I bought my InStyler at Target for roughly 90 dollars on sale. That's actually one of the less expensive prices I've seen for this. I've seen these sold for 120 dollars or more, and I believe that it was normally 100 at Target. My InStyler came with the heat guard (shown attached to the InStyler in the picture above on the right), a heat resistant countertop mat, and some instructions on how to use it.
The InStyler Wet 2 Dry has 3 heat settings (high, medium, low). The instructions suggest that "low" should be used for fine hair, "medium" should be used for thin to medium hair, and "high" should be used for thick hair. It also says that for wet hair, the high setting should be used.
Pre-use Impressions: I have thin/fine hair and was extremely skeptical about the "low" setting being able to adequately do anything to my hair. I was also really skeptical about how well this could straighten/curl wet hair. Upon reading the user manual, it does suggest to towel dry hair before use, which seems to defeat the purpose of the "wet 2 dry" feature. The instructions also suggest that when it's used on wet hair, you should do two passes with the InStyler- one to dry, and the other to style, which seems like it adds more of a hassle.
One of my bigger concerns was that nearly every video I saw about it highlighted the ability to curl under or flip it out. But really, who styles their hair like that anymore? I get annoyed when, throughout the day, my hair starts to curl under or flip out, so I was hopeful that the InStyler would be able to straighten without any sort of flip.
Also, as an aside, I'm a bit curious as to who thought that "wet 2 dry" was good branding. Maybe they thought it reinforced that the InStyler could be used for both straightening and curling? I'm not sure, but I think it seems dumb.
I used the InStyler both on my dry hair and on my wet hair, both curling and straightening, and these are the results.
Dry:
Although the instructions said to use low heat on fine/thin hair, I used medium because I figured that it wouldn't do that great.
I straightened my hair on the "medium" setting, and this was the result. I actually did two passes with the InStyler because I went a little faster with it than it suggested. I was glad that I was able to straighten it all the way to the tip, rather than it curling under or flipping out.
I was really unimpressed with the "curl" I got with the InStyler. I tried multiple times, keeping it clamped for varying lengths of time, and these were the best curls I could get. Clearly, it did do something to my hair, but it's literally just one little wave.
Wet:
For wet, I used the high setting, per suggestion of the instructions.
I used damp hair to do my "wet" comparisons. I feel like my hair looks about the same. The only difference is that it took a little longer since drying was involved. I also think that my hair seemed a bit more fluffy when it was straightened while dry, but that's more of a preference thing rather than quality.
It was really difficult to get it to curl when wet. My first curl failed, so my hair was partially dry before doing the curl that is pictured above. While the curl is better than the dry one, it doesn't curl as evenly, especially at the tips.
Difficulties and concerns: In general, I found it very difficult to curl my hair. The bristles make it hard to get the hair all the way around and close the clamp. I was really concerned about burning my fingers every time I tried curling. I feel like both wands and clamping irons are easier to use. The bristles were also problematic because they got stuck in the hair, so when I tried to get the curl loose, it messed up the curl. Another concern was that when it was wet, this weird smell came off of my hair. This may be because I have my hair dyed, but it was a concern. There was a lot of steam rising when I used it on wet hair, but the instructions said this was just because of the water evaporating quickly. My hair didn't seem to be damaged, so it seems like this is nothing to be concerned about.
Overall: I think that the InStyler Wet 2 Dry is great for straightening, both wet and dry. It saved me time and worked better than my current straightener. Also, the heat guard made it easy to use as a straightener without burning myself. However, curling was difficult whether using wet or dry. The bristles got in the way a lot and it would be easier just to use a wand curler. Although I wasn't impressed by the curl I got while it was dry, I feel like someone with longer hair might get a more pleasant result.
Bottom Line: Impressive for straightening, underwhelming for curling.
I hope you enjoyed my review of the InStyler Wet 2 Dry! Let me know in the comments what you thought of the review, if you want to know more info about the product, or what your experiences are with the InStyler. If you want to see more from me, don't forget to check out my other blogs, The CDs On My Shelf, (where each post is about a random CD I own) and One Day Tumblr Challenges (where I do Tumblr challenges in a single day)!
