Bombshell Ceramic Thermal Round Brush — 33mm

The narrowest ceramic barrel, and the tightest shape the range makes. A narrow barrel wraps a section harder, so the bend comes out smaller and springier. Short hair, a fringe, layers, and root lift.

It is also the barrel to reach for on the parts of a longer head the wide brushes cannot sit against cleanly — around the face, the sides, the short pieces at the front. Plenty of people with long hair own this alongside a 53mm for exactly that reason.

What it will not do is smooth a long section. There is not enough width to stretch length straight, so if flat and polished is what you want, the 53mm is the barrel.

How it is measured

The 33mm is the barrel itself, engraved on the end of the brush, which is how thermal brushes are sized. That is not the same convention as the wooden round brushes in this range — those are measured bristle tip to bristle tip. Do not compare the two numbers directly.

Ceramic does the opposite of wood

A birch barrel stays cool, so the hair only ever meets one heat source. A ceramic barrel is designed to take heat from the dryer and hold it, and the section sets in the shape it cools in — the same reason a pressed shirt keeps its crease.

That is also why it settles frizz. Heat softens the bonds inside the hair while the section is wrapped and under tension, and the shape it holds is the shape it had when it cooled.

Neither material is better. They are two tools for two jobs, and anybody telling you otherwise is selling something.

How it is built

The barrel and the ferrule are moulded in one piece. No collar, no glue, and therefore no seam at the neck — which is exactly where round brushes usually snag and where they usually fail.

Vented right through, so the dryer air reaches the section instead of going around it.

How to use it

Dry down to slightly damp first. Damp hair is malleable; dry and cool, it is already set and you are only fighting it.

Take small sections to match the barrel. Wind the section round rather than laying it across — at this width that is the point of the brush, and it is how you set a curl or a bend instead of just drying the hair flat.

Let each section cool completely before you release it. The shape is set by the shape it was in when it cooled, not by how hot it got. A curl that drops was still warm when you let go.

Looking after it

Clear the shed hair from the base of the bristles regularly. Hair left sitting there works the bristles loose, and a narrow barrel packs with hair faster than a wide one.

Wash it through with shampoo and water if you use it daily, and let it dry before you put it away.

Where it came from

Peter Louis spent twenty-three years behind a chair in Manhattan — a salon on 57th Street, and years of blowouts before that, nine in the morning until ten at night. A supplier would bring a sample, it got used on clients, and it went back with a list of what was still wrong. That went on for years until one came back right.