a ceramic barrel at 400 degrees. I’ve never taken the temperature to confirm if this is true, but it sure feels like it does. The hair steams up more, and stays hot longer after you’ve let the curl out of the barrel.
The Barrel
The length of the barrel was similar to the Babyliss one, I think this is the standard length of a “pro” iron. I’ve seen some irons with short and stubby looking barrels, which probably would work the same, but take a bit longer to curl longer hair.
It curled hair beautifully. It was way hotter than my previous one, so it made curling hard-to-curl hair easier.
The titanium is smooth, but I feel like sometimes, hair strands would get caught in either the spring mechanism or in between the tong and the barrel.
Digital Temperature Control
This utilizes digital technology to adjust the temperature. It has 4 different settings, starting at 300 degrees. You adjust the heat by pushing the “+” or “-” buttons, and the buttons are inset into the handle, meaning they aren’t level or higher than the handle, so you don’t accidentally adjust the setting when you’re using it. This is a great feature because I have accidentally changed settings on some of my other irons while in use, struggling with styling the hair, only to find out that the temperature was lowered!
The iron also has a 60 minute auto shutoff feature, which is a good safety feature to have for the most part. It’s a little annoying for me when I’m doing larger bridal parties, where I’m doing person after person, and it shuts off every few people I do, and I try to curl the person’s hair, only to see that it has auto shut off. Thankfully, the iron heats up pretty quickly, so it’s not such a big deal.
Quality
Overall, the quality of the iron is pretty good. It has a swivel cord which is a MUST if you’re going to be using it a lot.
The one thing that irked me was the thumb rest. The plastic used for the thumb rest didn’t warp around the entire thumb area, and is secured by 2 little plastic nubs. I just feel that over time, the plastic will wear out and probably snap off, resulting in a very unpleasant accident! Like I said, the titanium gets VERY hot. Thankfully though, after using it for 9 months, there are no signs of falling apart.
Overall
This iron does the job and is well worth it’s price. It’s a lot more affordable than my original Babyliss one, I believe I got it for $40 vs $100 for the Babyliss. It curls just as well or even better than my original one, but it does sometimes get hair caught in between the mechanisms. Also, there are some details that they looked over when designing the functionality of the iron, ie. the thumb rest I mentioned. The handle is rubberized, but I feel like if it was more “textured” I think it would feel like a better grip. I am working on other people with this iron, and my worst nightmare is to accidentally drop or have the iron slip out of my hands.
The iron creates beautiful, long lasting curls. Due to the 1″ size, they are tighter curls, but if you grab larger sections you can create looser curls. Like I said, it’s my favourite iron to use for up do styles, and styles that need to last all day. The tight curls will loosen over the day if used on extra long or heavy hair.