About six months ago I was picked to trial and review the Babyliss Micro Crimper, before it arrived I didn't think it was going to be anything too exciting as I'm just old enough to remember the vile crimped hairstyles of the 80s. Not old enough to have them though! I thought I'd end up trying it, passing it onto my daughter and eventually Ebaying it after re-understanding that crimping should never be back in fashion.

It's been a brilliant gadget though. Not the sort of thing I'd use all the time because it's a bit more time consuming than I'd like, but between me and my two oldest daughters I'd say we use it at least twice a week between us.

The idea of the Micro Crimper is to give your hair volume from the roots, its also known as a Root Boost but that makes the name ridiculously awkward to say! It has a slim crimping plate which you use at the very root of your hair, this will crimp that section of hair and provide a more volumous base to layer your hair over. It is suitable for all thicknesses of hair, mine is quite average thickness but does lack volume due to how long I keep it.

The Micro Crimper has three heat settings, you're supposed to pick the setting which will suit your hair the best. Let's be honest though, most of us girls go for the highest heat straight away when it comes to styling gadgets. Stuff the burned straw-like hair, we're all about saving time in the morning! It doesn't take long to heat up and once they are at the correct temperature the crimping is very fast, a few seconds is all it takes to do one section of hair and it's much easier to do than it looked on the instruction video sent to me at the time of the trial.

How you use it is up to the look you're trying to create. My very long hair means volume really stands out, that means I only tend to bother when I'm getting tarted up for a night out. The tousled look doesn't suit me so I don't crimp many sections of my hair and keep within my natural layers, for a lightly volumised look just crimp lightly around the roots at the crown of your head but you can do more for a sexier just-got-out-of-bed-with-the-boss look. For my hair type (and non-style) I straighten my hair first with the GHDs and then crimp as close to my scalp as possible, the top section of my hair will obviously be left un-crimped and styled with mousse for even more volume. The trick is not to either over straighten, or over crimp.

Tonight I watched my fourteen year old daughter use the Micro Crimpers and the effect is much more pronounced and natural on her shorter hair. She didn't bother straightening her hair and crimped a larger area, it took quite a long time but it looked absolutely brilliant and still does hours later. That's an excellent thing about Root Boost, the effects are very long lasting. I wash my hair every morning due to the length of it, but wish I could get out of the habit as my hair looks perfectly volumised when I get out of bed after using this gadget and it's a shame to wash the effect out!

The plates seem to be gentle on my hair, I don't use any heat protection spray and although they heat up to an impressive 200 degrees they don't leave my hair dry or stressed. The crimps themselves are very narrow as the plates are just 15mm, you're advised to crimp each section twice but I can't see the need for that as they are effective enough to work perfectly the first time providing you're not trying to do too thick a section at once.

There's a knack to the Micro Crimpers, holding them feels different to holding a set of straightners or curling tongs but once you've got your hand and wrist into the correct position it'll become second nature. I remember writing exactly that when reviewing the Micro Crimpers for the survey site who had sent them to me, and also saying that within a week of owning them I'd got the knack and have never looked back.

The cord is well designed, it's two metres long and swivels where it touches the Micro Crimpers. This is good news as I'm not much of a hairdresser so it allows me to get into the weird positions and angles I need to access the back of my hair. My curling tongs don't have a swivel cord and I'm always getting myself wrapped up and burning myself thanks to having my hands or arm (or even neck!) restricted by the cord! There's an easy to operate power switch, with the Micro Crimpers also having the safety restriction of turning off after being on for 72 minutes. Although honestly, a product that heats up to 200 degrees could easily burn your house down well within 72 minutes so try not to rely on that!

This is one of the nicest freebies I've ever had. I didn't actually realise how new the product was and am even happier now! The effect the Micro Crimper has on my hair is fantastic, and even though I don't use it every day (or even every week) I'm happy to give it cupboard space as when I'm having a night out it's nice to be able to spend some time on my hair rather than just washing and blow drying it. The crimping holds well even without using a root volumising spray, although you can get a more dramatic effect if you can also be bothered with using styling products.

£37.99 from Amazon.