The product: Kiss InstaWave automatic curler
To all of you out there who are bad at curling your hair: you’ve heard of automatic curlers, right? The Conair Curl Secret (which I reviewed here for the Best Buy VIVA Blog) and the BaByliss Miracurl?
Well, this is like the lovechild of the creepy turtle-curler and the clamp-less curling wand, and it is beautiful.
How it works: The KISS InstaWave (yes, KISS like the nail brand) is the only product that I know of that functions quite like this, and it works by using a rotating base to feed your hair around a wand instead of using hidden mechanics to suck your hair into a Terror Shell™ of tangles.
Like the $200 BaByliss Miracurl, it can curl in either direction (the Curl Dial switch is also the “on” button, and will rotate the base when you press it), and you can switch directions without having to reload your hair onto the wand — you just grab some hair, put it by the base of the InstaWave, and let the iron do its thing.
What’s really awesome about the InstaWave, though, is that its totally terror-free — and I tried my hardest to make it mess up. Because it curls everything around a curling wand instead of wrapping it up inside of a Cave of Doom, hairs going in the wrong direction will just get mussed up, instead of devoured and solidly knotted, and you can start your curl anywhere with zero risk of fish hooking.
It also shuts itself automatically after 90 minutes (you know, because house fires are scary) and has two heat settings, the highest being 420˚F. I use the lowest setting, and my hair takes 5-10 seconds per section to curl and the curl lasts all day.
The problem with the InstaWave: Okay, so here’s the deal. This baby is pretty much perfect, save for being a little heavy, but… it makes an audible, high-pitched squeal when plugged in. And the squealing only gets louder when you turn it on.*
So, you’re going to have to store this thing unplugged, and if you have auditory sensitivities (I do), it’s a bad choice for you right now. However, I’ve been assured that KISS Products is addressing this issue currently, so hopefully the InstaWaves will be properly silent by the end of the year!
The verdict?
If you want to try out an automatic curler, KISS is pretty much the only brand you should be looking at. The InstaWave is very affordable (other automatic curlers run at $130-$250), relatively lightweight, and both more versatile and easier to use than the shell-type models.
However–and this is a big however–the cheap price tag comes at a cost. You’ll need to unplug your InstaWave after every use, and the squealing noise (similar to the noise a cheap battery charger will make) is unavoidable, at least for now. I liked this curler a lot more than the Conair Curl Secret, but if you can wait for the second run (which should be quieter), do!
Availability: $69.96 CAD/$74.39 USD at Walmart (CA) and Target (US), in stores and online.
KISS InstaWave review: before
KISS InstaWave review: after
KISS Instawave: warming up / ready
KISS InstaWave packaging
*I was lucky enough to try two InstaWaves to check this flaw, and I can confirm that they sound identical. Which is crushing, because it means that this product can’t achieve its full awesomeness and that a whole bunch of bloggers who I trusted felt comfortable A+’ing this product without a single mention of its squealing. Break my heart, why don’t you.
