Hair Straighteners What you need to know before you buy.

You will no doubt find it amongst your Hair Stylists professional tools as a Hair Straightener is quickly becoming one of the most popular styling tools and a must have on every girls list. Also referred to as a flat iron or hair iron this is one tool that is underestimated by most. This handy tool is not just for straightening curly or wavy hair but used to curl, wave, flip and smooth hair as well!

How to Choose a Hair Straightener
There are a few things to take into consideration when choosing a hair flat iron. There are many brands with various price tags and not all hair irons work the same. Sure, they all have one goal in common; to straighten hair, yet if your hair flat iron does not get hot enough the results will be very disappointing. Take the following into consideration when choosing a hair iron;

1. Adjustable temperature setting-

Recommended Temperature
Normal Hair 360-380 F (180C - 190C Celsius)
Very coarse, thick, curly or ethnic hair 380-410 F (190C - 210C Celsius)
Bleached, fragile, damaged or fine hair Below 360F (180C Celsius)

1. Ceramic or Tourmaline Plates-

Be aware of some hair flat irons as they may claim to be ceramic or tourmaline plates yet the truth is most are made from aluminum and have a coat of paint on them. Eventually this coating will wear off and this can cause damage to your hair by pulling and snagging.

1. Plate size-

Depending on your hairs texture and length plate size varies.
Recommended Plate Size
Very coarse, thick, curly and Long (below shoulder) - 1.5 to 3 inch plates
Very coarse, thick, curly and medium length - 1.5 to 2 inch plates
Very coarse, thick, curly and short - 1.25 inch plates
Normal, long - 1.25 to 2 inch plates
Normal, medium - 1 to 1.5 inch plates
Normal, short - 1 or 1.25 inch plates
Fine, thin hair, any length - 1 to 1.5 inch plates

Something to keep in mind with plate size is if the plates are narrow the more you will be able to do with your flat iron such as curl, wave and flip hair.
Your next consideration in choosing a hair iron is deciding between a consumer brand (like what you’d find at the drugstore) or professional hair straightener iron.

A major difference can be the heating element used in the flat iron. A professional iron will maintain a constant temperature not only making styling hair much faster but causing less damage to your hair as well. With a consumer brand they usually run on a cheap PTC heater which does not maintain a constant temperature which in return leaves you going over and over your hair causing more damage. A professional hair iron will cost you more but will be worth it in the long run as it will last you much longer and give you better results overall.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 3:06 pm and is filed under Cosmetology beauty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.