Obsessed with the Limited Edition Paul Mitchell Style Wand

After hearing Jen rave about the limited edition Paul Mitchell StyleWand (I don’t think I’ve ever heard her get this excited over a hair styling tool!), I was very excited to try it for myself.

One of my favorite things about living in Los Angeles that I discovered when moving here from Louisiana about ten years ago is the lack of humidity. As anyone who’s visited or who lives in the South knows, you can spend two hours spritzing and spraying the bejesus out of your hair and mattefying your face, but as soon as you step out the front door all of that work basically goes straight out the window. Coming here, then, was a breath of fresh air for my skin—but due to my naturally super fine and mega straight hair, I still struggle with keeping volume and with having curls maintain a decent shape for more than a few hours at a time. Essentially, my locks can still use all the body assistance they can get from a bottle, can, or plug-in device.

Because of this, I was totally excited to try the Paul Mitchell Express Ion StyleWand which uses ion and ceramic technology in a wand/hairbrush combination format in order to deliver lift and life to you hair.  There are five temperature settings (260-410 degrees, for very fine/fragile to thick hair respectively) and the wand itself heats up amazingly quickly—much faster than the curling iron I use each morning. As an added bonus, with the rubberized handle and tip at the end, despite these high temperatures, it seemed a near impossibility that I might burn my fingers or neck.

The StyleWand instructions recommend that the tool can be used for volume, waves and curls, flips, and to smooth hair. Because of my natural board-straightness, and complete lack of natural volume, I opted to shoot for the first two. I also started with air-dried hair to experience the full effect of what the product can potentially do (it should always be used on completely dry hair).

Again, initially I was really impressed with how fast the tool heated up to its highest setting. The guide recommends staying near 300-340 degrees for fine hair so I started out there and then got to work fluffing and froofing. I began near the front, with smaller pieces, and basically repeatedly brushed up and underneath my roots to introduce volume. Once I noticed a difference, I brushed and flipped my ends for soft curls, and I was pleased at how quickly these formed and held.

Before

After

A few things to be mindful of, particularly for ladies like me with fine hair, are that unintended creases can be introduced if you are not working with small enough sections. I thought I was doing all right but then made one awkward swipe under a big chunk on top and created a little indentation that I had a somewhat difficult time easing out. Also, because of the location of the button on the handle, it’s quite easy to accidentally turn the power off or inadvertently change the temperature—I did the latter twice. Lastly, my hair is great at tangling so it took a moment to discover the appropriate swooping action that wasn’t twisting my hair so much that it caught and had to be tugged out of the brush bristles afterward. Once I nailed that, however, curling became a super easy process.

Overall I felt like I did see a volume increase and I enjoyed that volume and style were able to be added without the stiffness of a spray-in product or the harsh, frying direct heat of a metal curling iron. Having the brush bristles with the warmth was also soothing—I felt like I was giving myself a mini head massage and spent more time with the StyleWand than I originally intended because it was such a calming activity. Additionally, I felt more bounciness than usual and I noticed that the curls and lift held from the afternoon through late into a dinner party I attended that evening.

Probably my favorite part was that not adding a product kept my hair much, much softer. Plus, this left alternate styling options such as adding in a barrette later or pulling it up into a ponytail more open—as typically with a spray things are more cemented in place and the hairstyle that is created that day is the one I’ll need to roll with from day into evening. The StyleWand will definitely be worked into rotation in my morning routine (and/or in place of evening yoga for a post-workday stress reliever…ha).

Here’s a pic of Jen’s Before and After using the StyleWand.

To purchase, visit your local Paul Mitchell salon or retailer. Aaaaaaaand, I just saw a Paul Mitchell Instagram sharing the new ROUND StyleWand – I need it!

A photo posted by Paul Mitchell (@paulmitchellus) on Mar 6, 2016 at 9:48am PST

Written by Morgan McCann McGuire. Morgan is a lifelong girly-girl who was introduced to beauty products at an early age by her mother. Her hair was always done up right, whether it was crimped all over or just her bangs froofed with a curling iron and gobs of hair spray. Over the years Morgan has grown more concerned with and interested in knowing from where her consumer products come, whether these things are food or beauty-related, and she loves discovering new cruelty-free products (particularly those with fun packaging). She also loves bright colors, music, and dogs, and is employed in post-production.