The BaByliss Curl Secret is a product I’ve lusted after for the longest time, ever since its launch after watching countless YouTube tutorials and reading rave reviews. I even included in a Lust List post back in August last year. I own a huge amount of hair tools including hair rollers, curling wands, curling tongs, straighteners, waving wand etc – most of which are BaByliss as their tools are always quite innovative, good quality and as a whole very affordable.
I love wearing my hair curly, but because my hair is so long and thick it usually results in considerable arm ache as it takes such a long time and I’d often find that by the time I’d finish the curls, the first curls I’d done would already be dropping out. The BaByliss Curl Secret appeared to be the answer to my hair curling prayers at a cost of £119.99, BaByliss available here at Argos.
The BaByliss Curl Secret is an innovative, hand-held device which has pioneering ‘auto curl’ technology which claims to create beautiful, free-flowing curls with a long lasting effect. It works by drawing hair automatically into the ceramic, curl chamber where it is held softly and heated gently from all directions to form the perfect curl once released from the curl chamber.
The BaByliss Curl Secret itself is a stunning purple colour, packed with multicoloured glitter which really sparkles. It comes with a detailed instruction leaflet with a step-by-step guide, a heatproof mat – which is a genius inclusion and a soft velvet drawstring bag to keep the Curl Secret in.
I know the BaByliss Curl Secret is a more higher-end hair tool, so it’s nice to see the velvet bag and heatproof mat included as they’re both so useful.. especially if you want to travel with your Curl Secret, as it’ll keep the power cord from becoming a tangled mess.
BaByliss Curl Secret Review
The handle of the BaByliss Curl Secret has two switches; a time switch and a time switch. The switch nearest the red ‘power’ light is the temperature switch, with two settings: I – low temperature best suited for delicate, fine or coloured hair. II – high temperature best suited for normal to thick hair.
The time switch has three timer settings all with an audio beep indicator. Each of the three time settings will deter the type of curl that is created. The 8 second curl (followed by three beeps) will create loose waves, 10 second curl (followed by four beeps) will create soft curls and lastly the 12 second curl (followed by five beeps) will create more defined curls.
I really love how much variation there is, and that you’re able to create a mixture of curls should you wish to by changing the time switch which is perfect for me as I don’t like a whole head of uniform curls. Before using the BaByliss Curl Secret you have to ensure that your hair is completely clean, combed through and dry. The most important step to follow whilst using the BaByliss Curl Secret is to use flat, small section pieces of hair no bigger than 3cm wide. If you try and use more hair than the advised 3cm, the curl chamber will simply beep and reject the piece of hair instantly.
Also the open part of the styler with the velvet covered core (and clear message on styler too) must always be against the side of your head or it could damage or tangle your hair. To remind myself I like to think of the hole in the core is next to the hole in my ear – it might sound peculiar but it’s a sort of mantra I keep thinking about whilst using it and it really works, as I’ve not used the curler upside down once. It only takes 60 seconds to heat up, which is super quick and the perfect amount of time for me to comb through my hair.
To use the Curl Secret, you place your 3cm piece of hair into the device with your hair hanging out of the other side – ensuring that the velvet core side is facing your head and not the floor. The length of your hair, will depend on where you place the Curl Secret on your piece of hair.
Shorter to medium lengthed hair will place the Curl Secret’s curl chamber relatively close to the root of the hair – unless you don’t want your curls to begin so high. To ensure that the curl is formed to the very tips of my hair, because it’s quite long I place the curl chamber at the base of my ear.
Once the hair is in position within the BaByliss Curl Secret and you’re ready to begin the curling process, you have to firmly close the two handles together which then starts the mechanism which draws the hair up into the Curl Chamber to be curled followed by four beeps. I must admit the first couple of times I was startled by the whole disappearing hair trick and worried my hair would be a melted mess, but that soon wore off after 3-4 goes.
Due to how thick and long my hair is, I prefer to use the setting II heat wise and time setting 10 (seconds) for soft curls as I’m not really a fan of Dolly Parton corkscrew curls which setting 12 gives – although they could be brushed out easily enough with a Tangle Teezer.

Continue to hold the handles closed together until the styler makes four beeps in quick succession, then fully release the handles and smoothly (and carefully) pull the styler away from the head to reveal your curl. Depending on your own hair’s ability to hold a curl, you could spritz the curl lightly with hairspray or pin it but for me that would take an exceptionally long time a 3cm piece of hair at a time. To help the curl last longer BaByliss recommend not combing or touching the curl until it has completely cooled down.
Before getting my own BaByliss Curl Secret, I already knew how easy and fuss-free it was to use as I’ve already mentioned.. I’d watched countless demonstration video’s on YouTube but everytime I use it, I’m still wowed by how clever it is. It is incredibly easy to use that even the biggest hair curling novice will have perfected the method within seconds. I really like that the device itself isn’t too heavy and cumbersome so although you can only curl small pieces at a time, you don’t get dreadful arm ache from using it.
If you are disabled or have weaker arms, I promise you’d be able to use this as it requires minimal effort or strength. Once you’ve got the hang of it, it’s the type of tool you could use to watch TV or YouTube video’s without even looking at what you’re doing as long as you feel that the velvet core is facing your head.
To do my whole head of hair with lots of practice it now takes me just 20 minutes which I’m very happy with. What I prefer to do is curl all of my hair without touching the curls, and then once I’ve finished I’ll then just use my hands to shake the curls slightly to separate the curls so they look a little less ‘Hanson boy band inspired’ and then lightly spray them with my holy grail hairspray – TIGI Masterpiece to set the curls in place and leave them smelling of skittles (no joke – yum!).
I’ve found that I can use the BaByliss Curl Secret to curl even half of my hair, or less on one of the lower heat and time settings to create an overall beachy loose curl look, which works a treat on second day hair when your hair may be looking a little flat.
This is without a doubt my absolute favourite hair tool I’ve ever tried, and I am so incredibly happy to own it. I love how easy, quick and versatile it is.. learning new ways to use it all the time. Only yesterday I tried it on a few pieces of hair in my low, side pony which gave it so much dimension and looked like I’d spent a lot of time and effort on it when it’d taken me no more then 5 minutes max.
Two of my girlfriends have tried my Curl Secret so far have both of them have fallen head over heels in love with it and already purchased their own (I should be on commission – I kid). It’s such an amazing hair tool that has replaced ALL of my other hair tools so now I only ever need my straighteners and Curl Secret.
Would I recommend this £119.99 BaByliss Curl Secret? Yes. I could literally go on and on about my love for it, it’s seriously worth the hype around it and my hair looks so much prettier when I’ve used this over my Enrapture Totem Styler.. as well as lasting longer in the hair too. It’s love…………..
(post written in association with Argos)
All products featured on Gemma Etc. are PR samples or gifted items, unless otherwise indicated. This post may contain affiliate links. If you wish to find out more, please see my Disclaimer within my navigation bar.