I just know I'd have to have my hair cut out of the roller after I made a big, tangled mess. I'm not good with fussing with my hair, if that isn't already obvious.

I'll be curious to see what others report.

I was at a runway style fashion show last night. All the models had very sleek, smooth hair at the crown and then some sort of off center bun or pinned up bit that was a teased, dreadlocked, rat's nest looking thing. I thought hey, I wake up with that look and go to trouble to fix it. Who knew all I had to do was heavily hairspray it and carry on with my day?

I, too, am always on the lookout for new hair styling products - I can see how it would work on long hair -- and her hair was very fine as well..
I would love to see a demo on short hair - I think I wouldn't even be able to wrap it around parts of my hair - but it seems like a really good idea - I end up using the blow dryer and a round brush - and still can't do it very well.

I have a brush like that, not sure if it's con air or not, and it just tangled my hair. lol

But the lady in the video said it gives the hair a lot of body. Her hair already has body! Her hair is heavily streaked with bleach, instant body. So it's easier to use for those who do have body instead of fine hair.

I may have to give my brush another try though. :)

Yes, I'm amazed when I leave the salon what they can make my hair do with a good blow out & round brush. Same tools in my hands, not even close. I just don't have the coordination.

The reason I zeroed in on the Conair mentioned above is because the brush rotates both directions. So tangles just don't happen. I mean logically they could but as I understand it reversing the brush rotation would release the tangle. I saw a rather unimpressive video on Amazon, Jonathan Antin stying with it (he must have an endorsement contract, his face is on the box I saw). But what he did show was the back & forth spinning (think it was when he was doing the model's bangs.)

Go here,, toward top of page, under Check Out Related Media, bottom right corner is the video clip of JA.

Have not used but I too can imagine having to cut my hair out of that thing. I have a round brush hairdryer like that but it's stationary - doesn't spin. I've even gotten my hair caught in that though overall I find it works well.

I'm another that would probably have it stuck in my hair. My hair does/looks much better if I basically just use my hands.

I'm on my second Instyler. The first one shorted out after two years. First, I am completely inept with styling tools. I've tried the whole round brush with blow dryer routine and failed completely. Secondly, I have very fine, happy-to-frizz, medium length hair that I wear in a modified bob. The Instyler has saved me. I now blow dry my hair upside down for some volume and then use the Instyler to smooth the frizz and curl the ends under.

I tried one of the dryers where the brush rotates and ended up with a tangled mess, but I can manage the Instyler easily. I think the darn thing is overpriced, but I wouldn't be without it. The barrel of the Instyler is not small, so I do not think it would work well with short hair.

Interesting Fun2BHere. My hair is a bit shorter than normal right now, a modified bob that hits the base of my neck. They have a new InStyler now with a 3/4" barrel. The girl at Ulta had not heard of it but Amazon & QVC have it. I was reading reviews at QVC, and someone said it wasn't as good as the original because the plate moves on it. (Not sure what the plate is.) One of my concerns is it would be awkward to hold or maneuver?

It's about the same as holding a curling iron except much, much faster. Once you get the hang of which way the barrel spins, it's easy. The one trick is that you cannot hold the non-handle end the way you can with some curling irons so you have to learn to use it with just your grip on the handle. (I hope that makes sense.)

The first thing I noticed is how big the handle is. I happen to have a small hand and there's no way I could handle that thing without my wrist and hand hurting.

Maire cate said, "The first thing I noticed is how big the handle is. I happen to have a small hand and there's no way I could handle that thing without my wrist and hand hurting."

I have very small hands, too, but because you are not holding the Instyler in one position for long periods, I think that it's not as difficult as you might think. You are basically holding it only as long as you would to pull a brush through your hair. That said, if you have very thick or long hair, your experience would be different.

Well, wow! I've been having problems sytling my hair of late since letting my chin length bob grow out. I was intriqued after reading this thread I decided to try both styling tools mentioned. I assumed one would stand out over the other and I'd be returning one of them. However, I really like them both. A LOT! There's a strong possibility I'll be keeping both, replacing my curling irons and blow dryer. A rather pricey investment but the difference is so dramatic that I believe it will be worth the expense. So, glad I checked this thread!!

Hmm, I am really interested in this. I am horrible at two-handed styling, but my stylists always use a large round brush to style my hair. I think my hair dryer is about to die soon, so maybe this will be worthwhile

I've used a round brush that didn't spin, and I used that until it broke, too. I did not have any problems with tangling.

