The last time I went to Sassoon to get my hair cut, I decided to go back to my tried and true, longer, flipped hairstyle. I saw a video of a young girl in London getting what the stylist called a 60s haircut. She looked great, and though I certainly don’t look like her, it brought me back to a style that I always love.
Though I own a pricey ghd Straightener as well as a less expensive straightener, neither is great at flipping up the ends because they’re not round. I end up with more of a crease, not what I’m after.
So, again the holiday sales got to me. I saw an ad online for a portable hair straightener with bristles that looked more like a round-ish brush. And on sale, it was a pretty affordable. Best of all, it was supposed to be portable. The young women in the ads were all shown doing their hair in their car. I took a chance on it, and ordered Porta Portable Hair Straightening Brush from TYMO, not surprisingly a Chinese brand.
The Porta brush arrived toward the end of last week, so I haven’t had it for a very long time. These are “first impressions”. BTW, it took about 7-10 days for shipping.
Porta Hair Straightening Brush arrived in a slim box with a pamphlet with instructions, two black hair clips for styling, a USB-C cord and block for charging the brush, and a black secure faux leather storage case that’s perfect for travel.
The pamphlet instructed me to charge the unit before using. To do that, remove the small black cap at the bottom of the brush…
and insert the USB cord into the unit. Plug in the block and allow the unit to charge until the flashing blue ring around the power button in the middle of the brush stops flashing, about 2 hours.
Once it has charged, remove the power cord and leave off the black button at the bottom because it won’t turn on if the black button is in (I discovered that the hard way, though the instructions warned me about it!). Press the power button for 2 seconds to turn the unit on. Beneath the power button are 3 LED lights that correspond to the heat level. Usually the first (coolest) button is lit with the next button up flashing as it heats more. To reach the hottest level (3rd button), you hit the power button once and the third button will flash and then light up solidly when the temperature is reached. Because I still have a fair amount of coarse hair, I need to use the hottest temperature.
The rigid plastic “bristles” have an area on each one that heats up. The device provides about 30 minutes of heat to style your hair.
Here’s the website’s description:
“Its distinctive 3D comb design, coupled with advanced MCH and Ionic technologies, imparts a healthy shine and smooth finish. With three heat settings tailored for 1 to 3C hair types, it offers a 30-minute styling window.”
The Porta Hair Straightening Brush is supposed to be used on dry hair. And the instruction booklet also states that you shouldn’t apply styling products that make the hair wet.
I originally was looking for a portable hair straightener for our trip to the United Kingdom in October. However, I’m not sure I would take the Porta as the sole straightening device for my thick, coarse hair. I have been using it to flip up my hair, and to curve under the two side pieces to frame my face. It works fine on those tasks. It also does straighten my hair from the root to the tip, but not as fast and quite as smooth as my real straighteners do (I had just come in from a walk in the thick fog, so my hair was huge!). So with my thick hair, the Porta is an “add-on” portable product rather than a replacement for my other tools.
The sale price of $48 with the code XMAS30 for 30% the regular price of $69.99 seemed OK for this smallish, portable curling brush. My unit is black, but it also comes in pink.
It sounds like a good tool, but definitely an add on to your other tools since it is less efficient. Excellent review, as always, Allison!
Lola Seicento recently posted…milk_shake moisture plus holiday duo for luscious locks
I wonder if this would work for me. I use a John Frieda electric brush on dry
hair if I want to get some curl or volume.
If your Frieda electric brush is doing a good job for you, then I’d say you’re all set. I needed something to give me a flip without a crease, and what really interested me was the fact that it’s portable – good for foreign travel 😉 My hair is so thick, however, I wish I could crank the heat a little more since I’m already using it at the highest level. I think for those with finer or less thick hair, it would work quite well.