flat iron recommendations
 

I need a new flat iron, since my old Conair died on me (figures). I have thick/coarse AA hair and I need something that isn't going to take 2 hours for me to use :p any recs?

I just recently bought a new flat iron and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Its the Conair Infiniti Nano Silver Tourmaline Ceramic™ 1” Straightener. I have really thick, wavy-ish hair and this straightener works magic. I have the hairdryer from the same line of products and love it just as much too. I DEFINITELY recommend it.

Let me set the picture I have VERY thick hair that is VERY curly and coarse, even though it has been relaxed. It can be compared to ethnic hair and my hairdresser mainly does AA hair.

I have a T3 Toumaline Wet/Dry Ceramic that I paid about $200. I would not recommend it if your hair is thick, because the plate is too small. It was a waste of money

My favorite, still goes back to a Revlon Flat Iron that I can buy at the grocery store for about $25. The Iron is actually made by Helen of Troy, and the plate is 2" wide. It's the only thing that can get my hair straight. It's a great deal. I have the first one and LOVE it.
http://www.drugstore.com/products/pr...&aparam=df5628 or
http://www.stylebell.com/ProductDeta...-00196&click=2 or
http://www.drugstore.com/products/pr...&aparam=df5628

I have a Chi Turbo. I have wavy, coarse, frizzy hair and it makes my hair super straight and shiny. I would recommend buying on Ebay versus paying retail for it...

What's the Turbo? I have a Chi. I swear by it. When I have my hair straight, people don't believe that I have very curly hair. I also use a Chi hairdryer. And use Chi products. And my stylist (cousin) uses Chi hair color on me.

I had no idea a Chi Turbo existed, I use the Chi. If I let my hair dry naturally, it's wavy, but it can be blow dried straight. I spent $150 on my Chi and for someone who straightens their hair every day like me, it's been well worth it.

does anyone have a Sedu? The reviews I've seen of it are amazing
http://www.folica.com/Sedu_Ionic_Cera_d1560.html

I love my chi! I got mine on ebay for $70! :D

I also recommend the Chi. Worth every cent!

Hmm. It might not be the official name...we just always called it that in college to distinguish between mine (says turbo on the end, and it's covered in red velvet and has a broader temperature range) and my roommate's (solid black, smaller temperature range, and the plates weren't as wide).

I have that Remington Wet to Dry and it works pretty well, best of the ones I've tried so far. I had a girl use a Chi straightener on me when I got my hair cut once though and it was so amazingly fast. Ebay, huh....???

BaByliss makes a good one for about $100 - it also has like a 4 year warranty, so makes it well worth the $.

Get a CHI!!! Run fast, it is worth every penny. I had issues paying $90 for a flat iron, but let me say this-I have wavy hair. I live in Houston with the humidity and air like warm mayonase. The Chi keeps my hair staright no matter what!! I love it, and kick myself for not buying it sooner.

I use a ceramic flat iron...works wonders!

I have a HAI flat iron and really like it. My first one lasted about 3 years (with almost daily use) and I've had my new one for about a year and a half. I'm convinced my first one died because I dropped it so much though.

I just got a CHI nano and I LOVE it. It gets SUPER hot and my hair (AA-mulatto) was very straight. Definitely an investment because they're a little pricey.

http://www.chiretail.com/tools/irons/nanodigiflat.html

Question for the Chi girls...how much damage does the Chi Flat Iron do to your hair? That is what scares me.

I've got a Solia
 

I have a tourmaline one I got online (www.folica.com) and just love it. The metal ones kill your hair, while the ceramic or newer materials aren't that bad. I use a little extra conditioner every other day, but for the most part the flat iron isn't the problem :).

It's ceramic so it's not supposed to be damaging. I have very curly, dry, coarse hair that gets bleached and dyed often, and the Chi makes my hair incredibly silky smooth.

I have a T3 Tourmaline wet/dry iron and I love it.

I just bought a pink chi flattening iron. I love it! So far I've only been able to straighten my hair with it, although it's supposed to be good for curling as well.

