We Tried Various Heatless Curl Methods, But One Was By Far the Best

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If one hair concern is front of mind for many of us, it's heat damage. Thankfully, heatless curl methods are the perfect way to add curls and waves to your lengths without damaging your hair from hot tools such as curling wands, hot brushes, and hair multistylers. As a beauty editor, I'm often testing the newest hair tools. While I'm diligent with my heat protection spray, damage from regular hair tool use can be inevitable, especially if you're using it every day. And with spring finally here, now feels like an apt time to throw down our hair tools and embrace some heatless curl methods.

Search on TikTok for heatless curls and you'll be met with thousands of videos on countless different heatless curl methods, with people using them overnight (or even on flights) to reveal a bouncy blowout come morning. Some involve wrapping your hair around a curling ribbon to set your lengths into curls, while others are using socks or a dressing gown tie (yes, really) or heatless rollers to add volume and bounce without stepping foot near a hair tool.

However, while heatless curls are great for keeping your hair healthy, they can be a bit of a faff. They can be fiddly, uncomfortable to sleep in, and I'm a little bit sceptical of just how good the results are IRL compared to the seamingly perfect results you see on TikTok. This is why I enlisted the help of the Who What Wear UK team to each road test a different heatless curl method to find out the best heatless curl method—and we're sharing our findings.

How We Tested

Over the past month, we each traded in our hot tools and tested a different heatless curl method each, including a heatless curling ribbon, curling rods, Velcro rollers and an air dry cream in lieu of heat styling. We've each shown our before and afters of the heatless curls, as well as sharing our honest reviews on how easy they were to use and how we rated our results. Scroll ahead to see which of the heatless curl methods came out on top.

The Best Heatless Curl Methods, Tried & Tested

Curling Ribbon

Rating: 8/10

Hold: 9/10

Comfort while sleeping: 8/10

How it works: This silk curling ribbon is secured at the top of the head with a clip so that you can wrap your hair around on either side before securing with a scrunchie.

Our verdict: "As someone with dead-straight, kind-of-thick hair, I always wished I had curlier lengths. Over the years, I’ve tried a lot of different ways to achieve this and was intrigued to try out heatless curls as an alternative to traditional hot tools," says Who What Wear UK affiliates manager, Jerrylyn Saguiped.

Silke’s Heatless Curler offers a solution that promises zero damage but all the staying power. The kit consists of a soft curling rod, two silk hairbands and a clip. Clipping the rod to the top of your head, you can then wrap your hair around each end, securing with the silky bands. It sounds more complicated than it is, and surprisingly really comfortable! I tried this with damp hair, and slept with it overnight with no issues (you may need to sleep on your back if you’re a side sleeper though).

When I first took the rod out in the morning, the curls were super defined and I was initially worried with how strong they were, but they did drop throughout the day leaving me with beautiful blow-out style waves. I didn’t apply any product, and found that the curls lasted two days—way longer than I’ve ever had with my normal curling tong.

At £42, this is on the pricier side of heatless curlers and while you can for sure find cheaper options, the 100% pure silk is better for your hair and likely has a role to play in the staying power. I’ve actually found myself reaching for this heatless curler more often than my hairdryer lately, so I’d say it’s worth the money, especially for anyone who prefers ‘lazy’ hair styling!"

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Curling Rods

Rating: 7/10

Hold: 8/10

Comfort while sleeping: 6/10

How it works: You wrap a section of your hair around each curling rod and twist the two ends together to secure them into place. They can be used overnight or during the day to help create long-lasting heatless curls.

Our verdict: "All I want in life is to have hair with some texture that will hold some waves and curls, but no matter what I seem to do, the curl will fall out the first chance it gets," says Who What Wear UK ecom analyst, Sophie Cookson. "I’ve got long, fine, thin hair where I normally need a dry shampoo or salt spray to add some texture. You name the tools, I’ve tried it—heated curls, curling with straighteners, the Dyson Airwrap, a mermaid waver (I got the best results from this!), but never heatless curls. So, I was excited to see what sort of effect it would have.

Full disclosure, I had to try the Kitsch Flexi Rods a couple of times to get some bouncy curls, but I was really pleasantly surprised with the results. There wasn’t much guidance on the packaging on how to best use the rods, so I took to TikTok to see the different techniques. I saw the best results when I sectioned my practically dry hair into three sections, curled them around the rod and then secured them at the back of my hair. After a disastrous attempt with hair mousse, I opted to use the Sam McKnight Modern Hairspray Multi-Tasking Styling Mist (£26), which held the product well while I was wrapping it around the hair.

The whole process was quick and easy to use. While trying this technique, I used it during the day for four hours while I worked from home, since the first time I slept in the curling rods, I had a terrible sleep. There is no really comfortable way to sleep in the rods if they are at the back of your head. However, I would recommend sleeping on a soft, flat pillow rather than a couple of firmer pillows.

