Blew out a curling iron in the middle of a perm set last Tuesday

I was working on a client in my little studio over on Elm Street here in Tucson, doing a spiral perm set, and right as I wrapped the last rod my curling iron just popped and sparked. It was one of those Hot Tools ones I've had for about 3 years, nothing fancy but it always worked fine. The client freaked out a little, jumped right out of the chair. I had to finish the perm with a backup iron that barely held temp, and the curls came out way looser than I promised. Now I'm gonna check all my tools every morning before anyone sits down, because that could have burned someone's scalp or worse. Has anyone else had a tool just die on you mid-service like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

riley431mo ago

Woah, that's rough. Honestly I've had clippers just die mid haircut and it throws your whole flow off. My fix was buying a cheap backup of every tool I use regularly and keeping them in a drawer, just in case.

daniel_martin1mo ago

Isn't it a bit much to buy a whole backup for one bad haircut, @riley43?

patricia5581mo agoProlific Poster

My old salon manager back in 2011 had a flat iron blow a fuse right as she was doing a keratin treatment on a bride. The bride's hair was half done and the backup iron was a different plate size. She had to call her sister to bring her own iron from home, which took 45 minutes. That's where I learned to keep a duffle bag with one backup of every heated tool I own, labeled with the date I bought each one. Nobody talks about how two different irons will give you two completely different results on the same head of hair. Your loose curls might not be your fault honestly, it could be that backup iron wasn't hitting the same temperature zones.