12 Best Dual Voltage Curling Irons in 2025

Increasingly popular in the homes of women and girls, the curling iron is a small appliance that is used on dry hair to make curls, soft and curly waves of varying width.

Compared to other methods for curling hair, it has the advantage of being comfortably usable at home and guarantees effective results in a short time. If you do not yet have a curling iron and you are thinking of purchasing one.

You will have noticed that there are many models on the market, all different according to the type of hair and the needs of styling. By now there are many curling irons that give perfect styling and at the same time nourish and moisturize the hair, like steam curling irons

Right here we have selected the best dual voltage curling irons for you that are listed below.

Things to Know About Dual Voltage Curling Irons

Why to Choose Curling Iron?

Before going into the world of curling irons, explaining what the different types are and comparing the best models, let’s explain why to choose precisely the curling iron to create waves and curls.

There are in fact many other ways to curl our hair, but in our opinion, this tool is the best of all:

Compared to other ways to curl hair (curlers, hair straighteners, artisanal methods without using heat), the curling iron is far faster and more effective;
compared to more invasive treatments (such as permanent), the curling iron is cheaper and is reversible, therefore it allows us to change styling as many times as we want.

Different Types of Curling Irons

All curling irons are made up of a handle, usually made of plastic or rubber, and a heatable and rotating end that can have various shapes – the most used are the cylinder, cone, and spiral ones.

This end is usually covered with ceramic, a material that protects the hair from excessive heat and allows the curling iron to heat up evenly.

When put into power, the iron heats up to reach the optimal temperature: at this point it is ready to be used, modifying the structure of the hair and giving a wonderful curly effect.

Some new generation curling irons also have an ionizing function: they emit negative ions that help protect the hair from heat and nourish it.

Based on the type of end mounted on the machine body, the curling irons are divided into four different types:

1. Cylindrical Curling Irons: they are the most common and easiest to use, traditionally used by many women in the world
2. Conical Curling Irons: they create curls with a more natural effect, but they are not very easy to use for beginners
3. Automatic Curling Irons: they are very easy to use because just insert the lock inside the device and he will do everything himself
4. Curling Plates: they have the shape of the straightening plates, but in reality, they are made with a wavy pattern to create beautiful waves

How to Choose the Curling Iron: Buying Guide

The comparison between the various models of curling irons has already allowed us to get an idea of what are the most important features to consider before buying one of the various models. In the buying guide, we will analyze each of these elements in detail, to help you make the best choice.

Width of The Diameter

As for cylindrical or conical curling irons, a characteristic to be taken into consideration is the width of the diameter, which is the thickness of the cylinder or cone that makes up the curling iron.

The dimensions are fairly standard: they range from a minimum of 16 mm, for very narrow curls, to a maximum of 25 mm, although we have seen in our comparison that there are models with “special” dimensions to create for example the classic very tight hedgehog in an afro style.

The choice of the width of the diameter depends directly on the type of hair you have and the effect you want: those with short hair must necessarily choose a curler with a narrow diameter, while those with longer hair can freely choose which curling irons to buy in relation to the type of hedgehog he wants to get from styling.

Materials

One of the most important features to choose the best curling iron for your needs is clearly the type of material used for the different models.

As we have seen, most of the curling irons have the heating part covered with ceramic: this material allows to cushion high temperatures, avoiding subjecting the locks to excessive stress.

Tourmaline coating also has a similar function, while keratin, silk proteins, cashmere proteins and so on are additional components, which help to hydrate the hair but are not decisive for establishing the quality of a curling iron.

Temperature

The temperature setting and the temperature range to choose from is an element to be taken into great consideration in choosing the best curling iron for your needs.

This is because the different models often start from very high temperatures, and almost always exceed 200 degrees at the maximum temperature.

Those who have thick hair and a type of hair more often do not have any problems with high temperatures, but instead, those who have fine and tending to break hair must be very careful with the temperature.

It is not necessary to burn the hair to obtain a perfect styling, on the contrary: your hair will thank you if you dedicate yourself to them using a temperature that does not excessively stress the locks.

How Do You Use the Curling Iron?

To use the curling iron, the hair must first be completely dry; then we must insert the curling iron into the current and wait for it to reach the desired temperature.

The hair must be divided into more or less small strands depending on the type of curling iron we have chosen: each strand must be wrapped around the curling iron and left on for about 5 seconds (holding it for too long can cause damage to the hair). Then you have to slide it off and repeat the process with the other strands.

As trivial as the procedure may seem, curling irons are not always easy to use, and often those who are beginners or are just a little more clumsy have difficulty using them: also for this reason automatic curling irons have been introduced on the market, easier to use.

How to Use Curling Irons on Short Hair

Those who have short hair and want to recreate a curly or wavy effect must necessarily opt for a curling iron, with a conical or cylindrical shape, which has a very narrow diameter: in this way, it will be possible to curl even the shortest strands.

In the case of those with short cuts, it is also very important to choose a model with adjustable temperature: since the surface on which the iron acts is smaller, the greater the risk of getting burned.

How to Use Curling Irons on Curly Hair

Those with curly hair can choose to rely on curling irons to have a more disciplined and defined hair, in the same way, that those with straight hair use the straightener.

Girls with curly hair can either pass the iron after brushing the hair, in order to have a more defined effect or dry the hair with the diffuser and then use the curling iron for a more natural effect.

Curling Iron or Straightener?

Both the straightener and the curling iron use heat to give the hair a shape different from its natural appearance. In this sense, both exploit the same technology and are often made with similar materials, first of all ceramic.

When choosing a tool to curl your hair, you may find yourself in the condition to choose a straightening plate: by holding the lock tight and turning it as if it were a curling iron, in fact, you can get discrete wide waves.

If you are looking for a tool that allows you to make beach waves, then you can also choose to buy only the straightener, which is a more versatile tool than the curling iron.

However, if you are looking for a product that allows you to have tight and well-defined curls as if you had just gone out of the hairdresser, then you will necessarily have to choose a curling iron, which is by its nature more functional to perform this task.

It must also be said that high-quality curling iron costs on average much less than a good straightening plate: if you really don’t want to make a choice you can decide to buy both or to buy a 2 in 1 tool like the one we saw in the product comparison.

Curling Irons or Thermal Curlers?

As we have repeated several times, on the market, there are many alternative products to the curling iron to obtain a volumizing effect and curly hair. Among these, thermal curlers are certainly a fairly viable alternative.

Unlike the classic curlers that we all know, the thermal ones have the advantage of being already heated and can be kept in place while doing something else. This is certainly a small advantage over the curling tongs because you can use the shutter speed of the curlers to do something else.

Yes, but how long do we talk about? The high-quality thermal curlers must be kept in place for at least 20-30 minutes to obtain the desired effect; the curling iron, on the other hand, takes much less time.

Using curlers also means necessarily having to treat all the hair, from the roots to the tips, while the curling iron offers many styling solutions, and it is also possible to curl only a few strands or only the lengths and tips.