I was really happy with the results. It looked like I had come out of the salon with a voluminous blow-dry and it lasted all night, which I was impressed with. The price of the rods is extremely reasonable, in my opinion. You can just keep reusing them again and again without having to replace them. I was impressed that they managed to maintain the curl for an extended period, as well as the ease of use of the product and the price. I can’t ignore how uncomfortable the rods were to sleep in, but this would be the same no matter what brand you were looking to purchase, and you can get around this by just using it throughout the day."

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Velcro Rollers

Rating: 6/10

Hold: 6/10

Comfort while sleeping: 3/10

How it works: Designed to be used on damp or dry hair, you can use Velcro rollers to create volume and bounce through your lengths. They're traditionally used with the heat from your hairdryer to set hair into place, but you can use them without any heat to add some subtle shape and volume to your hair.

Our verdict: "I have thick hair and a lot of it, so I rely a lot on curling wands to achieve a long-lasting curl," says Who What Wear UK beauty editor, Eleanor Vousden. "I've used heated rollers before and was curious to find out how using Velcro rollers—without heat—would fare on my long hair. Typically, my slightly wavy hair holds a style quite well. But, I'll be honest, I didn't have the highest of expectations that using rollers without any heat would work for me. My hair is currently very long (I'm overdue for a haircut) with minimal layers right now, so I went in knowing my hair might just be too heavy to hold a Velcro curl, especially without using any heat.

The Mermade Hair Velcro Roller Kit (£12) comes with six medium-sized Velcro rollers and six clips housed in a neat storage bag. The brand advises using a two-inch section of hair for each roller. I decided to use mine on freshly washed, dry hair. I found the six rollers covered half of my head, so if you have long or thick hair, you might want to buy a second set to do your whole head. I used some spare rollers I had to fill in the gaps, spraying each section with a touch of hairspray before rolling and securing it in place with the grips. I left the rollers in for 20 minutes to let them set into place.

When it came to taking out the rollers, I was left with a soft, volumised curl through my lengths. They were bouncier towards the front of my face (where I have some face-framing layers), but at the back of my head, where my hair is one length, I was left with a flick just at the ends. The kind of haircut you have will determine how bouncy your results will be, so if you have shorter or mid-length hair that's layered—or if you have a fringe—these rollers will give you great results. If you have longer hair without many layers, the outcome will be more subtle.

The rollers don't have much give to them, so I would advise against sleeping in these, as they would just be too uncomfortable to wear. However, if you need a quick hit of volume and have 15 minutes to spare during the day, these rollers are a great way to achieve a bouncy look without taking too much effort and time or resulting in using heat. The grips in this kit secured the rollers in place well, too, without any of them sliding out of my hair. While the rollers added a noticeable shine to my hair, I found using them without any heat meant that my style dropped quite quickly over a couple of hours. For that reason, I'll be trying them after blow-drying my hair to see if that helps with their longevity."

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Air Dry Cream

Rating: 7/10

Hold: 6/10

Comfort while sleeping: 10/10

How it works: Air dry creams are applied to damp hair to enhance your hair's natural texture, enhancing definition while adding hold as your hair dries naturally.

Our verdict: "I have a complicated relationship with my natural hair. I have no idea what my curl or wave pattern is, but if I just leave it alone after washing it goes frizzy, 'puffy' and generally looks untamed (plus, I have straighter ends than my mid-lengths), which is why I put so much heat on it day-to-day," says Who What Wear UK copy editor, Georgia Seago.

"That being said, when I’m on holiday and I let it dry air-dry fresh from the sea, my texture can look really pretty, beachy and not too wild. So, part of me wants to figure out my texture and how to work with it so I can wear my natural curls and love them, but it seems like a lot of effort. JVN’s Complete Air Dry Cream (£24) is a nice shortcut if you want to see what your hair’s like when you just leave it alone. It’s formulated to define curls and waves whilst smoothing, providing heat protection and giving buildable hold, with a promise of no crunchy-feeling hair. I used it on towel-dried hair (using a microfibre towel) and smoothed a decent amount through my lengths before scrunching it in.

After letting it dry, I have mixed thoughts. It definitely helped bring out my hair texture—I have proper curls that are springy and defined—but the results aren’t consistent throughout my hair, and overall, it’s pretty frizzy and “big”. This isn’t the product’s fault though; I think I’d need to invest in properly prepping my hair for air-drying and read up on some other curly/wavy hair techniques to get the best results.

I hear this product is also great for slicked-back styles, and it contains ingredients to moisturise the hair and minimise damage, so it’s one I’ll come back to for sure and I’ll be taking it on holiday with me this summer."

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