Love the sleek, not-a-hair-out-of-place look? Well, then blow drying just isn’t enough. What you really need girl, is a hair straightener. Now before you rush off to buy one, remember not just any one will do; you need just the right hair straightening tool best suited for your hair type. PS: Use the right one and the unruliest of manes will flatten into submission in a hot minute. Promise! Wavy, coarse, curly or frizzy, there’s a flat iron waiting to make your hair smoother, shinier and sleeker. What ya waiting for!
How To Choose The Right Hair Straightener
Ahh, it’s not an easy task. Factors such as temperature, heat-up time, durability, type of plate and hair textures all come into play. There’s a plethora of options, but first you must be clear regarding the type you need; a travel-friendly one (the jet-setter you are), an ionic straightener or a wet and dry kind (lazy girl alert) perhaps. Let’s start by decoding the various types available in the market, so you make the right choice.
Different Types Of hair Straighteners
1. Ceramic Flat Irons:
These, as the name suggests, have ceramic plates for an even heat distribution. The only concern is that over time the ceramic coating can start peeling off, effectively taking away its smoothing effect. Sometimes, a straightening iron can be both ceramic and tourmaline, or ceramic and ionic.
Best For: Wavy hair or moderately curly hair. If you have very tight curls or frizzy hair, a ceramic iron will straighten your hair, but the end result won’t be as smooth and sleek as you want.
2. Ionic Flat Irons:
These are made with Ionic technology that traps moisture in your tresses, leaving them silky and glossy. These are excellent for various different hair textures.
Best For: Several hair types including frizzy, dry, curly, coarse and wavy hair. If you have fine hair, ensure you don’t turn up the heat too high because that’ll make your look limp and flat. Meanwhile, brittle, damaged hair should be treated with utmost gentleness, at the lowest possible temperature setting.
3. Tourmaline Flat Irons:
As the name suggests, the plates on these irons are infused with ground tourmaline dust. Tourmaline flat irons produce negative ions when heated, and require less heat to straighten hair.
Best For: Fine, damaged or color-treated hair. It’s also a good choice if you have chemically treated or brittle hair.
4. Titanium flat Irons:
These flat irons offer similar benefits to tourmaline, but have additional advantages; they produce negative ions and don’t require as much heat—much like Tourmaline irons, but they also heat up very quickly (Re: In ten seconds or less). However, they are usually more pricey than the others.
Best For: All hair types, but works best for color treated, damaged or brittle strands.
5. Wet to dry irons:
These are designed with venting systems that allow you to use them on damp or wet hair; especially useful for girls in a rush! No need to air dry your tresses before getting to work. Yay.
Best For: Ideal for wavy hair. You could try it on curly, coarse, or frizzy hair and the final result will be somewhat straight hair— not as smooth or sleek as ceramic irons would make them. You’ll probably need to go over straightened hair with another flat iron to make it completely frizz-free.
To make your lives easier, we tested more than 40 flat irons across each of these categories. We based our analysis on performance factors such as ease of use, features, straightening time, and how straightening holds up in humidity and different weather conditions. What’s more: we also considered price, durability, customer service, and warranty information. Here are our picks for the best flat irons for every type of hair.
1. Best Flat Iron For Wavy Or Moderately Curly Hair
• BaByliss IPro 235 Ionic Diamond Ceramic ST389E Straightener
This one straightens hair in a single pass. The ionic flat iron has a six-level temperature setting with a LED screen. We love how it glides through section of hair with ease all the way to the roots. Plus, it has a swivel cord that’s always helpful, an automatic shut off and a three-year warranty.
• Bronson Professional Hair Straightening Ionic Brush With Temperature Controller
A new-age hair straightener, this hot brush with advanced PTC heating technology and temperature controller is all you need for salon straight locks. The in-built ionic generator emits negative ions that interact with molecular particles in your hair to seal cuticles to reduce frizziness, split ends and knots for silky, lustrous hair. With five heat settings, a 360 degree free rotatable swivel cord and an automatic security turn off function (for that extra bit of protection), this one’s an absolute winner.
2. Best Flat Iron for Tight Curls, Frizzy and Coarse Hair
• Vega Adore Flat Hair Straightener -VHSH-18
This two-inch wide ceramic flat iron makes it ideal for quickly straightening coarse, or frizzy hair. Expect a glossy, high sheen finish in minutes, and takes less than 60 seconds to heat up (win win). It’s also designed for even distribution of heat that protects against heat damage. Plus, the 360° swivel cord makes rotation super convenient and prevents unnecessary tangles. Oh, and it comes with a LED indicator and two-year warranty.
3. Best Flat Iron For Fine Hair
• Braun Satin Hair 7 - ST 710 Hair Straightener With Active Ions & Iontec Technology
Love glossy hair? This one’s specially designed to restore shine and health of your hair when styling. It operates at a hair-safe temperature control up to 200°C and superior IONTEC, a combination of negative ion output technology and a specially designed product feature unique to Braun that together offer maximum hair care. What we really love though is the 40 second heat time and patented floating plates that distribute pressure evenly to prevent hair damage. Va va voom.
4. Best Hair Straightener For Chemically Treated Hair
• Nova Temperature Control Professional NHS 860 Hair Straightener (Black)
This nifty tool gives you salon-like sleek, straight hair sans blow drying first. It comes with a long swivel cord, variable temperature settings and infused ceramic plates for gorgeous sheen, smooth edges and perfectly straightened tresses. Plus, you can operate this device at four different levels of temperatures. Added advantage, the temperature control mechanism ensures that hair health is maintained. PS: You can also use it on wet hair!
Dreaming about the perfect smooth & shiny straight hair but dread hot iron? Check out:
