BaByliss Wave Secret Air review: Create curls fast

BaByliss’s Wave Secret Air is the latest hair curling device to hit the market. Going up against the likes of the Dyson Airwrap, which remains a bestseller despite its £500 price tag, this latest launch aims to offer fast and foolproof curls without damage, leaving hair healthy after styling. With the electrical beauty market seeing an explosion in recent years of automatic hair curlers that promise to take the work out of wrapping, curling and styling hair, can BaByliss’s Wave Secret Air stand out? We found it offers some of the fastest and simplest curl styling we’ve seen.

BaByliss Wave Secret Air review: What do you get for the money?

The BaByliss Wave Secret Air, like the Curl Secret model that features in our list of the best automatic hair curlers, uses a motor to draw the hair into a chamber and wrap it around a ceramic-coated 40mm barrel. You can choose between three heat settings – 180ºC, 200ºC and 230ºC – to suit your hair type and texture; 180ºC works well with most hair types, but very thick hair will usually require one of the higher settings.

You also get three options for curl direction: clockwise, anti-clockwise and alternating direction. Styling curls that all face the same direction (typically away from the face) creates a very polished, uniform finish suitable for a red-carpet look. By opting for the alternating direction setting, the Wave Secret Air automatically switches the direction of the wind mechanism each time you insert a new section of hair into the curl chamber, for a more natural-looking head of curls.

The Wave Secret Air gets its name from the blast of cool air that’s automatically delivered when you release the curled hair from the chamber, which sets the curl in place. All of these functions arrive in an attractive matte black and rose gold device, with an integrated 2.5m swivel cord and a protective mat supplied in the box. The Wave Secret Air comes with a three-year guarantee.

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BaByliss Wave Secret Air review: What’s it like to use?

The first thing you’ll notice about the BaByliss Wave Secret Air is its speed. Not only does the tool heat up quickly, reaching the selected temperature in under 30 seconds, it takes only around 20 seconds to wrap and heat each section of hair. Depending on the length and thickness of your hair – and your knack with the tool – hair can be fully styled in around 10-15 minutes.

To use, first make sure your hair is clean and combed through (the Wave Secret Air will detect and reject any section of hair it believes is too tangled, which is smart), and use the flat buttons on the side of the handle to select your heat and curl direction settings. The tool will beep when the curl chamber has reached the correct temperature, and a small LED display on the handle reminds you which heat and curl settings you’ve chosen.

Once that’s done, take a section of hair around 3cm in width and hold the Wave Secret Air near the top of that section and clamp it shut; the winding mechanism will automatically draw the hair into the chamber and wrap it around the curling barrel. The tool will beep four times when the curl is ready.

Open the chamber, and a burst of cool air will automatically blow onto the hair to set the curl in place. Hold the tool in place for a short while to let the air blow, then lift the curler away from the hair without tugging to release your newly formed ringlet. If you’ve chosen the automatic alternating direction, the tool will switch from clockwise to anticlockwise each time you style a section of hair, without needing to be manually switched.

Keep moving the tool around the head until you’ve curled each section – with practice this should take around 10-15 minutes in total. Finish with a spritz of your favourite hairspray to help hold the curls in place; I found that my curls remained in place all day and overnight without any special protection.

There are a few knacks to using the Wave Secret Air. First, let the automatic mechanism do all the work for you; there’s no need to twist the tool when placing it onto the hair. Second, be sure to leave the tool in place for a few seconds after opening the chamber, to allow the cool air to do its thing. Finally, drop the tool away from the hair when releasing the curl so you don’t tug it out of shape. If you follow these simple tips, the Babyliss Wave Secret Air is very easy to use.

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BaByliss Wave Secret Air review: Are there any downsides?

The biggest downside of the Babyliss Wave Secret Air is the weight of the tool. At 600g, it’s heavier than the Dyson Airwrap, and roughly twice as heavy as a typical curling tong or wand. The weight is also concentrated in the head of the tool, making it feel slightly unbalanced in the hand. Over the course of styling a full head of hair, it began to feel heavy and awkward in my hand. That said, the upside to that downside is that styling with the Wave Secret Air is really quick: you’re unlikely to become too fatigued since you won’t be using it for long periods.

The options for temperature and curl direction are welcome and neatly built into the tool, but the Wave Secret Air’s one curling barrel will really only allow one style of curl. Those looking to create a tighter curl will need a device such as BaByliss’s Curl Secret or another curling tool.

Finally, because of the design of the curl chamber – which doesn’t allow the tool to get very close to the roots of the hair – the Wave Secret Air works best on mid-length to longer sections of hair. I found it created curls effectively on my shoulder-length hair, but it was tricky to get shorter layers and fringe sections around the face to curl as well as the longer layers.

BaByliss Wave Secret Air review: Should you buy it?

For ease of use and super-fast styling, I would absolutely recommend the Babyliss Wave Secret Air – so long as you’re looking for the particular style that it offers. The foolproof mechanism and easy-to-use temperature and curl direction settings mean you can create a head full of shiny, healthy mid-size ringlets in just minutes, and the finished style will last all day.

If you’re looking for more versatility in a styler then there are probably better options that are more suited to creating a range of different styles, but there’s no doubt that the Babyliss Wave Secret Air does the one thing it does really well.