Right, the TYMO CURLPRO has been following me around the internet for long enough.
Apparently, curling your own hair is now meant to be ridiculously easy. No awkward wrist gymnastics, no trying to work out which direction you're supposed to turn the bloody thing, and hopefully no sacrificing a chunk of hair in the process.
Sounds fabulous.
But before we all go handing over our money, I found it some competition.
What TYMO is promising
The CURLPRO is an automatic rotating curler designed to do most of the tricky bit for you. Feed in a section of hair, choose your direction and it wraps the hair around the heated barrel.
One of its biggest selling points is its anti-tangle technology. If the curler detects resistance, it's designed to stop and reverse rather than continuing to wind your hair in.
And this is one claim that actually seems to have some substance behind it.
Recent CURLPRO owners specifically report that the anti-tangle system has stopped and unwound when hair snagged, while several people who say they're hopeless with ordinary curling irons describe the TYMO as considerably easier to use.
That's a much more useful selling point to me than flashy marketing.
But what about those curls?
Here's where I'd keep my expectations sensible.
An automatic curler can make the process of curling easier. It can't magically change how well your particular hair holds a curl.
Fine, very straight or curl-resistant hair may still need the right preparation, smaller sections and styling product. Even among recent TYMO users, experiences aren't identical — one owner with fine hair reported that her hair simply wasn't cooperating, while others reported excellent hold.
So if you've seen claims suggesting your curls could hang around for days:
Seven days? Yeah… let's not get carried away.
Your hair clearly wasn't consulted by the marketing department.
I compared it with the VS Sassoon Curl Secret
I didn't want to compare TYMO with a completely different styling tool and declare a winner.
That's not particularly useful.
The fairer comparison is another automatic curler designed to solve essentially the same problem, so I looked at the VS Sassoon Curl Secret Ceramic Auto Curler.
And VS Sassoon absolutely deserves to be in the conversation.
The current Curl Secret has already attracted positive verified-purchase feedback for ease of use and curl longevity.
But there's an important difference in the broader customer experience.
Across the Curl Secret series, ProductReview currently shows an overall 3.6/5 from 148 reviews, with Ease of Use scoring 4.2/5. So plenty of people clearly find these machines easy and effective.
At the same time, there are also reports of hair tangling, particularly when too much hair is put into the chamber. Other owners say that once they learned the correct technique and used smaller sections, it became straightforward.
So this isn't a case of TYMO brilliant, VS Sassoon rubbish.
It isn't.
Where VS Sassoon has the edge
The VS Sassoon gives you more control over your heat.
That's worth paying attention to — particularly if your hair is fine, fragile, colour-treated or simply doesn't need maximum heat blasted at it.
And that's exactly why I don't compare products by saying five settings beats three.
The useful question is:
What do those settings actually let you do?
More temperature control can genuinely matter if you want to use the lowest effective heat on your hair.
So if that level of control is high on your priority list, VS Sassoon has a real advantage.
Where TYMO wins it for me
Simplicity.
That's really the point of this product.
If you're perfectly capable of creating gorgeous curls with an ordinary curling iron, I'm not convinced you need another appliance taking up space in the bathroom.
But if doing the back of your own head makes you question your understanding of basic human anatomy, TYMO starts making considerably more sense.
The recent owner feedback around its anti-tangle mechanism is particularly encouraging, and that's important with any tool that's automatically wrapping your hair around a heated barrel.
It's not promising to turn you into a hairdresser.
It's making curling your own hair easier.
And that is the reason I'd buy it.
Stevie's Verdict
WORTH IT ✓
For the right person, yes.
I'd choose the TYMO CURLPRO if you struggle with conventional curling irons and want something simple that takes most of the technique out of curling your own hair.
I'd look harder at the VS Sassoon Curl Secret if having more control over your heat is particularly important to you.
And I would not buy the TYMO because you're expecting miracle curls that last all week.
Buy it because you want curling your own hair to be easier.
That's a much better reason.
Want the TYMO CURLPRO?
There's currently 20% off through my TYMO link.
[SHOP TYMO CURLPRO — 20% OFF]
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