Nicky Clarke NTS049 Hair Therapy Curling Tong

I bought this for my sister but ended up borrowing it so much I finally bought it again for myself. I love it. I do have naturally curly hair but 99% of the time the hair dries with the curls not sitting quite right, and/or really frizzy (1% of the time they dry perfect - this tends to be when I have no plans to go out and am housebound e.g. with the flu so no one can appreciate my hair behaving). These curlers are perfect for tidying it all up, reshaping the curls around my face to frame my face a little better and getting rid of the dreaded frizz! I think I only paid around £20 for these and have had them for around 3 years, so in my opinion, they are excellent value for money.

Bought these to replace my Wahl tong that had given up the ghost! Chose them for the name and its features. They heat rapidly and there are a range of temperatures to choose from. My hair is short, thick, straight and strong and they do a good job at 210C, even though the clamp doesn't grip as firmly as my old one. On the down side, they do take a long time to cool, so if you're on the move you'll need to purchase a heatproof pouch to carry it in. The handle is oval, rather than round; this makes it comfortable to hold, but when I place it onto the work surface during use, I find that I have to give the handle a slight flick in order for the cable to move into the correct angle for placement. If I don't do this, the cable doesn't move into the correct position and will cause the very hot tong to topple sideways, taking its stand with it, on placement. For this reason, I think the handle shape is not a good design feature, even though it is of pleasing appearance. It does a good job though, so am quite happy with it.

I was delighted with these when they first came, especially the temperature control, as I have very fine hair, so always used it on the lowest temperature. I also used a glove on the hand holding the hair, as I didn't want to burn the fingers holding the hair. However, after 18 months they started to spit and give out a chemical smell, and the temperature control seems to have stopped working as I get smoke/steam from my hair whenever I use them, so I've abandoned them. I don't think 20 months is good value, given what they cost. Problem is what to replace them with?

I have had this product just over one year and it has now become faulty. It was delivered on 30th January 2014 and became faulty on 17th February 2015. It keeps switching itself off when I am using it. I know it has a safety feature which switches it off after 60 minutes which is great but it is shutting down whilst in use so something is defective. I liked the product and will probably order another one but I am disappointed it has only lasted one year.

Not as easy to use as the Nicky Clarke tongs which they replaced that were over 7 years old, had been used daily and would still be going strong if I hadn't dropped them on a hard floor! The flex does not rotate easily like the previous pair and during use the power cable frequently twists which makes them quite difficult to use. Other than that a good pair of curling tongs with adjustable temperature contol and power cut off if you forget to switch them off.

Good buy, mine has hit the bathroom floor more times than I care to mention, the little plastic knob on the thumb bit finally gave up the ghost, but seeing as how the tongs work fine I have just put a cork from a wine bottle on the end, job done!

This is my third, the first purchased many years ago that had a cable that did not weigh a ton, second one had to return coz it conked out very quick, and had a very heavy cable. Third one still going, but again the cable is so heavy it unbalances the curler, and it is not easy to use. Cable is ridiculously heavy (probably EU regulations or something). I will not buy this product again.

I love these Nicky Clarke tongs. They heat up in next to no time. I would have scored them a five star had I not needed to replace the first pair due to the spring breaking. They were out of guarantee being over twelve months old but were only used about twice a week on short hair. Without the spring there is no tension to hold the hair making the tongs of no use. I am giving them another go by ordering a second pair and hoping the spring holds out this time and they last longer than the first one.