The best home hairstyling tools
Lock down your at-home kit with our expert recommendations for the best hairstyling tools for men and women,
During the first lockdown, many of us grew impatient with our split ends and overgrown roots, with some bravely taking matters into our own hands. This time around, we’re less tempted to try a hot pink dye job, mullet or buzzcut, but with salons unlikely to reopen until the end of March, there’s still a long time to go before we’re back in the stylist’s chair.
If you’re looking to equip yourself with an at-home hair kit, it can be tricky to know where to start — particularly if your own skills have yet to progress beyond the art of tying a ponytail. We asked the experts for their picks of the best hair tools for men and women.
CLIPPERS
For men used to a regular six-week trim, that increasingly shaggy-looking shag may be becoming a hazard. “Obviously the recommendation is to avoid hair-cutting unless it’s absolutely necessary,” warns Sean Taaffe, who runs the Sean Taaffe Salon Group in Kerry. Yet as the months drag on, you might feel you have little choice but to take up the clippers — Sean recommends the range from Wahl, known as the brand “trusted by professionals”.
“They’re what I’ve been using for 30 years,” says Sean, noting that a premium corded model like the Elite Pro (€74.99, Boots.ie) will give greater value for money than a similarly priced cordless version. “That’s going to be a workhorse that will actually last.”
Corded clippers tend to be safer, too — with a cordless model, you run the risk of the batteries dying on you in the middle of a cut.
HAIRDRYERS
“The best recommendation I can give for men is a good hair dryer,” says Graham Molloy, style director in Brown Sugar Blackrock. His top pick is the LanaiBLO (€99.99, LanaiBLO. com), an Irish company that creates what Graham calls “the most impressive hairdryer I’ve used in years”. He likes that it’s light yet still powerful, and that it comes in a range of colours with an option to personalise “so there’s no confusion as to who owns it in the house”. “In my opinion, everyone should have one. I wouldn’t be without it,” says Graham.
The LanaiBLO is also a favourite of Denise Walsh (@rustiqdenise), owner of Rustiq salons in Carlow and Kilkenny and an educator who runs courses through the Business of Hair. “I’m a naturally curly-haired person, and I get a lot of questions on my Instagram on how to get the perfect curl without the frizz. My go-to 100pc is the LanaiBLO hairdryer and diffuser,” she explains, adding that the dryer alone “leaves hair silkier than any other hairdryer I’ve ever used”.
The extra-long lead comes in particularly handy if you don’t have plug sockets around your vanity unit, and Denise is also a fan of how lightweight it is.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the cheaper brand hairdryers are really, really heavy. You’ll end up getting really bad pains in your shoulder and your arm, and you’ll generally give up halfway through. The LanaiBLO is so light, you get to do the whole head without having a cramp in your arm.”
The diffuser is sold separately (€19.99, LanaiBLO.com), and can only be used with a LanaiBLO hairdryer. “I’m hairdressing nearly 30 years now, and this diffuser is one of the best I’ve ever used. It spreads out the heat evenly — sometimes, diffusers will let off cold air on one side and hot air on the other, and that doesn’t work well for curly hair. Curly hair needs to be fused with equal heat,” says Denise.
HEATED BRUSHES
Feeling daunted by the thought of wielding a styling wand? Ciaran Purcell, head of retail experience at Peter Mark, recommends trying out a heated brush instead. “With something like a GHD, people find it difficult to use — you have to keep twisting it a certain way, but with a heated brush, it works for everyone,” he explains, naming the GHD Rise Volumising Hot Brush as the best all-rounder (€172, PeterMark.ie). For use on dry hair, it’s a rounded barrel brush with cool-touch bristles to allow closer root contact without using a comb or dividing hair into sections. “If you wrap your hair around the brush, you get a very soft, tousled look. It’s almost like a blow-dry effect, without needing a curler or straightener to create defined ringlets. It’s a more natural, looser curl,” says Ciaran, adding that it’s suitable for hair of any length. “A lot of electrical tools work really well on longer hair, but you can use this on shorter hair as well to give it volume, movement and texture.”
For those with thick or frizz-prone hair, he suggests the GHD Glide (€142, PeterMark. ie), a heated paddle brush designed to give a smoother finish. He notes that it can take a few goes to get used to the technique, but it’s worth it for the time you’ll save. “It’s so fast — it might take you five seconds to get from root to the end,” says Ciaran, adding that it’s better suited to long bobs or longer cuts. “It’s not going to be a professional blow-dry, but it will look close to it, like you spent an hour straightening your hair. I often hear from customers that they thought it would be a gimmick, but it’s a really good product.”
WANDS
According to Sean Taaffe, the GHD Original Styler is still the best straightener on the market (€129, SeanTaaffe.com). “It is excellent. As a retailer, the original is the most reliable, the best value and something you’re not going to have any issues with — I get more problems and more returns from the others,” he says.
If you find GHDs too strong on your hair, consider an infrared styling tool, which uses gentler heat, penetrating the hair cuticle from the inside out without stripping it of moisture. Ennis hairdresser Bridget Haren recommends Irish brand Voduz’s Infrared Straightener, which has titanium plates to deliver heat quickly and evenly (€149, BridgetHaren.com).
“It has a curved edge, so it allows you to either straighten your hair or have a wavy look, and the infrared technology behind it means it’s less damaging on your hair,” she says. “Anyone from short bob-length down to really long hair can use that, but there is also a travel size that can be used for short hair.”
She adds that when using any heat tool, it’s crucial to apply a heat protectant spray or lotion. “The last thing you want to be doing is overstyling your hair in lockdown — you need to be keeping your hair healthy.”
Another stylist favourite is the L’Oreal Professionnel SteamPod 3.0 (€256, Jules.ie), which promises straightening that is two times faster than a regular straightener, with 78pc less damage. “To be honest, it trumps any other straightener or curling wand on the market, and it’s purely down to the fact it works off steam, so you don’t get as much damage with it,” says Graham Molloy, adding that it can be used to create glossy straight looks or light waves, with plenty of YouTube tutorials demonstrating how to do so. “This gives more of that blow-dry feel and that salon finish that you want.”