Hair Personality with Toni & Guy | The 'Jumbo Tong'

Toni & Guy | The Jumbo Tong | £20.00* | Link

When I was asked to take part in Toni & Guy's 'What's Your Hair Personality?' challenge, I jumped at the chance.  If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I have an obsession for anything hair related.  Every blogger has a 'thing', don't they? Whether it be skin care, nail polish or an ever-growing lip balm collection at the bottom of their handbags. Mine is most certainly anything to do with the ol' barnet! Toni & Guy do a fabulous selection of products and hot tools, all matched to certain hair personality's and types.  There are 4 core collections - 'Classic', 'Casual', 'Creative' and 'Glamorous' - something to suit every preference.  I had a little browse through but there was one collection that caught my eye straight away - 'Glamour'.   I'm always curling my hair (it's naturally straight) and I'm a big fan of volume - the bigger the better. You'll never catch me getting ready for a night out without a few rollers delicately perched on my head! Enter the Toni & Guy 'Jumbo Tong' - meant for creating lots of volume, glamorous waves and sleek loose curls.  

The large barrel (38mm to be precise) is perfect for creating waves and large, loose curls in the hair.  A lot of curling tongs and wands on the market tend to give that 'ringlet' look - but this one adds just the right amount of curl without looking over-done, and provides the hair with a lot of movement and texture in an instant.  To create the look above,  I simply took one inch sections and wrapped them around the barrel for a few seconds before releasing.  I then 'perfected' the look after I'd gone around my whole head and re-curled some of the bits that looked a little bit flat - sometimes taking slightly smaller sections of hair to get a variety of slightly tighter curls and loose waves.  The movement and texture that is achieved is simply stunning - very similar to the look I'd get when using heated rollers or when I have 'second day curls' - very undone, a little tousled and with a lot of body in the mid-sections.   The curls do drop throughout the day, so if you're the type who likes your hair to stay put I'd recommend using a good hairspray, but I was left with lovely, loose looking waves - very beachy and bed-heady. I will say that the tongs work much better on 'second day hair' - I achieved a more defined wave when my hair wasn't freshly washed but I guess that's the case with the majority of heated tools.

The Jumbo Tong is extremely easy and straight forward to use.   You simply choose the heat setting depending on your hair type/thickness via the dial on the body of the tong (I use a medium heat) and in a minute or so you're pretty much ready to get styling! If you have hair that tends to struggle to hold a curl, you might need to have a play around with the dial to find a setting that works for you, but It's very quick to use and a complete doddle to get around your whole head in a matter of minutes - leaving you with perfectly 'undone' looking hair to rival the likes of Cheryl Cole.  The best part is the price; for just £20, the Jumbo Tong is amazingly affordable and is the perfect companion for voluminous, natural looking movement.  You can find them on the Toni & Guy website here and also in lots of high-street stores.

Have you tried the Toni & Guy Jumbo Tong?  Which 'Hair Personality' do you reckon you'd be?

Enrapture Totem Styler | My Wavy Hair

Enrapture Totem Styler | £59.99* (Currently on offer for £39.99 at Boots - Link)

One of the most common questions to hit my inbox or comment box revolves around how I style my hair.  Although it's almost always wavy or curled in some way, my hair is actually pretty straight naturally and I've tried all kinds of hot tools and products over the years trying to achieve my desired look.  I love having wavy hair - it's so versatile and doesn't take a great deal of time to achieve once you've got the hang of it. If you wash your hair every other day like me, then it's a good way of keeping it from looking lifeless between washes - you'll often find that once slept on, second-day waves actually require no styling at all - great for when you need to get to work sharpish!  The Enrapture Totem styler is my new addition to my styling tools collection.  It's definitely not your average curling iron - in fact,  it's much more swish... Let me explain why!

The Enrapture Totem styler allows you to fully control the curls you create - from soft, beachy waves to perfected ringlets. Gone are the days where you need to hoard a vast array of different contraptions for different styles -  the Totem Styler allows you to create all kinds of looks with ease.  The wand allows you to control the amount of heat emitted by the barrel at different 'points' using a simple numbered dial - meaning that you can control whether or not you want a tighter curl at the root, or a looser, more voluminous look from root to tip.  For the look shown above, I used the setting '1-2-2', meaning that the curl would be looser at the root, and more defined towards the mid-lengths and bottom layers of my hair.  This is the look I usually opt for - I'm not a big fan of full-on ringlets and like it to look as natural as possible.  I've since played around with the settings a little more, and I find that a '2-2-2' setting (an even, medium heat) creates a similar look but with more definition around the top sections of hair - these 2 settings have become my 'go-to' for creating my hairstyle. A quick spritz of hairspray and I'm good to go.

Since using the Totem Styler, I have noticed a big difference in the way my hair looks after styling.  The titanium plated barrel prevents snagging and help keep your hair smooth and frizz-free.  My hair always feels sleek afterwards and the curls are always beautifully defined, without any frizzy, coarse bits that other wands can tend to leave if you aren't careful.  The Enrapture Heated Rollers are actually another one of my favourite hair tools to use (you can read my review here if you're interested!) and I've found that they provide a similar look and feel to the hair - Enrapture products really do give a perfected finish that I haven't found with other hair tools - they leave your curls looking sleek and soft and perfectly natural rather than over styled. 

I really do love the Totem Styler and I adore Enrapture as a brand.  I still think my  trusty heated rollers have the edge sliiiightly, but I often use the two tools together - touching up little bits with the Totem once I've volumised using the rollers.  Together they have become my little dream team for wavy hair and I honestly couldn't live without them.  They give such a unique look that I haven't been able to achieve with other tools.  Are they worth the money? Absolutely, yes. If I woke up tomorrow and found that they had tottled off somewhere I'd repurchase them without a second thought. Even if you're a beginner when it comes to styling, each product comes with it's own instruction booklet with step-by-step instructions of how to create different looks (they also have videos on the website - so handy!).  Although I was sent the Totem to review, I loved the brand even before I got my mitts on it.  My Heated Rollers were actually a Christmas gift from my mum, and I loved them straight from the first use - my experience with Enrapture has been excellent and if you're looking for a new styling tool, I'd really recommend you take a look at what they have to offer.  They take a little more practice than other tools (it took me a couple of trys before I managed to get a hang of the Totem properly!) but once you've got the 'knack', you'll never go back ;)

You can find the Enrapture website here.
Or take a peek on Boots website (they're on offer for £39.99!)

Fancy having a look at how my hair looks when I've used the rollers? Have a read of my post here!

Have you tried the Totem Styler? How do you like to style your waves?