Cloud Nine The O heated rollers September 2010
Heat rollers in just four seconds
The O is a new take on the humble heated roller, and it claims to offer the highest heat achievable for this hair-styling staple. The O, from Cloud Nine, is a £149 heating chamber that uses induction power to heat rollers, one at a time, in just four seconds each. We asked a Which? researcher to try it out to bring you this first look review.
Heated rollers use heat to boost hair volume and create waves – you put the hot rollers into your hair and then remove them when they’ve cooled down.
The O (£149) uses an innovative induction heating ‘pod’ to heat the rollers to 130°C in four seconds - the highest temperature you can achieve with a heated roller, according to Cloud Nine.
Induction technology uses electromagnetism to transfer energy between two elements. This means only the core of the roller is heated, rather than the surface of The O itself, and it also allows the rollers to be heated quickly to a high temperature. Because of this innovative technology, The O is only compatible with specially designed rollers.
The O is named after its hollow cylindrical shape. It’s compact (about the size of a pineapple) and has a generous 2m salon-length cord, but doesn’t come with rollers included.
Speedy heating
Unlike conventional heated rollers which take a few minutes to heat a full set, The O heats rollers one at a time. The O’s manufacturer claims it will ‘add instant shine and smoothness, and reduce frizz and crinkling around the ends’.
Rollers for The O are available in five sizes, in packs of four: 20mm (£15.95), 30mm (£15.95), 40mm (£17.95), 50mm (£18.95) and 60mm (£18.95). The O is only compatible with these specially designed rollers, as metal inside the rollers reacts with induction technology inside The O to become hot.
The manufacturer also claims that The O uses one seventh of the energy of traditional heated rollers, but we haven’t tested this claim.
Using The O
The O is ready to go pretty much instantly - just plug it in, turn the power switch on, and you can begin warming rollers straight away.
An electronic beep and LED light alert you when each roller is ready to use. The process is easy, but our tester thought the fact that each roller has to be heated individually could end up being more time consuming than conventional heated rollers - particularly for those with thicker hair or those using a large number of narrow rollers.
On the plus side, the whole chamber remains cool to the touch no matter how long it’s been on, and as the rollers are heated from the inside, they won’t scorch your fingers. The rollers grip hair well using a soft touch Velcro-style covering, which is not only kind to fingers, but also seemed tangle-proof. These self-gripping rollers are light and don’t need pins to hold them in place.
Our tester achieved good volume and a full head of loose waves using The O. The rollers seemed to hold heat well, continued to heat up after even after they were removed from The O, and the effects on straight hair lasted throughout the day.
A high price to pay?
This O does not come cheap, especially as rollers cost extra. Our researcher thought she’d need four to five packs of rollers to cover her medium thickness hair – so The O is likely to cost you at least £200.
To put this into context, a set of Babyliss ceramic heated rollers costs about £30 at Argos, while a conventional non-ceramic set costs £20.
Pros: Heats to a high temperature, creates good volume and waves, range of roller sizes available
Cons: Expensive, rollers treated one at a time means the heating process is hands-on, no on-board storage for rollers
