How to Clean a Curling Iron With a Product You Wouldn’t Think to Use

My curling iron hasn’t been working as well lately, and obviously from the photos above, you can tell why. Yuck! I can’t believe that I even let my curling iron get that bad. The products I use on my hair have just crusted onto it. I thought about throwing it out and replacing it with a new one, but I decided that I should at least try to clean it first. After doing some research, I came across an unusual cleaning product that you wouldn’t even think to use–Liquid Fabric Softener! I know, I couldn’t believe it either! This is one of the least expensive, but most effective ways to clean a curling iron.

Now, keep in mind that cleaning a curling iron takes elbow grease to get it looking new again. But it will save you money because you won’t have to purchase a new one. Plus, if you clean it regularly, your curling iron will probably last longer. Here’s how I made my curling iron look new again:

1) Heat up the curling iron to where it’s warm, then turn it off.

2) Place liquid fabric softener on a soft cloth, then rub it all over the curling iron.

3) Use a toothbrush and/or your fingernails to scrub the curling iron.
Tip: Only do this for 10-15 minutes. I spent more than 30 minutes working on my curling iron, and wished I would have done the 4th step sooner. I also had to use a flat, hard plastic kitchen scraper that I knew wouldn’t damage my curling iron to help me with some of the difficult areas.

4) Rinse the curling iron with hot water.
By rinsing it with hot water and using a toothbrush, I was able to get those tough spots I’d been working on cleaned more quickly.

Additional Tips: During this process, I had to turn my curling iron on a few times to heat it up so that the crusted areas would come off more easily. Once it was heated up, I even poured a little liquid fabric softener on the curling iron and let it set for a few seconds. I noticed that this also helped the gunk to come off more easily.

Thanks to Studio 5 for this tip.