Helen of Troy Super Mega 1-1/2 Professional Brush Iron

I love Helen of Troy Professional Brush Irons. In fact, I have one in almost every size; I use the size most appropriate for my then current hair style. However, my favorite and most used model is the Helen of Troy Super Mega 1-1/2" Professional Brush Iron. It helps tame the frizzies when my hairstyle is a smooth one and is ideal for attaining just the right curve when my hair is styled in a modified bob.I have been using this particular model for almost 20 years. The plastic on my first one became brittle from the heat and a number of bristles broke off. I am now replacing my second Helen of Troy Super Mega 1-1/2" Professional Brush Iron since the top has cracked and is in danger of coming apart.Through all those years and almost daily use, I have never had this brand and model of brush fail to heat up. I particularly like the fact that the heat is not so intense that it will damage your hair, even when used daily. A word of caution: the metal does get hot enough to burn your ear's top if you happen to accidently rest it there. I do plug the brush in and turn it on high when I get in the shower. It probably heats for 20 minutes during my shower and while I dry my hair. I have found that plugging it in for only a few minutes does not allow the brush to get hot enough to do what I want it to do. I always unplug the brush when I am done using it.If you are looking for a well made, long lasting styling tool you may want to consider the Helen of Troy Super Mega 1-1/2" Professional Brush Iron. I've used this product for many years in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

I have had so many of these curlers in my lifetime, but not in the last 2 decades. Flat irons give my baby fine shoulder length hair horrible static. I HATE flat irons! Of course my daughter is thrilled when I try another flat iron because she knows she will be getting it for her super thick, coarse hair within a few weeks.I started looking for a brush iron a year or so ago and could only find the 3/4" irons or the 1+ inch round air brushes. The small iron is just too small for long hair and the air brushes are cumbersome and ineffective.Desperation led me to the web where I found this one. OMG.. could it be the same iron I had in the 70's? I think so!!! Yay! I read the reviews and bought it, slightly worried about the hair catching in the joint.Got it yesterday and tried it out.1. It DOES take a while to get REALLY hot.2. My hair does get caught in that joint, which is totally unacceptable.3. The darn thing is EXACTLY what I hoped for!!!The joint was an EASY fix. Goody sells SILICONE rubberbands. They are round, like a tube, not flat.Double one of those up and it lays right in that groove. Silicone can take that heat no problem and it TOTALLY resolves the caught hair issue.The brush is not made of hard plastic bristles, which is a vast improvement, IMO.This is cheap, works great for big curls on the ends of your hair.Today my hair looks better than it has in years. Loads of nice big waves and curls.I love it!

This is a terrible product!! This does not get hot enough!! Bristles are too short and they are flexible....so they don't wrap around the hair very well. If it heated up to a higher temperature maybe I could deal with the bristles. The tip is the only part that gets hot.....too hot to touch. Your hair gets caught in between a gap at the end of the barrel and the handle and rips your hair out. Also, the placement of the On/Off switch is terrible because as you are trying to curl your hair it keeps switching to Off. It is all around a bad product. The only thing it kind of works on is to turn under the ends of my 2 year old's baby fine hair.........even then it doesn't hold the curl very well. Still not hot enough. I don't know why I even decided to give this a try because I own 2 other Helen of Troy products and I don't care for them either. Go with the Conair Instant Heat 1.25 inch with the 25 settings. It gets really hot.........I just wish the barrel was bigger. I don't understand why these are so hard to find???

I finally found a styling tool that works for my stubborn fine hair! I've tried so many things that just didn't work to create lasting volume or were too hard to use. I've never mastered regular curling irons that have a clamp. I don't understand why this tool isn't readily available in stores. Smaller versions with 3/4 inch barrels are available, though not a lot of them, but this larger 1 1/2 inch barrel is good for volume when you don't want tight curls. I'm actually going to order a second one to have on hand in case something happens to this one. There are ionic stylers in stores that are similar to this (Perfector and InStyler) but the ions are too much for my fine hair and make it limp. This one is not ionic and works better.I do have to use the high setting even though my hair is fine. The low setting doesn't get hot enough to create volume.

Pros: it's big and simple. Cons: no light to say when it's ready, and the tip does get quite warm (thus the four stars).Haven't had trouble with my hair getting caught in that grove next to the handle (as another reviewer mentioned), but I can see how that could happen and I'm being careful.Curiously, when I got it, I thought there was a defect. At the tip end, I found a grove such that one of the tine strips (blue thingies) could slide right out. Then I noticed the end could be tightened and positioned so this would not happen. Did someone cleverly design this thing so the tines could be easily removed for cleaning? Well, that's what I'm going to use the grove for.