This Year, All the Teens Want a Wavytalk Thermal Brush
Every year, there’s a buzzy new product that every teenage girl puts on her holiday wish list. Last year, it was all about Rhode (specifically, the Peptide Lip Tint). The year before that, we saw the rise (and fall) of White Fox sweatshirts. And the year before that, it was Stanley tumblers. There are always some hair tools in the mix, too, and while it’s usually the Dyson AirWrap and Shark gadgets that get the “Most Wanted” asterisk on the list, this year it seems there’s a new (to teens) contender: the Wavytalk blowout brush.
Founded in 2021 as an affordable option for at-home hairstyling, Waytalk has since made cheaper versions of every hair tool on the spectrum, from a $219 version of the AirWrap to a $60 hair-crimping iron. In 2024, the brand became the official hair-tool sponsor of Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour, and it has only continued to grow. In the last year or so, it has expanded into skin-care devices, with a $100 LED mask and $279 micro-current device, and it even made its own heat protectant. Still, nothing seems capable of overshadowing the blowout brush, which turned the brand into a household name — or, at least, a high-school-hallway name.
The brush comes in two versions, a 1.5-inch and 1.75-inch barrel, which are ideal for short-to-medium hair and medium-to-long hair, respectively. They’re especially popular on TikTok Shop where, at the time of writing, Wavytalk has sold 1.4 million of the 1.5-inch brushes. Over the past several months, the thermal brush has been coming up in my conversations with teens, and I’ve noticed it climbing on the “Top 100 Trending” list on Giftful, Gen Z’s favorite wish-list-making app. I’ve been curious to see if the brush is actually worth the hype, so I put it to the test. My honest thoughts, below.
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What comes in the box
Each box includes the device itself along with two solidly mediocre hair clips for heat styling. If you’re planning to gift this to someone, I recommend adding on a claw clip or other hair sectioning clip with more grip.
How it performed on my medium-length wavy hair
I tried both sizes of the thermal brush, but I found the 1.75-inch version worked best on my medium-length, medium-textured hair. It takes more patience than other pricier thermal brushes I’ve tried, like my go-to brush from Calista, but I haven’t found a better thermal brush for the price than the Wavytalk.
With patience, it delivers a sleek, bouncy blowout, but its most impressive feature is decreasing frizz thanks to the brush’s negative ion technology. Ionic stylers like these emit negative ions to seal the hair cuticle, which makes thicker hair look sleek, and thinner hair lose its body, according to our beauty writer, Krista Bennett DeMaio. My hair naturally dries wavy with some frizz, and no matter how carefully I blow out my hair with my Shark FlexStyle or T3 hair dryer, I can never seem to tame the frizz completely. When I use the Wavytalk, though, all that frizz disappears for at least 24 hours — or until I wash my hair. Since my hair isn’t quite thick or thin, I haven’t had any trouble maintaining volume either.
A few tips for learning how to use it
It’s worth noting that you should dry your hair before using the thermal brush, which doesn’t blow out hot air like a blow-dryer brush. (Air drying and heat drying are both fine.) Instead, the brush heats the bristles and ceramic barrel to one of five temperatures that range from 300 to 420 degrees. Wavytalk recommends using the 360- or 390-degree settings on wavy hair like mine, but I’ve been preferring the latter, which helps my stubbornish hair better hold the loose curl the brush creates. The Wavytalk is most effective when working with small sections of hair, so I recommend working from the bottom up with two or three inches’ worth of hair at a time. Small sections like these prevent hair from getting tangled around the brush. It also helps create stronger curls that pop with the help of my layers.
While styling each section, I typically go through three steps. First, I put the brush underneath the section and rotate it while moving outward (as in, away from my head). Then I’ll put the brush on top of the hair and repeat the same motion. These two steps typically eliminate any frizz and waviness from my hair while the next step is when the actual curl happens. To get the bounce in your bouncy blowout, you’ll want to place the brush below the section again, brush it out to the end, and roll it inward, so all the hair is wrapped around the brush. Then I’ll hold it for 10 to 15 seconds and spray some hair spray if I’m looking for more pronounced curls. There are plenty of tutorials online for tweens and teens learning how to style their hair for the first time, but the learning curve is relatively small.
Who I think it’s the ideal gift for
If your teen already has, say, a Dyson AirWrap or Shark FlexStyle, they probably don’t need a Wavytalk. But if they’re a hair newbie asking for a Dyson or a Shark, I’d recommend getting them a Wavytalk brush instead. When you factor in heat protectants and hair sprays, learning how to style your hair is an expensive journey, and it’s best to start with an affordable heat tool during the learning process — especially if you’re only planning to use it every once in a while. The Wavytalk is ideal for figuring out the basics, like creating a curl and giving your hair volume. And for girls with frizzy hair like me, it’s a quick way to make your hair shine before a long day in the classroom. I wish I had a tool like this when I was in high school.
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I use this hair spray from Olaplex whenever I want an especially bouncy blowout to hold.
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Gisou’s nice-smelling hair oil double as a heat protectant (and it's one of our favorites).
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As DeMaio says, “No technique necessary for perfect curls.”
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A Wavytalk-priced blowout brush.
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