Flat Iron Advice
I’d like to ask some advice, PRODUCT advice, from my female readers with curly or wavy hair. Maya is interested in getting a flat iron, and we’re considering it as a possible birthday gift. My hair is so stick straight and flat, I have zero experience in the flat iron world, so I thought I might ask you guys. I mean, I can read reviews online any day, but advice from real live people that I know and trust is even better. So, here are my questions.
- Does price matter? I’ve seen them from $20 to $200. I know that sometimes, spending more is worth it, because you get what you pay for. Other times, spending more is just, well, spending more.
- What should I look for in a flat iron? What are good features? Ceramic? Are they all ceramic?
- Anyone tried the “wet to dry” flat irons? Maya showers in the morning, so this would be nice. Does it fry your hair? Does it take 10 times as long?
- Speaking of time, how long does it take to flat iron your hair, if it’s thick and maybe bra-strap length?
Any and all advice would be very much appreciated. Those of you with straight hair, or no hair, feel free to ignore this post. Unless you just happen to know because you’re a hair dresser, your sister uses one, your wife, your mom, daughter, brother, whomever. Thanks!
15 Comments
apathy lounge
Price does not matter (within reason) if you can afford it. And also if it works and makes you look or feel good.
Jenny (your cuz)
Yes price does matter and you do want a ceramic one. I personally own a $200 professional salon quality one, my hair dresser purchased for me. It gets hot as 400 degrees, and can fry your hair if you dont know what your doing. You MUST use flat iron oil spritz in the hair before you flat iron, to protect the hair. Some people dont realize this, partly because they buy cheap ones that dont get hot. My advice, by a medium price range one, by a 1/2″ to 1″ width, so she can curl with it too. It takes about 30 minutes to do thick hair but it MUST be completely dry. The hotter you get it the faster it will straighten. She might want to start washing her hair at night so it is dry in the morning. If you buy a really cheap/low temp one it will not completely flatten your hair, it will be frizzyish and take MUCH longer to do. Hope this helps 🙂
Cherry
My hair stylist said to get a ceramic one if I got one at all. She uses one on my hair even though it’s pretty straight to smooth it out and sometimes to flip the ends.
I ended up getting a cheapish one, it does what I need but of course I don’t have the long, thick, wavy hair of Miss Maya. Oh, and I totally notice a difference in the end product between my crap Revlon one and the fancy one my stylist uses, or maybe that’s just the difference between me not knowing what I’m doing and her.
Sunshine
I started with a $20 Revlon one from K-Mart and I was like…yeah, whatever, it works.
Then I got one $160 retail from a salon (from a hair friend who tells me the truth and won’t make me buy stuff that is a waste) and seriously, I CAN tell the difference. The salon one kicks the Revlon one’s ass.
HOWEVER, the $140 difference is something that is a personal choice. As for me, I have to occasionally be on TV and I didn’t want those little hair lines from the crappy flat iron or hair erections going on. Just flat, smooth hair.
J
“Hair erections”? Sunshine, you crack me up!
hellomelissa
after doing drugstore brands for a few years, i bought a chi flat iron– about $80– from overstock.com. i absolutely adore it, and it keeps my hair straight even in some amount of dampness or humidity.
after straightening, i use a drop of pomade like pureology’s texture twist or rusk’d being undressed for control and shine.
good luck!
Autumn's Mom
I would see what kind of time she’s thinking of investing in straightening her hair before buying anything. Autumn showers and flattens at night (prolly about 1/2 hour including blow dry) and just has to do touch ups in the morning. Because her hair is pretty wavy, she will need some sort of spritzer to use while flat ironing. I would definitely check overstock.com or other places like that. Maybe even see if they sell anything at the beauty college. Has she ever gotten her hair flat ironed at the beauty college? It’s good to see how it’s supposed to be done. Have fun!
Donna
One advantage of having a son…you wash the hair, you cut the hair. 🙂 I think taking her to the beauty college where you get your coloring done and have them show her is a great idea. At least she’ll know what she’s getting into time and effort-wise and will definitely learn some handy tips. 🙂
Starshine
I agree with hellomelissa. I LOVE my Chi flat iron! It makes a big difference–ceramic is the way to go. And believe it or not, I can straighten or curl my hair with it!
My only complaint with the Chi is that I keep dropping them on tile floors and they break. I’m on the 3rd on right now. Clumsy me!
They do get hot and she’ll need to practice a little bit, but it’s not hard to learn. To avoid frying my hair, I put some hair lotion on my DRY hair before I flat iron.
Yea, Maya!
clickmom
I have straight hair too, but I can tell you that my curly haired SIL did both herself and my niece’s curly hair one day and the two of them walked in with hair that looked like they had steamed open some serious split ends on every single strand. I shut my mouth and didn’t say a thing.
Judy
I’ll agree on the ceramic, but I just couldn’t stomach the thought of buying one of those pricy Chi irons. So I bought a Revlon ceramic at the grocery store and it’s working fine for me.
One product my hairdresser recommended that I LOVE is a spray-on leave-in conditioner called Shuga. I buy it at the salon, but I think if you Google it, you might find it online. It helps protect the hair but doesn’t leave any icky residue.
My hair is thick and about shoulder length and it takes me about 15 minutes to iron it.
ShortWoman
I know this is not what you want to hear on this thread.
I’ve got curly hair, and pretty much have since puberty. My advice is to learn to love it the way it is. Ok, I color it (I find redheads sexy, and why shouldn’t I turn myself on?). I keep it close to jaw length, so the curls are more manageable and I spend less time if I blowdry. At one point I did grow out a 13″ ponytail, and the weight pretty much kept it from curling too much.
THAT BEING SAID, my dad used to sell beauty supplies to salons. I think if he were alive to comment on this, he would advise that there is a certain minimum quality level you want, but you don’t necessarily need the high-end pro-quality tool if you are not working in a salon.
If I were in your place, I would head over to a site like Amazon that has lots of user reviews and see what other people have to say about the various products in the middle price range. That darn middle-path is still the best way to go….
V-Grrrl
I have curly hair, was a teen in the 70s when everyone wanted hair like Cher and straightening irons didn’t exist. How much time did I waste trying to change my amazingly beautiful curly auburn hair?
I didn’t use hair products on my hair until I was nearly 30! The best thing I ever did for my hair is To Let It Be. No blow drying, no scrunching, I wash, condition, and let it air dry, occasionally using a bit of mousse.
I get compliments on my hair ALL THE TIME.
So I’m with ShortWoman, encourage Maya to embrace her gorgeous waves, set them free with some layering, maybe let her use some product to get a piecey look, but discourage, if you can, the desire to straighten her hair.
rachel
im going to sound completely biased here…i did an infomercial for the instyler hair wand. i was one of the hair models. i have really really curly thick hair. i had my hair done for the shoot with the the product. i dont own one. i just experienced it on set. it straightened my hair. the thing was good. not a whole lot works on my hair. they gave me no money for saying this and i didnt even get a free wand! i gotta buy one like everyone else. lol. but, i think its a good product and it works better than all the things i have here. i will get it one day, but, in the meantime, i thought i would share this info with my fellow curly hair buds.
BiblioMom
You certainly want a ceramic one but I live on a pretty tight budget being a single Mom and all and I also can’t live without a flat iron. I have naturally straight hair myself but a flat iron just makes it so much more shiny and pretty. I think that the last flat iron I purchased a couple of months ago was about $30. I thin that given her age you don’t really want to spend upwards of $200 right off the bat. If I had $200 to spend on myself I’d buy an iPod touch not a flat iron. Happy flattening!