Having fairly long hair and being bored off the permanent GHD'd look that I seem to have been sporting for the last decade I decided I needed some curls! My hair is naturally wavy but that's about the extent of it - wavy - not luscious bouncy curls, just kinks really! My in-laws always struggle with ideas for my birthday so I opted for asking for some curling tongs as I knew they were reasonably priced and didn't feel too cheeky asking for them. I had meant curling tongs, however I had to hide my disappointment when I opened the present and I had received some Babyliss curlers! I sound very ungrateful, but I thought I knew exactly what it was I was opening and when it was something different I was surprised!

When I first started to use the curlers, I was so glad I had been bought them instead of the tongs. I had only used tongs once but the curls it produced were much tighter than the ones from the curlers. The barrel of the curlers is 38mm and made of titanium-ceramic which means it gives lovely big and bouncy curls, perfect for a naturally curly look for long hair. I'm not sure how well they would work for mid length or short hair but for mine which is past my shoulders, they are perfect.

The cable for the curlers is really long which is an added bonus for me, as my mirror (which is wall mounted) is quite far away from the nearest socket and I hate it when electrical items such as hair dryers etc have a short cable. In fact they are so long, they almost feel like they have come straight out of a salon (but for the price they obviously haven't!).

The curlers work much like hair straighteners, in that you switch them on and they heat up, however the thing I liked with these is the option to change the heat setting - something which you don't have the option to do with my GHD's, which I find frustrating sometimes when I don't think they need to be quite as hot. The highest setting is 200°C and the lowest is 50°C and is changed up or down by buttons on the handle. They take quite a while to heat up - probably around 1 minute. I find the temperature changing option quite useful as I have really thick hair but when my friend came round recently to get ready for a night out, she asked if I would curl her hair for her. She has really thin hair (! The total opposite to mine) and didn't need such a high heat setting which would just ruin her hair.

One thing to note with these curlers is hair must be totally dry throughout. I once made the mistake of having a quick shower, drying my hair with the hairdryer and not checking it all the way through. My hair fizzed against the heat and then just looked greasy and limp for the rest of the evening - not a good look!

As with most curling tongs that I have used, the curls don't seem to last all that long so I would say if you are going to invest in some of these curling tongs, you buy some decent hairspray at the same time! I have found that the Garnier Bamboo hold works well with curls as they hold their strength but don't go rock hard and have fluidity with movement. When using the curlers, I use clips to separate my hair into sections and then curl each section of my hair after giving it a really good brush. You have to make sure that you are getting the amount of hair right, etc as once you've curled it you can't brush it again and this will obviously brush out the curl and just make it wavy. You only need to hold the curlers in place for 10 - 15 seconds to give it the best result, and I always use a heat protection spray before using curlers (and straighteners for that matter).

You can choose whether you want tight colours, looser curls or wavy hair with these curlers and I always opt for looser curls as my hair is just too thick to pull off tighter ones. To do this you tilt the curlers to one side rather than holding them straight. The barrel is made from Nano-titanium ceramic which makes your hair shiny and frizz free.

You can pick these up for anywhere between £15 and £20 and they come with a three year guarantee. For the low price, they are excellent value and although there are better curlers out there, they are also much more expensive. These are good value for the occasional user.