How to Choose a Flat Iron

 

 

How To Choose A Flat Iron

 

Imagine going to website and the website telling you exactly how you should go about finding the perfect flat iron for your hair type…

 

Imagine that you go through all the steps, follow all the tips and you buy one of the flat irons that is recommended…

 

Now picture yourself using that flat iron and being amazed at just how soft and silky smooth your hair feels now, all because you listened to the brilliant advice of some random blog that you found while researching flat irons.

 

Well, imagine no more. That random website is this one! I came up with a series of easy questions (or a formula if you will) showing you how to pick the best flat iron for your hair.

 

This guide is very simple to follow and will give you true insight on how to get one step closer to the hair of your dreams.

 

To find your perfect flat iron, ask yourself these four questions *write down your answers*:


1)  What is your hair type? Find your hair type on this website http://www.oldejamaicabeautyproducts.com/anwahaclsy.html.

2) What do you need your flat iron to do? For instance, do you want a flat iron that straightens and curls your hair?


3) What is your hair length? Short, long, medium


4) What is your hair texture? Coarse, Frizzy, Fine..

Now look at your answers

 

Let’s use me as an example.

 

1) I have 4a/4b hair

2) I want an iron that straightens and curls and can do waves. And I want it do it quickly.

 

3) My hair is short when it is in its natural state and medium length when straight.

 

4) My hair texture is coarse, frizzy.

 

 Use My Example To Come Up With Your Own Answers…

I need a flat iron no larger than 1.5” that has titanium plates with some form of tourmaline and/or ceramic infused into the plate and has variable temperature settings. Why? Since my hair is so coarse and coily, I need an iron that is very powerful and can be turned as high or as low as I need it.


I need a flat iron that has solid plates with lots of ion production and the combination of titanium and ceramic or tourmaline (or both) together gives me plenty of ionic action. Plus titanium plates are known for straightening coarse hair very well.

And because I want to curl and flip/curl my hair, I don’t want it to be too big because my hair is not that long.  Which is why I don’t want a flat iron larger than 1.5”

 

See how I did that?

 

  Now Break It Down Even Further…

 

1) Hair texture + hair type = Plate type
The texture and type of hair you have will determine what you want your flat iron plates to be made of.  If you have fine straight hair, you don’t really need a titanium/ceramic  flat iron. A regular ceramic flat iron will probably work well for you.

 

2) Length of hair + need = Flat Iron Size

 

The length of your hair and what you need it to do will determine what size you want your flat iron to be. If you have medium length hair and you want to curl it with the flat iron, then you need to get a flat iron that is 1.5 or smaller. If you have long hair that you want to get straight fast then you need a flat iron that is 1.5” or bigger.


3) Hair texture = type of heat setting


If you have straight, fine hair then you don’t want to get a flat iron with a fixed temperature. Likewise, if you have coarse hair, you don’t want to have a fixed temp iron. For straight hair, the set temperature may be too high and for coarse hair it may not be high enough.  Although I don’t recommend those for anyone, I especially don’t for them.

 

There’s no way I could cover every hair type because within each and every hair type there are certain characteristics that each person’s hair has that is unique to them. But you can use this table to help you a little bit more:

 

.
Hair Type
Straight Hair
1a-1c
Wavy Hair
2a-2c
Curly Hair
3a-3c
Coily Hair
4a-4c
Plate Type
Ceramic
Tourmaline
Ceramic
Tourmaline
Titanium, Ceramic, Tourmaline
Titanium, Ceramic, Tourmaline
Temperature Settings
Variable Temp up to 360°
Variable Temp of up to 390°
Variable Temp of up to 400°
Variable Temp of up to 430° (use with caution)
Size
Any*
Any*
Any*
Any*
Recommendations
Sedu Ionic Ceramic Flat Iron *
Solia Pink Flat Iron
Amika Flat Iron
Turboion Croc Classic Titanium Straightener 1.5″

 

 New Way To Search For Flat Irons on Amazon


Did you find your flat iron type? Do you have some better ideas now on how to find a flat iron? I hope this has been helpful.

Did you know that if you have some idea about the flat iron you want, you can go to Amazon and search for a certain type (2″, titanium, etc.) of flat iron instead of just searching for a certain brand (Solia,Conair, Remington).

Instead of searching in Amazon for a Chi flat iron, try it this way:

Example: Search for 1″ ceramic tourmaline flat iron 400 degrees on Amazon. That will give you results for flat irons fitting that criteria. Flat irons like the FHI Platform, Amika, and the Iso Beauty will turn up in the results. All of these flat irons have exactly what you are looking for. Doing it this way filters out all of the rift raft.

 Additional Tips

 

  • Ceramic and Titanium plates are good for any hair types. There are no hard and fast rules. A customer who claims to have “the nappiest hair in the world” used the Sedu Ionic Ceramic Flat Iron and it got her hair very straight.  You have to take the knowledge you have and relate it to your past experiences with your hair to find the right flat iron for you.

 

  • For Straight Hair (type 1a-1c): You hair is already straight or has very little curl to it and it may be very damaging to have a flat iron that stays on 410° when you are only using the flat iron to get rid of frizz or make your hair sleeker. It is overkill to have a flat iron with a high temp when you only for sleekening and not really straightening.

 

  • Curly and Coily Hair (type 3a-4b) hair: despite how it looks, is perhaps the most fragile of all hair types and special care needs to be taken to prevent heat damage. Variable temperature settings will make this easier

 

  • If you are natural, sometimes you may only need to straighten your hair to trim it and it won’t be necessary to have the flat iron at a fixed temp of 400°.

 

  • You may want a straight hair look but not a bone straight look but more of a Diana Ross in the 70s straight hair and that would be hard to achieve when you can’t control the settings

 

  • If you want a flat iron that can not only straighten but also curl and flip your hair then you will want to go with a 1” flat iron like BaByliss Pro Nano Titanium-Plated Straightening Iron because it is easier to wrap your hair around a 1” barrel than it is to wrap it around a 1.5” or larger.

If this has helped your pick the right flat iron or narrow down your choices, please share it with your friends. Let me know in the comments below what your favorite tips to picking a flat iron are.

 

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