hair tools Archives » Beauty Skeptic

Sock Bun Maker / Sock Bun Ring

June 25, 2018 by Beauty Skeptic

This legacy post has been given a facelift! Content and opinions are the same; I still use this product!

Ah, the sock bun – the easy, lazy way of pretending you’re a put-together person on days where you roll out of bed twenty minutes late. (Read: Every day of my life.) Or, even when you get up on time and:

don’t want your hair in your face
don’t want to wear a ponytail
can’t do a french twist and…

For being a lazy fix and something that is trendy, I actually think sock buns are cute. Sky, falling, etc. This sock bun ring is similar to the As Seen on TV Product, “Hot Buns,” but I haven’t tried that specific one.

Sock Bun Maker

My hair does not naturally come into a nice bun. Layers don’t tend to like that nonsense. Even when my hair is a uniform length, I just can’t create a neat bun on my own. I tried to do a sock bun with an actual sock and failed spectacularly. I sought help, but…not too hard. I can’t for the life of me recall what brand this one is, but I can tell you I picked it up at on a whim TJ Maxx for all of $2. Yeah, not a typo, two dollars. I figured it could either be an excellent $2 investment–or, if not, I paid what a vending machine at work charges for an energy drink!

Worth it? MiroPure Straightening Brush

August 25, 2020February 2, 2018 by Beauty Skeptic

MiroPure Straightening Brush, $40

No matter what I seem to do, I can’t seem to bring myself to stick with consistently styling my hair. I’m not particularly good at it. I like sleep more than I like fiddling with my hair first thing in the morning, and that often means my hair isn’t as smooth and visually tidy as I’d like. Late last year I became aware of thermal straightening brushes and shared my initial thoughts in November. Since, the MiroPure Straightening Brush arrived and I’ve used it more times than I can count.

First, we’ll get into how straightening brushes work, then to my review.

How do Straightening Brushes Work?

All brushes are designed a little differently (here’s a Dafni, for instance), but the core concept is the same. The back plate of the brush (analogous to the cushion area) is heated just like the plates of a flat iron. Likewise most or all of the, “bristles,” or, “teeth,” are constructed of or surrounded by that same plate material and are heated.

On Straightening Brushes

February 16, 2023November 24, 2017 by Beauty Skeptic

straightening brushes

I am lazy to a fault when it comes to styling my hair. On a given day, if there is a part of my professional appearance that has, “opportunity,” it is my hair. I don’t think it is ever appalling or flat-out unprofessional, but it isn’t consistently good, either. It lives in an octopus jaw clip a lot when I’m in the zone. I won’t apologize for this decidedly non-chic choice; it is functional. It saves me on, “nice,” and, “not-so-nice,” hair days alike when I tire of my hair falling forward one-too-many times. Emphasis on the not-so-nice days, though.

I Should Get Over It

It isn’t that hard to smooth the hair. It takes way less effort than curling it does! I realized I can get more mileage between washes when I blow-dry. To say nothing of my curling apparatuses, here’s what I’ve got:

This inexpensive, albeit effective blow dryer.
These also-inexpensive hot rollers that I really love. They’re lovely for volume, smoothing, and big curls depending on how you use them. I am an idiot – every time I use them I ask myself, “Why don’t you do this at least once a week?!”
I actually have two flat irons:
- This Hot Tools iron that I bought in 2016.
- And also this Wazor one that my husband surprised me with this summer (I’m still evaluating it).

Even when I intend to dry it properly, I sometimes leave my hair in a post-shower twist too long and the juice of the dryer isn’t worth the effort of the squeeze. So then I have weird hair for a bit. I could straighten it, but meh.

Straightening Brushes & Hype

Hair Appliance Arsenal

May 20, 2016December 4, 2015 by Beauty Skeptic

It’s no secret that I’m fairly inept when it comes to hairstyling. Fairly might be generous, even. Sometimes, I get the idea that I can do things to my hair. Sometimes it comes out alright. Here’s what comprises my Hair Appliance Arsenal. Don’t worry – I’m not going to tell you that you need a $400 NuMe set.

This 1875 watt Conair dryer has been mentioned on the blog before – and although it’s an inexpensive model, it gets the job done for me. My hair is somewhere between medium and fine in texture, there’s a lot of it, and it’s long. It is lightweight, so I don’t find my arms tired before the work is done. This is the MVP of my hair appliance arsenal; even though I don’t particularly enjoy blow drying my hair, I hate having wet hair in the winter more…so it sees the most use.

I love my Hot Tools 1.25″ iron. It’s sturdy and reliable – heats quickly, works well, hasn’t ruined my hair. It’s fairly easy for me to use despite my embarrassingly low dexterity and whatnot. No buttons or internet in this guy, and that’s just fine – fewer components to get angry with you.

For my birthday, my husband got me this ISO 5P curling wand set with interchangeable barrels. It’s really cool, I’m just still a bit clumsy with it (but I’m getting better!). I wish the tips of the barrels were inert/cool-touch/not heated because I keep thinking to grab it like a classic iron (I’ve avoided injury so far, but I’m not confident I’ll remain so lucky). You ought to wear a heatproof glove with using this unless you’re really experienced with these – because even if you aren’t inclined to steady the wand by grabbing the end, you might brush your knuckles or something while twirling your hair around the barrel. Also, it takes a little while to heat up, so you do need to give yourself some extra time.