If I want poker straight hair then I use my hair straighteners (obviously!) However, straight can be boring and I have always wanted to be able to dry my own hair so that my natural curls look nice and pretty - not frizzy! Anyway, one lazy Sunday afternoon, as I was idely flicking through the new Argos catalogue I stumbled upon a bright pink page advertising lots of Carmen products. It was like a young teenager's heaven! Ok, now I know that I'm 25 now, but I'm making up for the damage caused by my Wild Woman of Borneo look that defined me in the early '90's! So, this heavenly pink page was great and best of all it had curling tongs! The unfortunate thing was that I had no money to speak of, although these are very cheap at £19.99 (you can get them cheaper if you shop around). Christmas was just around the corner so I put a request in with Santa Claus and I knew I had been a good girl all year, so I was quietly confident that I would have myself a very curly Christmas....and I did!

The tongs are are quite large but extremely light weight. The plastic handle is a pale pink colour with a grey on/off switch. The handle also has a lip around it which act as feet for when the tong is on but not in use. Then you've got a grey lever. You press this to lift the end up and release it to grip once you have placed the end of your section of hair underneath it. This lever also has arrows on it to show you which direction you need to be twisting your hair! I know that may sound like a silly thing to mention but they are very useful little arrows! Another handy feature is the red dot on the end of the lever which basically acts as your temperature guide. When the dot turns from red to brown you are good to go! Then you have got the 'barrel' section (the bit you wrap around) which is in a hot pink colour and is made from ceramic which means that it's apparently more gentle on the hair, although from my experience of using ceramic hair straighteners, this is not the case - I have the split ends to prove it! Now, this barrel also has raised, grey plastic 'guides' spiralling around the length of it so that you can twist your hair around it evenly - this is a great feature as allows consistency with the size of your curls. It definitely helps me! At the very top of the barrel you have a clear plastic removeable 'reservoir' which you fill with water before plugging the appliance in. This is another great design - you just wrap your hair around the barrel between the guides and press the top of the spring loaded reservoir 2 to 3 times during the 30 seconds or so that you keep your hair gripped. This then releases steam so you can set the curls but I find it better with a bit of hairspray afterwards, especially if you are going out for a day or if you have got a long night out ahead of you!

The main positive factor about this item is that it's so cheap in comparison to some of the others on the market, mainly because it's aimed at younger girlies and isn't endorsed by a famous hairdresser. If you are thinking of investing in a set of curling tongs don't discard these just because they are cheap and therefore possibly, well rubbish! They actually seem to be made from fairly robust plastic. Well, they would have to be for me; I'm quite clumsy and always dropping things. My little Angel has been a drop victim twice now! Both times on my slate bathroom floor and it's still in one piece! I also realise that some consumers may think that the tongs won't be as effective because they're cheap. Well, I can't really comment on other makes and models as these are the only ones I have ever used. But in my opinion, they are pretty darn good!