Friday, January 13, 2012

Flat Iron Adventure Day 5

Hey all! It's Day 5 of my Flat Iron Adventure. Today is sorta random. I'm going to give you a lot of the interesting information I found while doing my research. Tomorrow I'm going to work on showing you all my top choices and list their pro's and con's. That should be great, so make sure your following my blog closely. After that I hope to have a blog post with my decision and a youtube blog with my new flat iron. yay! But we aren't quite there yet (sigh).

Price
Flat iron prices can be intimating. I know this all too well, because I previously was always too afraid to commit to a high priced flat iron and went back to settling with a $20 one. Flat iron prices somewhat can tell you the quality of the flat iron. Most flat irons at drugstores and department stores sell average flat irons that are mostly under $50. There's a reason they are this cheap, they're made with cheap material. Remember when we talked about plate material back on Day 3, well cheap flat irons skimp in this area and the plate material is less than high quality. More expensive flat irons can range in the $100's all the way up to the $200's. For me, that means a good, professional, salon quality flat iron is an investment. Some experts say that a flat iron over $70 is usually of good quality. I think that if the flat iron is over $20 and has the features like good plate material, temperature regulation, etc. than it's probably a safe bet. 

Warranty
Just like another investment (computer, television, car, etc) they come with a warranty. So should your flat iron, if your spending the big bucks. The majority of professional, salon flat irons come with at least a 1 year warranty with some in the 2 year range. When you buy one of these flat irons it doesn't automatically mean you have the warranty. Most of these companies require you to go to their website and register your flat iron by typing in the product code to receive the warranty. This is important to know 1) because if something happens to your flat iron and you haven't done this, they may not honor fixing your flat iron, and 2) if you accidently buy a fake off of a website such as ebay their flat iron will not have this product code and you will not receive a warranty. 

Fakes
When something costs a lot of money, there are always people out there looking to trick you with a fake. Stay educated, if something doesn't add up trust your gut and don't go through with it. If it seems almost too good to be true, it probably is. Most of the high end flat iron companies add a feature on their website of online stores that are trusted sellers of their product or a website checker. Use this!

Heat
Flat irons aren't suppose to be used everyday, maybe once a week. Well, if anyone actually listens to this you're amazing and your hair thanks you. For the rest of us, we need to at least use a heat protectant product on our hair. Look for a product that contains silicone, because this helps create a protective coating to your hair. Make sure hair is completely dry before flat ironing. Wet or damp hair can actually intensify the heat on your hair. When using a heat protectant, you may want to look for one that is designed for the type of style you are going for since some are made for different styles such as straight or curly. Remember to spray at a safe distance roughly 12 inches from hair and follow with combing hair to even distribute product. 

New/Interesting Products
So I thought I would add some interesting products I found during my research.
Comb/pins. For those with very curly hair you may benefit from a flat iron with built in pins on the plates. Not saying how well this works, but I always did love my first cheap flat iron with a built in comb on the end. This helped guide my hair through the flat iron more evenly and prevent kinks getting flattened. 






Vibrate.  My hairdresser uses a vibrating flat iron on my hair, not in a weird way, but I like it (don't look at me that way). So here are the benefits, you may just want one too! With a vibrating flat iron, straightening is faster and has more thorough styling action. There is less need to go over the same sections of hair, which means a healthier and faster styling experience. The vibrations send Infrared waves through the hair surface directly to the root. This preserves hairs moisture and reduces drying out of hair, preventing split ends, breakage and loss of hair.


Cordless. Tired of storing and properly caring for your flat iron's cord. Well, now you can free yourself of this burden. Some companies are making cordless flat irons, with all the same benefits as other flat irons.



Rechargeable. Ever imagined a world where you can stick a flat iron in your purse and pull it out for hair emergencies. I thought I could get rich with this idea, unfortunately for me its been done. There are now flat irons that you can use and charge in your car. Yes, I said it! Now when a bad weather day comes, you won't also have a bad hair day. Not saying how well this works, but the idea I love!



Wet-to-Dry. Everyone's in a hurry in the morning, so won't it be nice to skip a step. Well, how about cutting out blow drying your hair. Many companies are making wet-to-dry flat irons that have special steam vents to straighten hair while it is still damp. Some experts don't agree and say it is very damaging to do to hair. The decision to use is up to you.

Can anyone believe some of these different flat iron technologies? Anyone tried any of these? I would love to know. Tomorrow I will work on giving you my top choice!! 

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2 comments:

  1. I have never heard of a vibrating flat iron! That is so cool. I will have to investigate and write about it on my blog.

    I have tried the wet to dry flat irons. I like the idea of it but the sizzling sounds got to me and made me think that my hair was being damaged so I stopped using it. It was just too weird to use heat on my wet hair.

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  2. Flat iron with code,Its really very impressive.Nice blog.Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete