One of my favourite ways to wear my long hair is with a curl, or wave to it and I own a considerable amount of hot tools to help create the ‘perfect curl’. Recently I discovered the BaByliss Curl Secret which really is the perfect hot tool at creating, perfectly formed spiral curls. However on a day-to-day basis I prefer a more undone look, and like my hair to have lots of body and bounce with voluminous waves rather than curls. I have a BaByliss conical wand, and the Enrapture Totem Styler which both work well at creating uniform curls, however I find that they just lack volume. From watching American YouTube tutorials I’d seen a lot of larger barrel hair tongs used to create big, voluminous styles and I’ve wanted to own one ever since. However jumbo tongs are pretty hard to come across within the UK, or they were until I discovered the TONI&GUY Glamour Jumbo Tong £20*. The TONI&GUY Glamour Jumbo Tong has a 38mm ceramic tourmaline barrel and a variable heat setting up to 200 degrees centigrade.
I was pretty taken aback that this jumbo curling tong is only £20 as it feels so weighty and substantial. It even has an auto shut-off mode where it’ll automatically switch off after 60 minutes which is always a massive piece of mind, as on many occasion I’ve gone out and fretted over whether I’d remembered to switch my hot tool off.
The Jumbo Tong has a 3m long salon length cord which allows for lots of movement whilst using the tool. My favourite added feature by Toni & Guy has to be the genius safety stand which pulls out to prop the tool up, without melting or burning your furnishings during or after use – we’ve all been there.
I wish all hot tools would have this added feature, it’s just so useful. Another feature I really appreciate is the cool-tip as I find it so much easier to steady the tong by placing my spare hand onto the tip. The Jumbo Tong has a variable heat setting which can be changed by rotating the temperature control dial on the handle, until you’ve reached your desired temperature.
Before using the tong you have to wait for the red indicator light to go solid, once it has met the chosen temperature. The quick heat-up function is no exaggeration, with the hottest temperature taking less than a minute which is ideal when you’re short on time before work etc.
The TONI&GUY Glamour Jumbo Tong has a long clamp with a smooth finish. Some clamps on hair tools can leave an imprint or bump in the hair which I hate, but this clamp doesn’t leave any lasting kinks.
What I particularly like with this clamp is that it’s quite stiff in that it works wonders at actually gripping the ends of my hair, whilst I wind the rest of my hair around the barrel. A couple of hair tongs I’ve tried before, my hair has just slipped or moved out of the clamp.. but this clamp really does grip my hair very well.
To use the tong I simply use one inch pieces of hair, and place the very tips of the piece within the open clamp, and close it shut to the hold the hair. I then twist the barrel round whilst my hair rolls around the barrel, until I’m roughly an inch away from my roots.
The tong can either be used to curl the hair towards the face and/or away from the face. Depending on which style I’m wanting to create I tend to alternate which direction I twist the hair from piece to piece.. just how I would with a conventional curling wand.
TONI&GUY Glamour Jumbo Tong Review
Once I’ve wound the tong upto the roots, I hold it in place for about ten seconds before unwinding and releasing the clamp. Whilst the piece of hair is still hot, I like to lightly spritz it with my Holy Grail hairspray; TIGI Masterpiece (which coincidentally smells of skittles – yum). I really like how easy the TONI&GUY Glamour Jumbo Tong is to use. It’s so quick to heat up, and takes a matter of seconds to wind up each piece of hair.
On second day hair I like to use the tong on around eight to ten pieces of sections throughout my hair just to give it a little more shape and bounce. To use the tong on my whole head of hair it takes me no more than fifteen minutes and I find that the waves tend to hold for a lot longer than a standard narrow curling wand as the barrel is so thick so there’s less hair for the heat to radiate through.
For £20 the TONI&GUY Glamour Jumbo Tong is such a bargain, I really love using it and how much body and volume it gives my hair, and I think it would create the perfect wedding hair if you were wearing lace wedding dresses and wanted tumbling, bouncy curls. If you’ve been wanting to get your hands on a jumbo barrelled tong that adds volume rather than curls, this TONI&GUY offering is exactly what you’re looking for.