L’Oreal Steampod 2.0 Straightener & Styler
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This is my review of the L’Oreal Steampod 2.0, a hair tool that uses steam to straighten and style your hair faster, leaving a smoother and glossier finish than what you would achieve with a regular straightener. Out of all the beauty and grooming sectors, haircare is where I spend most of my money. From GhDs to chemical treatments, I’ve tried it all and I am very nit-picker and meticulous when it comes to my hair, so I will admit I am a bit of a tough customer to please in this area. Although I was quite sceptical at first, I am impressed by the Steampod! If you want to find out whether I think they are better than my GhD straighteners and worth the price tag, keep reading.

ABOUT MY HAIR

My natural hair is quite frizzy and curly, but because I prefer the way I look with straight hair, I have a Brazilian Blow-dry Treatment done every few months to keep it straight. It’s been well over a year since my last touch up because of pregnancy and breastfeeding, and at the time these pictures were taken, my hair was the curliest and frizziest it’s been in years. Although it’s pretty much all natural and very long, it’s quite healthy at the moment, so I’m chuffed about that. I have since redone my Brazilian Blow-dry Treatment, but I wanted to show the effectiveness of the Steampod on very frizzy and curly hair. I will talk more my straightening treatment on a separate blog post.

WHAT IS THE L’OREAL STEAMPOD?

It’s a hair styler tool powered by steam, which is mainly used for straightening hair, but it can also do loose waves and curls. The original Steampod was developed back in 2011 by L’Oreal Professionnel in partnership with Rowenta Salon Electricals, and the Steampod 2.0, launched in 2015 comes with improvements, such as a water demineralisation filtration system, five temperature settings (140-210 degrees celsius), anodised floating plates, and it is smaller and lighter than the original Steampod. It has a removable comb, which helps to detangle and leave the hair feeling smoother.

HOW DOES THE STEAMPOD WORK?

According to L’Oreal, ‘the Steampod uses a continuous flow of high pressure steam’ to straighten and style the hair, leaving a smooth and glossy finish. L’Oreal also claims that results using the Steampod are up to 50% smoother and 50% faster than a regular straightener. The water in pod is heated up to create steam, which then passes through the cord to the straightener. The steam comes out through steam output in the straightener and into the hair. The use of steam opens up the cuticles in the hair, which allows for the heat and nourishing products to penetrate deeper, hence the Steampod will keep your hair straighter for longer and because steam is a form of indirect heat, it’s gentler than regular straighteners on the hair.

L’OREAL STEAMPOD BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES

The pictures speak for themselves! The texture, the shine, the smoothness – it’s all so swish and dreamy, if I may say so myself. I’m in love!

I wasn’t sure if I was brave enough to share pictures of my natural hair, but in the end I decided it was worth it for the ‘after’ pictures. As silly as it sounds, I really don’t like the way I look with curly hair, as I don’t feel it truly represents my overall look, and although I am a lot more confident within myself now to not let things like that define me, since my teens I’ve not been seen out with my hair in its natural form. I think curly hair looks beautiful on other people, just not on me, so I prefer to wear it straight.

HOW TO USE THE STEAMPOD

Once it’s heated up to the temperature you selected, you will hear a distinctive sound of short steam bursts, much like a conventional steam iron that we use for our clothes. Make sure to hold the straightener following the directions of the arrows on the outside (with the comb at the bottom), that way the steam comes in contact with the hair before the plates, then carry-on as you would with a regular straightener.

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The removable comb in the Steampod was a bit of a nuisance, at first. I found that I had to take extra care placing the straightener on my hair, so the comb wouldn’t get caught and tangle whilst straightening it. Also, when working with a large section of hair, the comb would struggle to get through all the hair at once. I ended up removing the comb to see if I would prefer using the Steampod without it, but I felt that my hair was much softer and shinier when I used the comb, so I took a few minutes to get used to it and now it doesn’t bother me that much anymore. I would recommend detangling your hair thoroughly before using the Steampod with the comb, especially if you have particularly knotty or curly hair.

DOES THE STEAMPOD WORK ON CURLY / FRIZZY HAIR?