Well ladies, I just got home from running and a trip to Ulta and used my 20% off coupon toward the Conair InfinitiPro Spin Air. Tried it on my hair as-is (not shampooed yet, I do that before bed, and no product). Wowza. It does indeed look like I was at the salon and had a stylist blow dry my hair. There is some extra volume (would hope for more but my hair responds better to styling when it's damp so I'll see in the morning. Weird routine, shampoo at night because I hate going to bed with airborne "stuff" in my hair. Then spritz wet & style in the a.m.)

Anywho, I'm getting a touch of arthritis in my fingers and this thing was a breeze to operate. Surprisingly so, I thought it would be awkward. Much easier than holding a dryer and trying to coordinate a brush in the other hand. I'm thinking it will be less damaging too. Doesn't tug nearly as much as a brush and dryer. I also got it tangled right off the bat, but I simply reversed the spin direction and it came right out. As is my hair is sleek, shiny, has some bounce and swing. Oh and huge bonus, ends are tidy. My ends always seem to slip out of a brush or curling iron, but I just held the spinning brush in place, slid back and forth a bit, held it still, and released.

A couple minuses (I won't call them cons). The thing didn't want to spin well at first. Guess it needed to get warmed up, after a couple minutes it took off. Also I want more curl and this barrel is too big for that. So I might have to pull a funnygirl and get the InStyler ;D But in the smaller size barrel for my hair. Hopefully I won't have to order online, for some reason no local stores have it, though I haven't checked WalMart yet.

Tomorrow morning will be the big test when I do my normal routine. So I'll post back. So far I'm pretty impressed, though. :)

I have the Instyler. and like it a lot. I have shoulder length, thick, course and colored hair. Normally I don't blow dry it because it takes forever to dry. I airdry then take the Instyler to it to smooth the waves and frizz. I don't think it would work for short hair. My hair does not get tangled in it at all, but a round brush forget it, I would have to cut my hair it would get so tangled.

Moonshadow, FWIW I had no problems w/my Pro Spin Air spinning right from the getgo. If it doesn't spin right away when you try it again, you may want to exchange it.

Also, I went to Ulta and two walmarts before locating an Instyler today. Tonight I saw that Ulta has it on their site w/free shipping and a 20% coupon!

Surprisingly I didn't have problems w/tangling w/either product, and both left my hair amazingly soft, silky and shiny (no styling gel used).

Lastly, and a little off-topic, I read somewhere (this board?) a good recommendation for Costco's Kirkland shampoo and conditioner. Picked some up yesterday and am in love w/those, too!:)

Also, with the Instyler, the smooth drum is what spins , not the bristles.

I guess I don't understand the upside. The model in the video keeps talking about how this tool styled her hair? Styled? She's got long bleached hair. There's not really anything styled about it besides the fact that her bangs are cut a little shorter than the rest of her her length. Basically, her long one length hair goes from wet to dry.

Did I miss something?

If you consider straightened hair "styled", then yes. Her ends are not frizzy anymore.

I am very interested and may just have to order it since I have no time to go to a mall.

Well, I used the Conair again this morning, hair towel dried but still fairly damp. (My hair dries super fast so thought I'd finish drying with the spin brush.) I used the high setting with a bit of Bumble & Bumble Brilliantine. I did get nice results again, but found I got better results last night when my hair was dry to begin with & I misted it a bit, used the low setting and had no product in my hair. I can see how it takes some practice & tweaking to see which settings, level of dryness and motions work best on individual hair. (There is what I'd call a halfway point where it's technically dry & has body & movement but frizz is there. Continuing a couple more minutes past that point eliminates the frizz and goes into polished and more refined.) The results are definitely better than what I can achieve with dryer & round brush, no doubt about it. It's quite close to a salon blow out (a big difference being I don't use all the products my stylist does, which varies given her mood ;)

funnygirl: Thanks, yes, I'm going to be watching the spin function. It started fine this morning but there seemed to be a momentary lag time between button press and rotation starting. (It didn't do that last night but it could've been the ache in my thumbs this morning too. Getting older, lol.) So if there is any kind of spin issue with the next use I'll probably exchange it.

WIP, perhaps you did miss something since your focus is on length, cut, and bleached color. I was asking about a type of styling tool.

I focused on the spokesmodel calling what the spinbrush doing to her hair was "styling". From what I saw, all that did was dry her hair. The heated air came out of a round spinning brush being the difference. Perhaps it kept the ends from looking frizzy, but you would need a haircut with a "style" in order to get a "style". This may also just be semantics. I consider styled hair to be one that has style, you know, long or short bob, short doo, any "style" you can find in one of those hair books at the salon. Just having your hair grow long and having it colored, or coloring it yourself isn't in it of itself a style IMO. That's just hair coloring.

