As a natural curly girl, I never let my hair air dry. While curls work for a lot of people, I am not one of them. I have very thick hair, and when I let it get curly it turns into a frizzy, poofy mess. No matter what I do, I can’t seem to style my hair curly, so I’ve turned to styling tools to give my hair the sleek look I’ve always craved. After testing out dozens of stylers over the years, here are the top four that I still reach for today and how I use them for perfect hair:  

1. Dyson Airwrap

I use the Dyson Airwrap pretty much every single time I wash my hair. It is my go to hair dryer and, on most days, styler. I start with the blow dryer attachment and rough dry hair. My main focus for rough drying is my roots, since the brush attachments can’t always achieve a smooth look on the top of your head. When my hair is about half dry I use the smoothing brush attachment to tame away added frizz and volume. The end result of my styling is a voluminous blowout, but in order to achieve that goal I need to start with a flat canvas. Once the hair is only slightly damp, and by slightly I mean 97% dry, I switch to the round brush attachment. I section my hair into three layers. I go layer by layer and dry the hair so it flips under, towards my face. I run the brush through each section of hair several times before concentrating the heat at the bottom. Once I feel I have held the heat on enough I use the cold shot and release my hair. 

The Dyson is my favorite way to style my hair because it has drastically reduced the amount of heat damage my hair has. As a girl who literally fried off her hair from straightening it too much, using the Dyson gives me my dream sleek styles but my hair is healthy and shiny.

2. Conair Infiniti Pro 2-in-1 Styler

I have quite literally had this iron since the sixth grade, and it still works like a charm. You can use this to both straighten and curl your hair. The versatility of this tool makes it perfect for taking it with you whenever you travel. My biggest gripe with the Dyson is that you can’t use it in Europe, but this tool is dual voltage so you can take it anywhere. This is my go to vacation styler because I know that no matter what style I am feeling I can use this to achieve it. One of my favorite ways to use this tool is to start 2 ⁄ 3 of the way down my hair and create a little ringlet on the bottom. This is a really soft and tame way to curl your hair without any sectioning.  

3. GHD Rise

I use the ghd rise whenever I need to refresh  my basic blowout. This is a hot brush, so I can use it to put my dyson styles back together without having to re-wash and dry  my whole head. I simply run it through my hair and flip under the way I do with the dyson round brush and everything looks fantastic again. This tool only has one heat setting, but I find that it is a really good temperature for my hair. My hair never feels crispy after using this tool and I don’t tend to burn my skin while using it. 

4. Beachwaver B1 Rotating Curling Iron

This is my favorite curling iron simply because it takes the hassle out of everything. It’s definitely not the best curling tool I own, but it is the one I use the most because it is easy and reliable. With a regular curling iron there is a lot of room for user error, but this eliminates your ability to accidentally mess up the curl pattern or create weird clamp marks. Beach wave curls aren’t necessarily my favorite kind of style, which is why I prefer the looks some other irons provide, but they are beautiful for summer. I use this iron all summer long, and it always splits the time I spend curling my hair in half. With this tool I simply put the end of my hair in the clamp and push the button pointing away from my face. It sounds like it is too easy, but that’s why I love this iron.