I don't know how much damage (yet!) it does to my hair because of all the color/highlihghting I have done to it.

I'm on my third one and really don't like it. The second one broke within 2 weeks. Luckily, it came with a 7 year warranty.

I like my $25 Revlon better, but I'm afraid to turn up the heat all of the way. My hair has so many processes, in addition to being dry and curly, that I'm afraid it will break. Bad chemical burns from the relaxer two weeks ago.

I haven't noticed any damage from my chi. But I have pretty thin hair. I love that it heats up so freaking fast.

Really? I can't imagine what my life was like before I had this thing, I'm that dependent on it.

I have naturally curly hair which is semi-dry and relatively thin; several friends have mentioned that they thought a flat iron would work nice on my hair. I'm thinking of getting a flat iron - what kind of styling product do people normally use with one?

.....Kelly :)

If your hair is dry, you definitely need to use a heat protective spray with a flat iron.

I'm a walking talking Chi advertisement. I use Chi Silk Infusion mixed with Chi Straight Guard and run that through my hair. I blowdry it till it's dry, trying to straighten it as much as possible with my hands and brush. Then I flat iron. When I'm done I either use Chi Shine Infusion to make it silky and tame fly aways, or when I want texture I use Chi Pliable Polish.

When I do my hair curly, I use a mousse with a strong hold and comb throw my hair. Then I mix Silk Infusion and Straight Guard together and scrunch that through my hair. It gives me a nice glossy shine. To get extra glossy girls, I scrunch Pliable Polish in.

Biosilk products work very well also and are by the same company as Chi.

I should also add that my stylist (cousin) uses Chi hair coloring on me. Today she tried the new Chi bleach which smells good (unlike that eye watering bleach smell) and pulled the black dye out of my hair very well. I'm Chi'd out!

i also use a chi-pink just like icelandelf's . it was recommended to me by my hair stylist who also uses the chi on the job.

Ok! So I decided to combine the recommendations here and bought a $30 Revlon ceramic iron. Since I've never used one before and didn't know how it would work for me, I didn't want to buy a $100 iron just yet. I also picked-up a bottle of CHI iron guard.

So far, I've used it twice and it seems to do ok so far. The iron made my hair a little sleeker, softer and shiner when compared to air drying or blow drying. The trade-off is that I lose some volume, which is to be expected with straight hair.

As someone with naturally curly hair, it's a nice change of pace to have straighter hair. Of course, I would embrace my curly hair if I could just figure out a way to get it to not frizz so much without having to put tons of product in it! LOL

Thanks everyone for the help!

.....Kelly :)

My hairdresser said the best way to still have volume when fat ironing hair was not to do the roots. So I start about an inch to two inches from the roots to the ends. After drying my hair) I don't know if that will work, though, since your hair is naturally curly.

You WILL need product if you have frizz. No way to get around it. But, I don't buy the Chi products any longer. They are too expensive and there are products in the ethnic hair section that are much cheaper and have the same ingredients. Look for products without alcohol. They should contain Cyclomethicone, Dimethiconol, and Dimethicone, and are clear in color.

My process goes like this:
Leave-In conditioner (root to ends) and something like Chi Silk Infusion or something that I mentioned above from the ethnic hair section I put it half way down the shaft and to the ends.

I let my hair air-dry as much as possible -- heat of a hair drier will make it Frizz. I try only to finish it off with the drier.

I do use the Revlon Ceramic (2") on about half of the highest heat. You may not need the 2" if your hair isn't thick. Remember heat=damage. Do small sections at a time. I do need to flat iron the roots even though they are relaxed, because my hair is so coarse and curly.

Once it's done, I only need to get it wet and wash twice weekly (use a shower cap). I sleep with it on top of my head (think Pebbles), and it only takes a minute to brush out and iron any kinks in the morning. To keep the shine in-between washes, I put a little of the Silk-like products on the ends.

I HATE Iron Guard. It made my straight hair very coarse and seemed to do more damage than good.

Really? It seems to work pretty good for me so far. Maybe we just have different hair composition? I only put one product in my hair - silk drops - and that's it. These past couple times, I used the silk first and then misted with the iron guard and it's still all good.

