The InStyler Rotating Iron: Worth It?

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The InStyler Rotating Iron makes quite the claim on their website—instead of crushing or pressing your hair into place like an iron, it promises to "polish" hair. The rotating drum and brush bristles are meant to align hair easily for styling that is quick, less damaging to the hair, and leaves the hair looking and feeling "like silk."

How It Works and What It Promises

According to the InStyler's website, the brush bristles gently sort and separate your hair strands while the rotating heated polishing cylinder gently glides over your hair, smoothly polishing, straightening, and styling each strand individually instead of as a clumpy mess. The second set of bristles lock in the shine as a finishing touch on your hair. The InStyler promises to leave your hair styled, polished, full of body, shiny, and silky. The brand boasts that, by using less heat, your hair won't get smashed and baked as it does with the super-intense heat of a flat iron. And they claim that, when combined, the gentle heat and rotating motion of the cylinder give a "polish" to your hair strands in a more individual manner than a standard hot tool, which means that they need less heat in order to attain better results.

Additionally, the InStyler is supposedly a versatile styling tool, with promises to be a flat iron, curling iron, and volume-boosting machine that can give you amazing results in a fraction of the time any other styling tool would take. With the InStylers, you can flip, curl, straighten, volumize, and style with just one tool. 

Putting the InStyler to the Test With Three Different Style Techniques

I'm going to admit, I was skeptical about using the device on my hair. Prior to each styling, I washed my hair normally, used my regular daily protein spray and leave-in treatment, and then I blow-dried my hair. No volume sprays, no round brush blow-out, no frizz-reducing products—which leaves me with giant hair? My natural wave becomes natural frizz, and I'm not a fan. But, I figured, if this product was all it claimed to be, it would tame my crazy mane. Admittedly, my first attempt was clumsy. It took a bit to get used to handling the InStyler. After a few minutes of monkeying around with it, though, I got the hang of it.

Byrdie Tip

You have to separate your hair into small, thin sections to get the best results. Also, the slower you move the InStyler down your hair shaft, the nicer the hair seems to come out.

Style One: Straight and Curled Slightly Under

This style wasn't particularly difficult after I got the hang of handling the InStyler. With the bristle side up, I simply pulled my hair through with the InStyler as directed. If you want the hair to bend slightly under, you will need to rotate your wrist to direct the bend of the hair. I started at the nape of the neck and, moving in small sections, worked my way up my head. As I got to the crown/top of my head, I directed the hair upwards to get more volume (as demonstrated on the brand's website), which actually worked, although you can do the same thing to some extent with a flat iron. All in all, I was actually pretty impressed with the final result. My hair was smooth and soft with a nice shine, and the volume stayed throughout the evening.

Style Two: Flipped Out

In order to achieve a more flipped-out look, I just reversed the InStyler so the bristle side of the device was down, and therefore directed the hair to flip up. Working in the same manner as I did last time (from the nape of the neck up) I was able to get through my hair a little quicker this round. Through the crown/top layers of my hair, I opted to have the hair curl under instead of out. My hair was, again, to my surprise, shiny and full of volume, and the style stayed throughout the day rather well. I flipped my hair out in a rather exaggerated manner, but it's just as easy to achieve a slight flip.

Style Three: Straight

In all honesty, getting my hair to be more straight than curled under or out was my biggest challenge with the InStyler. I imagine it's more of a flick-of-the-wrist technique that my brain didn't get just right. I'm hoping I'll be able to figure it out, but it could be its primary downfall.

Overall Impression of the InStyler

The InStyler's website claims: "Get lift and fullness—right from the root! Get a sexy flip in seconds. Straighten even the toughest, most coarse hair—and still get fullness and style without the stick-straight 'flatness' of a flat iron. Do a full style in eight minutes… and change it again in two minutes! Wrap your hair around the rotating polishing cylinder—and get an amazing curl that lasts all day!"

So how well did it hold up to these promises?

Well, I was impressed with the lift and fullness. The InStyler did provide great volume, and it certainly had the ability to flip hair out—from a slight degree, to a severe flip. All the styles I tried lasted for hours and the InStyler was pretty simple to use after I got the hang of it. Although the jury's still out on the straightening, the only area that I felt the InStyler fell short was the speed factor. A full style in eight-minutes was a little unrealistic. Actually, I didn't feel that the InStyler was any faster than a flat iron or curling iron. Effective: yes. Speedy: not really.

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