I am going to be traveling to England,Scotland and Wales this July and I was wondering if my blow dryer and curling irons from the states will work well over there or do I need to purchase special ones?

No they will not work. I have dual voltage appliances that I use. You will need to also have the adapter plug for England.

I found, years ago, that my converters didn't always work even when the instructions said they should.

So I just bought a curling iron in england and one in France (don't use them any more--I keep my hair short and easy now)and I found that all the places I stayed had hair dryers. This is easy enough to find out by sending an e-mail to your hotel (or B&B)if the web site doesn't offer this information.

Hi K,

>..wondering if my blow dryer and curling irons from the states will work well over there ...

If you are lucky, they will merely go up in smoke and trip all of the circuit breakers.

If you are not lucky, you will set fire to the hotel.

My Lady Wife has a dual-voltage, fold-up, travel hair dryer that works very well for her.

You will need the UK plug adapter.

many Stateside hairdryers and curling irons are dual voltage and will <i>work</i> (sorta) w/ just a plug adaptor.

But 1) many/most hotels provide hairdryers in the room or loaners. They have found that is much cheaper than having all these non-European hairdryers blow their circuits time after time.

2) a dual voltage dryer/iron will only work at its lowest settings

so 3) IMO it is better to buy an inexpensive curling iron after you are in the UK and rely on the hotels for hairdryers.

I have straight hair with zero body so I never go anywhere without my curling iron. I have never stayed in a European hotel that did not provide a hairdryer either on the wall or in the dresser. As Janisj said in her post most newer curling irons that you would purchase are dual voltage and just require a uk plug. I have never had a problem using my own except I do think that it gets a bit hotter than it does here at home.

You can visit voltagevalet.com for info on plugs, currents, etc.

Yes, you will most likely be able to use your curling iron with just an adaptor (not a converter) but you will DEFINITELY want to reduce the heat setting. Take it down to half of what you would use in the states and go from there. My first time abroad in college I went to London and singed off a section of my bangs. Now I've lived here for a year with my US irons with no troubles!
As the other posters said, though, make sure you have a dual voltage blowdryer. Most travel blowdryers I've used over the years are pretty crappy, but I got one at Brookstone a few years ago that I've been pretty happy with.

After we ruined our converter, we went to Boots and bought an inexpensive blow dryer. We stayed in hostels, most of which didn't have a dryer available, so it was a lifesaver for me.

At the end of the trip, we donated it to the Salisbury YHA hostel.

Lee Ann

We picked up a convertor at Woolworths in London for less than we purchased on at home which didn't work with their plugs. I had purchased the American Tourister set with all these options....will same for next time.