I think the Steampod is the best hair straightener for curly hair, frizzy hair or hair that is thick and generally difficult to straighten. The results are the most immaculate looking I have seen, even on very curly hair. My hair stayed looking straight from roots to ends until the next wash, which these days with a baby to look after and no time for myself, is about once a week. With my GhDs, my hair usually starts to get frizzy and a bit curly at the roots and near the neck within 2 days.

HAIR TEXTURE AFTER STEAMPOD

The Steampod worked perfectly to create my favourite everyday hairstyle. I like my hair to be tame at the roots, with some loose curls at the ends, very smooth with plenty of movement, so I usually flick the ends of my hair inwards to create the loose bouncy curls. If I want even more movement, I run the Steampod straight down the roots, then I start to curl my hair from the middle to the ends by wrapping it around the Steampod and sliding the hair down.

The incredible smoothness and shine that the Steampod leaves behind is almost jaw-dropping unbelievable! My hair looks so healthy and swish that my husband won’t stop commenting on how beautiful my hair looks after I use the Steampod – major brownie points to the Steampod, just for that! :)

STRAIGHTENING TIME ON LONG CURLY HAIR

At the moment, it’s still taking me just as long as it takes with my GhD straightener (about 30-40 minutes) to straighten my whole head of hair, but the more I get used to the Steampod, the quicker I get. The best thing about the Steampod is that I don’t have to go through the same section of hair numerous times to get it perfectly straight. Even at the roots, where I’m the most perfectionist with getting it completely straight, I only run the Steampod twice on each section and I’m happy with the result. That is not the case with my GhD straightener, which as much as still love, I have to run it 3 or 4 times on each small section of hair to get to my standard of straightness.

STEAMPOD DESIGN & PORTABILITY

My biggest gripe with the Steampod is its size compared to regular straighteners, which makes it not so great for travelling or using on-the-go. For the sake of portability and quickness of use, I will still use my GhD straighteners, although definitely not as much as the Steampod. The fact that you have to pack the straightener and the pod itself, without breaking, is quite trick, especially because the pod lid doesn’t seal shut, so it can easily break. A couple of times I’ve forgotten to empty the pod tank and ended up spilling water everywhere when storing the Steampod. However, I do like that the pod has very strong suction cups at the bottom to attach it to a table or whatever surface you’re using, which means that when you’re using the Steampod, you won’t be dropping the pod full of water by pulling the cord.

L’OREAL STEAMPOD vs GHD STRAIGHTENERS

The Steampod is better than my GhD straighteners in all aspects, apart from portability. It leaves my hair looking shinier, feeling smoother and healthier, it feels much gentler on the hair, and it glides with ease. However, GhDs are much smaller, quicker to heat up and perfect for travelling or on-the-go touch-ups. I do understand that it is unrealistic for most people to own both a GhD Straightener and the Steampod, considering they are both over £100, so you will have to weigh the pros and cons for your personal needs. If you travel a lot, I would stick to GhDs, but if you’re planning on using a straightener as a regular haircare tool, especially if you have curly, frizzy or thick hair, I would go for the Steampod.

WHERE CAN I GET THE STEAMPOD & HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

The L’Oreal Steampod 2.0 is priced at £170, and it is currently available on Feelunique, Gorgeous Shop, AllBeauty, Lookfantastic and salons. I got mine from LookFantastic with £26.50 off the RRP price and a free hair brush set. They all deliver worldwide, apart from AllBeauty, which deliver to only to certain countries.

YOUR TOUGHTS & EXPERIENCES

I would love to know what you think and how you get on with the L’Oreal Steampod, so feel free to use the comments section below to ask questions, share your experiences and recommendations! Also, let me know what you think of my hair after using the Steampod and if you would like to see a video tutorial on how I created this hairstyle.

STEAMPOD VIDEO DEMO

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I decided to do a quick demonstration on camera of how I use the L’Oreal Steampod on my hair. On the video you can see the texture of my hair after it has been blast-dried with a hair dryer, and the after results of using the Steampod. Press the play button above or click here to watch my video demo.

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