Abstract: A curling iron having a handle, a heated barrel rotatable relative to the handle, a spring loaded clamp, and a motor coupled between the handle and the barrel and rotating the barrel in at least one of two directions relative to the handle. A motor control switch that enables and disables the rotation of the barrel and a rotation sensor coupled to the motor control switch to sense the initial direction of rotation of the handle. A motor control circuit is coupled to the motor, the motor control switch, and the rotation sensor, and the motor control circuit causes the barrel to rotate in an initial direction after rotation of the barrel has been enabled and rotation of the handle has been detected. The motor control circuit can cause the barrel to stop rotating once rotation of the barrel has thereafter been disabled.