I Tried This Tiktok-Famous Curling Iron — & My Hair Has Never Looked Better

When it comes to my hair, I tend to live by the mantra "less is more." I have naturally thick tresses, so I often just let genetics do the heavy lifting in my daily routine. However, due to my mixed-race ethnicity, my texture is neither straight nor wavy and very prone to frizz. While most days I roll out of bed, brush my hair, and that's it, I love how my hair looks when I actually take time to style it properly — and I just found the tool of my dreams in Mermade's Pro Hair Waver, which has been making waves (heh) on TikTok and Instagram.

I hadn’t heard of the Australian beauty brand before, but after seeing model Josephine Skriver try the hero tool on Instagram, I knew I had to try it out ASAP. I was obsessed with how her hair looked; it was so effortlessly chic and tousled! I usually curl my hair with my tapered T3 wand or GHD curling iron, so trying out a triple-barrel iron was a new experience for me, but the jumbo size actually makes styling your hair faster. Think of it like a giant, much chicer crimping iron. Because of its size, however, I noticed that the Mermade was significantly heavier than any other tool I’ve used, so that’s something to know going into it if your upper body strength is... lacking. 

The Mermade Pro Hair Waver (which is also available in black, BTW) came with some standard features that I'd expect from any premium styling tool, like a rotating cord that allowed it to move along as I did different sections of my hair and a grippy clamp to ensure that no slips happen while styling. (It also arrived with a pink protective glove for you to avoid any burns, but since I live dangerously I opted out.) The waver took less than a minute to heat up to 350°F, but it goes all the way up to 410°F if you’re hardcore like that. 

You can section your hair with clips if you have the time, but I usually skip that step because #lazy. Instead, I began by taking a small section of my hair and gently pressing it in the iron from the mid-lengths down. (I don’t like to start waves right at the crown, and prefer to leave the ends straight for a more natural, cool-girl kind of vibe.) I’m not the best — but also not the worst! — when it comes to styling my own hair, but even I was surprised at how easy it was to use the Mermade waver. I have a *lot* of hair and it usually takes me around 15 minutes to do my entire head. However, because I was able to spend less time maneuvering the iron — the design literally allows you to just clamp sections and keep moving — it took me maybe five minutes to do my whole head. That’s unheard of. With the Mermade waver, all I needed to do was to feed my hair into the barrels, leave it for a few seconds, and carefully open the clamp and remove the iron so as to not disturb the shape of the wave I just created. It truly couldn't be easier.

After I was done styling my hair with the Mermade, I added a tiny bit of Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray for hold and finished it with a quick hit of Verb Dry Oil Mist just to soften things up a little bit and tame flyaways. The overall finish is definitely more of a subtle wave, so if you’re looking for big, bouncy curls or very defined ringlets, the Mermade is not the tool for you. Due to like the size and weight, this is also something I probably wouldn’t travel with, but for at-home use, it’s definitely going to be one of the first ones I reach for. Not only did it achieve the style I wanted, but the fact that it took a fraction of the time was truly a game-changer. (A full range of Mermade styling and hair care products is currently in the works.) At $79, the Pro Hair Waver is certainly not inexpensive, but solidly clocks in at way less than comparable luxury styling tools on the market. (For reference, my T3 is $180, and my GHD is $200. I won't be commenting on how expensive my Dyson tools are at this time.) For all of these reasons, I'm beyond impressed with Mermade and am personally already looking forward to inspiring hair envy on iPhone screens everywhere.