Do you utilize your curling iron quite often? If you do, you need to clean it as often as you can manage. Regularly used curling iron is going to have built up grimes on its surface. The accumulated grimes will make the surface felt sticky. You will not be able to curl your hair easily with it. In addition, the beauty tool will start emitting unpleasant odor overtime. That will affect your hair for sure. So, how to clean a curling iron in proper way?

There are plenty of ways to clean your electric curling tool. However, you need to ensure that whichever method that you are choosing will be able to cleanse the surface of your curling iron thoroughly. You should also ensure that you do not damage the surface of the tool because that would make your iron unable to yield good curling result. Improper cleaning may also damage the internal parts of your tool. It might make it unusable or even dangerous to use since it involves electricity.

You are going to learn how to clean a curling iron safely in the following part of this article. The great thing about method that you will find here is that you do not need elaborate tools and materials to do the cleaning.

 

How to Clean a Curling Iron: A Simple Guide

Before learning the steps on how to clean a curling iron, there are several things that you need to prepare beforehand. You need to prepare rubbing alcohol, warm water, clean rags, and old toothbrush. Those are the tools you can use in order to clean your beloved beauty tool. Let’s see the steps to perform the task below.

  1. Unplug the tool from electric source and ensure that the barrel has been cooled completely so it will not burn your hand during cleaning. Open the clam of your curling iron so you will be able to access the underside part.
  2. Wet a rag with water until damp then pour a small amount of rubbing alcohol on it.
  3. Run the rag all over the barrel in order to clean all the accumulated grimes on its surface.
  4. Some grime can be very stubborn because you have not cleaned your tool in long while. In this case, you are allowed to utilize used toothbrush that has been dipped in rubbing alcohol to brush off the grime.
  5. Once the grimes have been thoroughly cleansed from residues of the cleaning, take a new damp clean rag then wipe the barrel until you are left with very smooth and clean surface.
  6. Set the curling iron aside until it is completely dry then you can finally use it.

If you use your curling iron quite often, you need to perform this task regularly. Do not wait until the grimes have settled on the surface of your iron’s barrel.

 

The Alternatives to Rubbing Alcohol

As you can see in the method on how to clean a curlingiron above, rubbing alcohol becomes the main thing that you need to prepare. However, you may not always have it ready at hand. Sometimes, you need to make do with what you have in your household. Here are some alternative materials for curling iron cleaning that you can whip out really easily.

  1. Baking soda water mix

In order to create the mix, you need to make a paste out baking soda and few drops of tap water. The mixture should be thick and spreadable. This is the most effective alternative to rubbing alcohol since it can take off grimes easily. It is also applicable to ceramic barrel. However, you need to apply the paste thinly and rub it gently because it may corrode the surface of your barrel.

  1. Soapy water mix

Meanwhile, this particular mixture is great if you wash your beauty tool quite often so it does not require thorough cleansing. In order to make soapy water, you need to add one tablespoon of liquid softener into a quarter cup of water. It is enough to remove thin grimes on your barrel, and the risk of corrosion is lower because the mixture is quite gentle.

  1. Nail polish remover

Another great alternative on how to clean a curling iron without rubbing alcohol is by using alcohol based nail polish remover. It is also going to remove grimes from your barrel quite easily. The steps are not unlike the previous method which has been discussed previously.

 

Tips on Maintaining Your Curling Iron as Clean as Possible

Although the steps on how to clean a curling iron is pretty simple, some people might be lazy to set aside some time to do this task. However, it is something that everyone who uses this hair styling tool must do. You do not want to have dirt on your immaculately styled hair, don’t you? There are certain things that you can do in order to ensure that your curling iron stay as clean as possible without requiring thorough cleansing too often.

First, you need to make sure that your tool is not being plugged into power source continuously. There are people who spend really long time styling their hair and they plug their curling iron for the entirety of it, even if it is not needed. It is a habit that you need to change immediately because in addition to be hazardous, you accumulate grimes a lot faster that way. Another thing is that, you are setting up your tool for shorter shelf life. The internal parts would get damaged a lot easier with continuous electric charge.

The second thing that you are recommended on doing is wiping your curling iron right after you are using it. You do not even need complicated tools to do that. A clean rag and warm water will do the job wonderfully. You need to ensure that your tool is not plugged before doing this task. The barrel should not be piping hot as well. You should heed these two proper ways to utilize curling iron.

As you can see it is not that hard to clean your trusty hair styling tool. Maintaining it as clean as possible will not only result in impeccable hairstyle. It also extends your tool’s shelf life. Make sure you learn how to clean a curling iron properly.