When it comes to the safety of you and your home you can never be too careful. Sometimes the smallest risks turn out to hold the biggest threat, either because people don't realize they're dangerous or because they're aware of the risk but they grow careless over time. That's why it's so important that you learn the fundamentals of curling iron safety before beginning to swirl and twirl with your own iron, and to continue to follow these safety guidelines whether you've been curling your hair for two days or twenty years.

Personal Safety

The fundamentals of curling iron safety revolve around the fact that curling irons get hot. Really hot. And they have electricity flowing through them at all times. These two factors combined mean that the biggest threat you face from curling irons are burns, shocks and fires. Fires are the biggest problem you have to worry about with curling irons, but before launching into a spiel on effective curling iron safety for fire prevention let's talk about personal safety habits.

Always hold the professional curling iron far enough away from your head that it's not going to strike your scalp if your hand wiggles a little bit (thank goodness the 'fro is out of style!) and with enough distance that the heat it radiates isn't going to do the deed before the barrel can even come in contact with skin. Grip the handle firmly, and resist the urge to press runaway hairs down onto the iron while curling. This is an excellent way to get your fingers singed.

Never curl your hair in a wet area. The average curling iron gives off twenty watts of heat and has over 100 volts of energy flowing through it, both of which make it a bad candidate for an intimate friendship with the puddle of water on your sink. Sinks, bathtubs and kitchen counters are prime gathering grounds for water droplets, and the results when they come into contact with your curling iron can be electrifying-and not in a good way.

Fire Safety

Every year professional rescue teams are called to the scene to put out fires caused by careless curlers, which is why fire safety is vitally important if you're going to be using a professional curling iron. Check consistently to ensure that your iron is in good repair, without any exposed wires or unpredictable temperature changes. If something seems a little "off", dispose of the iron (or brush, or hot rollers, or whatever you do to put some verve back in your hair) immediately. It's easier to replace a $50 curling iron than a $200,000 house.

The first rule of professional curling iron safety you'll ever learn is to make sure the curling iron is unplugged when you're not using it. Allowing electricity to continue to flow through it makes it vulnerable to retaining heat, which means you might plop a towel on top of an iron that is "off" only to turn around and see it smoking moments later! Speaking of smoking towels, you also want to make sure you give your curling iron plenty of time to cool before sticking it back on the shelf. Curling irons can retain heat for up to an hour after they've been unplugged, and it only takes a smidgen of heat to set a linen closet (complete with cleaning supplies) ablaze in a matter of moments.

Curling iron safety is something most of us take for granted, but it's the moment we let down our guard that disaster strikes. Don't let it happen to you.

I have tried many curling irons for my unruly, hard to manage hair and I have found the Hot Tools Curling Iron to be one of the best. Here are some of the pros and cons that everyone in my group of friends agree with although they have each used different sizes of this same product.

The Hot Tools Curling Iron comes in a variety of barrel sizes ranging from 3/4 to 2 inches making it perfect for all hair lengths. The smallest 3/4 inch barrel is perfect shorter or thin hair. Once you set the hair, the tighter curls last all day. The 2 inch barrel is great for hard to tame hair specially if you have a lot of it and it's thick and long. The barrel is not only large but can grab a lot of more hair at one time so it doesn't take forever to style. One of my friends with long hair even uses it to straighten - not bone straight - but to get good volume & fullness. Depending on your hair length and texture I am sure one of the seven sizes offered will work fine for you. I also really like the shiny, smooth, fullness I have been able to achieve.

This curling iron does heat up fast, in about a minute, and stays at the set temperature all the while you style your hair. There are up to ten different temperature settings which is perfect to handle all types of hair. It does get very hot so I would recommend you start at a lower temperature to determine what works best for your hair type. If you are new to this type of tool, you should know that for thin, fine, damaged or chemically treated hair lower settings are best but for thick, coarse or ethic hair you may need to go up to the extra high settings. The high settings are hotter than an oven at about 430F so watch out for burns specially around the hairline and ears.

The soft grip handle is comfortable and the 24K gold plated barrel moves smoothly through the hair and does not tug or pull. I found the clip that holds the hair to have enough tension to hold your hair properly. The long 8 foot cord is great to have because you are able to style your whole head in a comfortable position. Short cords was the one thing I found most annoying in other curling irons.

One problem with these curling irons is that the springs that hold the clip wear away in time and the tension lessens allowing hair to slip out of the clip. I am guessing the manufacturer must have realized this after customer complaints because now they give you two extra springs when you buy this product. The springs are not very hard to replace.

Although I have been very happy with my Hot Tools Curling Iron, I do, on occasion, try other brands to make sure I am not missing out on some great products that will magically make my bad hair days go away. Here's wishing you great, healthy hair.