Personally, this tool would go into a drawer that already has other similar things I've purchased thinking they were going to work wonders.

A good blow dryer, a decent round brush, product that is suited for your hair type and you're good to go for ANY hair style, length, etc. That "styler" looks like an disaster waiting to happen for anyone with long hair, and doing nothing with anyone with much shorter hair. I can see having to cut my hair out of it. Point being, I don't see how that particular "styler" would do anything that I couldn't do with a round brush and a blow dryer. It is all in the "style", or should I say, how great of haircut you get when you visit the salon. Great cuts are easy to maintain because your stylist knows your hair, what is reasonably easy to dry once you've washed your hair, and what's really not going to work for you or your haircut.

OK, so anyway, I wanted to come back and update. After comments from those here speaking from personal experience, I picked up an InStyler. Rather lengthy, detailed review. Might help others who are wavering as I was. Midweek I almost returned it in frustration. But then I learned some things that changed my mind for now.

So I picked up InStyler last weekend. Evening time, tried it out on dry hair when I got home, wonderful results. I did a trick my stylist taught me with a curling iron for that 'loose perm' look. (Not the best descriptive phrase, but 70s/80s girls will know what I mean ;) Start at front, working to sides and back with curling rod vertical instead of horizontal. First curl is directed at face, next one directed backward, repeat that alternating pattern till you get to the back, then do the other side. (Or starting position can be reversed, starting curl directed backward, alternate from there.) Results weer good; nice body, soft waves with a bonus: perfect ends, a little wisp of a curl. And lift at the top/crown was perfect. Not exaggerated & unnatural, not whimpering. Just right.

I got the 3/4" barrel. 3 heat settings; L,M,H. First night I started out with Low. It does heat fast & gets much hotter than I anticipated. (I rarely use a curling iron but would rate the InStyler Low/Medium equal to curling iron High.)

The grip part, a concern of others and me too: it isn't too bad to hold. YMMV and be better than mine. The base is wide and requires opening & closing your grasp as you go. Opening only at the start and end points. The furthest open position your hand isn't extended to the point of stretched. It's closer to position of a normal relaxed hand with palm flat, if that makes sense. On a scale of 1 (a hairbrush) or 2 (standard curling iron) to 10 (impossibly clumsy), I'd rate holding it a 3-5 range. This is where your experience could be much better than mine. My hands sometimes ache from that touch of arthritis appearing. So on mornings I struggle, holding my dryer can feel like trying to grasp & maneuver a brick. InStyler gets a 4/5 then. On good days with full strength & no ache I'd rate it a 3. It can be a bit tricky to maneuver as F2BH mentions, but that improves as you get familiar with it.

Results after that first night were disastrous. I tried it every morning, both alone and after using the Conair Spin Brush. After air drying, after blow drying, with product, without, slower movement & pausing, faster straight pass. But the InStyler was doing terrible things. Frizz everywhere, I'm talking major, uncontrollable 'wet it and do over' frizz. And scorching, was really worried I was doing major hair damage in under a week. And strangest of all it was actually flattening my hair from middle to ends. And I do mean pressed flat. Couldn't figure that one out at all due to the cylinder shape. I just couldn't duplicate the nice results from the first use. Very frustrating!

About midweek and at the point of giving up & returning it, decided to watch instructions. Couldn't find a DVD in the box (because as I discovered yesterday it's slipped into a little cardboard hang tag on the cord. Duh.) Meantime I watched the online demos and they mentioned use Low Heat for fine hair. hmmmm, could it make that much of a difference? Yes indeedy.

That was one problem. After that first successful night on Low, I had been alternating between M and H heat. Simply out of habit, because a curling iron on low does diddly on my hair. One day I did switch InStyler to Low, but after turning it on at a higher heat, so it was much hotter than true Low setting.

The other difference was the first night my hair was completely cool. Successive uses after that my hair was wet then dried, then InStyler used. For whatever reason, my hair responds much better to InStyler when it's cool . Easily remedied by switching my routine; blow dry upside down with fingers to give it some fluff, let hair cool while I put on makeup & get dressed, then use InStyler.

An accidental bonus discovered. I work at home. Started at 4 a.m. yesterday morning, rushing to meet a deadline. About 9:30 something came up that required an immediate & quick errand. Drat. So busy with work I had done nothing with my hair yet. On the Scary Morning Hair scale, 1 being Run a Brush Through & Go, 10 being Frighten Small Children to Wails 'n Tears, yesterday was a 6. So I had to do something, and fast. Brushed my hair, no product, used the InStyler set on Low, did some quick passes through my hair. And there it was again: nice body, smooth curls just like the first time. And straight from Scary Hair no less! It was all about the heat setting + temperature of my hair. No frizz, no scorching, no flattened sections. Good to know it can be a quick remedy in a pinch. ;)

I'm still on the fence about it though. Only because it's been a bumpy week with it. Now that I know Low heat & my hair being cool matters, I'll play with it a few more days. If I consistently get good results, I'm leaning to the side of keeping it. It's another style option & a nice change.

