Abstract: A hair styling curler including a handle supporting an electrically heated barrel and having a manually pivotal curling clamp is provided with a safety device for preventing burns. The safety device includes a plurality of spaced non-heat conductive ribs carried on the surface of the clamp remote from the barrel which are cooperate with corresponding plurality of radially extending non-heat conductive ribs carried on the outer surface of the barrel to define a plurality of spaced annuli completely circumscribing the barrel and which prevent contact of the heated barrel by the user yet allow hair contact with the heated barrel between adjacent annuli for imparting a curl thereto. The spaced ribs on the barrel are interconnected by tracks to form a unitary assembly which is mounted on the barrel by insertion of the tracks into complementary trackways formed on the outer surface of the barrel and accessible by a removable end cap on the barrel end distal from the handle.