Something Good, Something Great
The difference between “good” and “great” in the product design of curling irons
I recently upgraded the curling iron I’ve had for 7 years. At the time of purchase, my first curling iron was quite an investment for me. I did a lot of research and knew that the Jose Eber curling iron was exactly what I wanted/needed before taking the plunge. I am not one to spend a lot of money on beauty products but since since my friend worked at a hair tools company and can give me a discount, I thought, why not. Time for an upgrade!
Before we get started, a little background about me and my hair. I have incredibly thick, straight hair. Some parts of my hair have some wave, but my hair is pin straight for the most part. It took me a great deal of experimentation to figure out how achieve the long lusted “beach waves” look, but I found that clipless ceramic curling irons have given me the best results. For this reason, this review will focus on the hardware and usability of the product and not the results, as I’ve been able to achieve the same look with both products.
So let’s begin!
Something Good
Product: Jose Eber 19mm Clipless Curling Iron
Price: $125
Owned Since: December 2009
Specs: 19mm (3/4") clipless barrel, tourmaline ceramic barrel
The Set
The Features
Why It’s Not “Great”
There are a couple issues I have with this curling iron.
The first is the on/off switch. The symbols “O” (IEC 5008a) and “I” (IEC 5007a) don’t really mean anything to me. Although it is an IEC/ISO standard, I much prefer the use of IEC 5009a or IEC 5010a for power on/off. The main indicator I use to determine whether or not the curling iron is on/off is the green light on the switch itself.
The problem is the on/off switch is a rocker switch. Rocker switches are commonly used in light switches. A rocker switch has an angled plane, meaning that a part of the switch is always elevated to distinguish the different states.
This switch design is problematic in conjunction with the lack of stands or feet for the curling iron. Because of the lack of feet, there is no ideal way of placing the curling iron when not in use. The curling iron would often roll over when idle and turn itself off. It is also easy for the user to place the curling iron upside down onto the switch.
I would also argue that the design of the “tangle-free” cord is not the best. As you can see from the images above, the peg connecting the cord is “L”-shaped. Sometimes, the shape of the peg would cause the cord to unravel, which then causes the curling iron to roll over and turn itself off. An improvement is to have the cord directly appended to the curling iron base, without the awkward “L”-shaped connector.
Additionally, this curling iron did not come with any accessories other than the glove. For storage and protection, I use an old sock. The glove is nice, especially since we are dealing with clipless curling, but a storage bag would have made the experience seamless from end-to-end.
Something Great
Product: T3 Micro Undone Waves Clipless Barrel with the T3 Micro Whirl Convertible
Price: $85 (for the barrel)+ $185 (for the base). The total is $270 for the set.
Owned Since: January 2017
Specs: 26mm (1") clipless barrel, tourmaline ceramic barrel
Full Disclosure: I actually got the Undone Waves Barrel and Whirl Convertible as a part of the T3 Micro Whirl Trio Set (pictured below). But for all intensive purposes, we will only be reviewing the Undone Waves Barrel/Whirl Convertible combination as its size and structure is the most similar to the Jose Eber curling iron.
The Set
The Features
Why It’s “Great”
Not only is the T3 Micro curling iron cute and girly, it is also thoughtfully designed with the user in mind.
In addition to the curling iron having feet, one must hold the on/off button to turn the instrument off. This is a much better solution than the Jose Eber curling iron, because we don’t have have to worry about the curling iron rolling around and inadvertently turning itself off. The tangle-free cord in the T3 Micro is also an improvement from Jose Eber’s “L”-shaped cord. The cord is simple and attaches directly into the base of the curling iron.
I also love the experience of turning the curling iron on. The glowing, cascading lights are pleasant to look at and cleverly indicate when the curling iron is is heating up and turns solid when it is ready.
I don’t necessarily care for heat settings, because I find that once you find a setting that you like, you tend to stick with that setting, but having the option is definitely nice. This would be a great instrument if you are working at a salon and constantly needing to readjust the heat setting between clients.
The detachable head is also incredibly easy to use. The guiding pegs make attaching the head intuitive and the iconography is clear and legible.
Let’s not forget the accessories! Outside of the curling iron barrels and base, I also received a storage bag, a glove, a heat pad to protect table surfaces, and even a cord organizer stamped with the “T3” logo.
Even the storage bag was thoughtfully designed and includes pockets so the base and different barrels are protected. With the full set all packed up, there is still room to fit a brush or a small bottle of hairspray, which will make traveling a breeze.
Room for Improvement
“Design is thinking for improvement, forever.”
— M. Cobanli
Figuring out how to change the heat setting took some time for me. To do that, you need to double-click the power button, and use one click to cycle through the power settings. You are supposed to stop when you reach the desired setting. After pausing for a bit, the lights will start to glimmer to adjust to the new heat setting. For me, double-clicking then clicking to choose is not incredibly intuitive. I also don’t like how I don’t get any feedback when the temperature is set. Perhaps, this is a good place to include a haptic or auditory feedback.
Also, I don’t really like the name of the product. “Undone Waves” is a nice description of what sort of look you can accomplish with the tool, but I much prefer Jose Eber’s straightforward naming convention. Including the barrel dimensions in the name is always handy and I did not particularly enjoy digging for that information on the T3 Micro website.
And last but not least, there is much room for improvement for the T3 Micro website. While looking at the T3 Micro Undone Waves Clipless Barrel page, I had a hard time grasping what I was looking. The varying typography makes the page difficult to process and the information is not well organized. I remembered when I was first looking at the site and figuring out which curling iron to get, I almost ordered the barrel without the Whirl Converter. I think that this page would benefit from a link to the Whirl Converter (or other products) and some sort of alert that notifies the user that the Whirl Converter is needed if only the barrel is added to cart.
Conclusion
Overall, the flaws in the Jose Eber curling iron are mild annoyances. The Jose Eber curling iron does the job with it’s simplistic and straightforward design. Despite the issues highlighted in the article, users can easily work around those pain points.
The T3 Micro curling iron is sleek, easy to use, and addresses the usability issues the Jose Eber curling iron presents. I like the detachable head and all the different accessories the T3 Micro set comes with. I absolutely love how everything feels like a part of the same family, which is a sense I didn’t really get with the Jose Eber brand. If you notice, everything in the T3 Micro set agrees with the black, white, and rose gold color palette. User-provided sock aside, the Jose Eber curling iron is black, dark blue, and green and comes with a glove that is black with a pink trim. By introducing a new color, pink, it makes the glove and the Jose Eber curling iron feel disjointed.
But greatness comes with a cost, and the T3 Micro set (clip and base) is a whopping $270, while the Jose Eber curling iron is less than half the price, at only $125. I personally am not sure if I would have bought the Whirl Trio set had I not received a fat discount (thanks Brianna!), so if the price is a sticking point for you, then the Jose Eber curling iron is good enough.