Point of all this is even though it's seems obvious at first glance, there are tricks to using this tool and getting good results. Going on the premise that the average female grasps Hair 101 by the time of her late teens. So moving beyond the basics of good cut & products that work best for individual hair, with InStyler a great deal depends on individual hair type & how it responds to various factors. Heat setting for sure. Whether your hair responds best after being recently heated with a dryer or needs cool down time. How long you pause or don't, how fast or slow you go, etc. It's the difference between success or failure. So if you're skeptical as I was, it might be worth investigating but definitely watch online demos or DVD that pertain to your hair type. As far as which barrel, my suggestion would be to use your preferred curling iron size as a guide. Tho I rarely use one, any barrel larger than 1" just doesn't do much for my hair so I knew the smaller barrel would be the better choice for me.

As far as the Spin Brush, that one is definitely a keeper for me. I'm still very happy with it. Consistently a nice polished finished look in much less time. It's versatile too. Flipped under, up, back or forward, all works well. There are off days, just like any hair day, but overall it's a great finishing tool & worth it to me. I do blow dry initially, but just to get moisture out, so I tussle my hair with my fingers, upside down, getting extra volume in. Zip through with Spin Brush and I'm good to go and it lasts all day. Where it's especially handy for me is if it's a weak hand day, no worries about being able to hold, let alone coordinate brush & dryer when my hands don't want to cooperate.

I have the Instyler and I do like it, but generally don't use it on an everyday basis. I have a barrel brush hair dryer - it doesn't twirl, you just wrap your hair around it like a round brush.

I like both products and find they really help me style my hair. I have very straight hair that doesn't lie smooth unless some heat is applied, so on a day where I do nothing - it looks pretty bad - probably in line with Moonshadow's frighten small children category.

Anyways, I think that even if you have a nice haircut, drying/curling/styling it does require some effort. I personally find I can style one side of my head with a regular hair dryer/round brush fine. The other side - not so well. So, yes, these hair styler thingys are a real help.

I tend to think of the Instyler as an easier to use flat iron that gives a little flip to the bottom of your hair, but it can also be used to create curls if you're so inclined.

Running in Place I think you must not wear your hair flat iron straight, because you'd understand why the Instyler is also marketed for sleek, straight styles. Flat irons for me were very difficult to manage without frying my hair or burning myself, so for that reason I do like the Instyler.

M/S, I'm glad you posted an update; I was wondering if you tried the Instyler and how you liked it. My experience paralleled yours almost exactly (tricky DVD packaging, lol!).

I love these two products. Sent an I/S to my DD and purchased another (smaller barrel) for myself using their site offer. I enjoyed boxing up all my old curling irons of varying sizes, round brushes of various sizes, and one round airbrush. Now my hair does my wonderful stylist & cut (my "divalicous" indulgence) justice:)

So glad you started this thread!!

Thanks funnygirl, your input is appreciated as well! (Yup, that DVD packaging was a smack-myself-upside-the-head moment. ;) We'll have to keep each other updated. I'll post again with how it's going now that I've figured out just how much the InStyler heat setting and my hair 'temperature' impacted results.

For anyone interested in the Instyler, Groupon Goods has is listed for $59 this week.

Jennifer

Thanks, I didn't realize the Groupon Goods was for the Instyler. I may have to go for it.

When I checked on this offer, they were also offering the Hoopnotica fitness hoop that terriks swears by. I might order both if I can still get the deals.

I'll be slimmer with straight, shiny hair. Or bruised around my waist with tangled hair. We'll see.

I've been meaning to come back and offer an update. I'm keeping both the Conair Spin Brush & the Instyler. I find my personal preference is the Conair over the Instyler, but not by much. They both serve different purposes & give different results on my hair. I'm pleased with both.

I need to look into Groupon! I keep forgetting. (My sister loves them and has gotten some good scores through them.) That's the lowest price I've seen on the Instyler.

I'm glad you like both styling tools, M/S; I feel exactly the same way (like each for different reasons).

I took advantage of the offer on I/S's site and sent one to my DD. She sent me a text w/pix of herself and friend playing w/it. She said she got the needed body and her g/f received straightening benefits.

I feel my hair is much softer and in better condition w/the use of these products (not sure if it's one or both), and would be curious to know if anyone else has noticed the same.