.....Kelly :)

So thanks to this thread I caved and bought one. I've been debating buying one for months. :) I got the Remington Wet2Straight 2" wide. I rushed home to test it and love it so far. It has 30 heat settings so it's easy to find the right temp for my hair.

My hair is super thick and course. Growing up my hair was stick straight but when I was 15 I started noticings random hairs with even courser texture. Plus more and more strands have been growing in as anything but straight. I also have damaged hair, from nutrition issues I'm sure. I rarely blow dry or put product in my hair and haven't colored in 8 years. I also don't consistently use any one shampoo so I know there's not a "Pantene is evil" issue. 'k, now I'm rambling. :)

Question: What are some tips for making ironing/curling/drying my hair easier? I get bored and physically tired. I'm taking a break now because I got too tired. :( That's always been my downfall with my hair. I don't have the stamina to be high maintence. ;) Well, that and my mom never knew what to do with my hair when I was young since her hair was always just too long to be a boy cut. A ponytail was an ordeal. :yikes:

I went to bed with wet hair and no product Sunday night, and woke up Monday morning to something Christian from Project Runway would call "a hot trannie mess." Thankfully I busted out my $30 Revlon hair straightener (it has jade plates, I got a super deal on it at Rite-Aid). I managed to get it under control in a few minutes and I to wear it again today. I've got fine wavy hair that frizzes when it gets humid so I usually blow dry it somewhat straight and avoid the flat iron.

SoCalGirl I have had decent luck with putting product on my hair right out of the shower, letting it air dry a bit, and then doing the blow dry or flat iron. That way the product can work in and my hair isn't soaking wet so I am using less heat and doing less damage. With your hair type that method may not work as well.

SoCalGirl, I get bored doing my hair too. I've been showering at night and blowing my hair out then, and tying my hair back in a really loose ponytail to sleep. Then in the morning I just need to straighten it so it takes less time.

When I do it all in the morning, I try and take breaks - I'll shower, then wrap it in a towel and scrunch dry while I put on my lotion, then I'll let it air dry when I eat breakfast. After that I'll blow out whatever is left (I've been using Smooth Infusions Style-Prep from Aveda beforehand) and then go eat breakfast. After that I'll straighten my hair, and I am lazy and never do a perfect job. ;)

I have really thick, wavy hair, so one thing I really liked about straightening my hair was the loss of volume. I started out with both a HOT [Helen Of Troy] Tools straightener ($30 online, but I paid about $50 at my salon) that has gold-ish heat plates. And then I got a Wigo, too, I'm not sure why, as I think the HOT tools one works better. I use Graham Webb Super Stick Straight which I LOVE as a hair product, and then straighten from the roots down. So, briefly: HOT Tools and Graham Webb, all the way!

Giving this a quick bump because of a recent discovery.

I have a Chi (that I apparently should have bought on ebay, crap, I paid retail! :eek:, but I agree with others, I have definitely gotten my money's worth), but I unfortunately left it behind accidentally when I was recently out of town. I'll be able to get it back when I go back through there soon, but needed something to get me through until then.

My hairdresser had recommended the flatiron by Bedhead and said Target sells them. So I ran by Target, picked up the Bedhead but started glancing at other products. Knowing I'm getting my Chi back, I decided to take a risk and pick up a Remington Wet to Dry (or something to that effect), paying $23 compared to $70 for the Bedhead.

Best almost 50 bucks I've ever saved. I'm very, very impressed with that iron! And I don't even have to blow dry my hair first, saving time!

So for anyone that doesn't use a hair straightener often enough to make sense of paying for the most expensive ones or for anyone on a budget, I would highly recommend that Remington. Ok, now I really have to get back to work. :(

^^ That's what I use. I can't afford a Chi (and I straighten often) but I love my Remington Wet to Dry. I blow dry first anyway (I have a roundbrush attachment and so you don't need two hands, you're basically just brushing your hair with this blowdryer, I love it) and then go over it with the iron and it works great!!! Best one I've used yet (this will be number 4) and sooo cheap!