Advice on hair straighteners
1. How often do you want to straighten your hair?
There's a big difference between straightening your hair every day or just very occasionally. If you straighten your hair frequently, it's important to choose a hair straightener that is made from high-quality materials. These will project your hair as much as possible from the heat. If you only use the hair straightener every now and then, that's not so important.
How often do you straighten your hair?
Often
The more frequently you use the hair straightener, the more protection your hair will need. The best way to protect your locks against heat is getting a hair straightener with fully ceramic or titanium plats. These distribute the heat evenly and prevent one part of your hair becoming too hot while another part barely gets warm. On top of that, these plates don't wear, so the hair straightener will last a much longer time. These hair straighteners tend to be a bit more expensive though.
Occasionally
If you occasionally straighten your hair, a model with a ceramic coating will do jus fine. The hair straighteners have a layer of ceramic that protects your hair to some extent, but not as much as fully ceramic plates. This layer of ceramic does wear more quickly, and then your locks won't be protected against the heat anymore. These hair straighteners have a shorter lifespan, so in the case of frequent use, they will need replacing sooner.
2. Do you also want to create wavy or curly hair?
Hair straighteners that also allow you to curl your hair have flexible plates. That means the plates can move a little to perfectly distribute the pressure across your hair. This protects your hair, but it also makes it easier to create wavy or curly hair. On top of that, there are models with rounded plates to make them suitable for both straightening and curling. Note that these models are primarily intended for straightening your hair though.
3. What type of hair do you have?
Which hair straightener suits you best mainly depends on how thick your hair is. If you have thick hair, you'll need a more powerful curling iron. For thinner hair, it's important that you don't expose your hair to high temperatures too much.
Thick or thin hair
Thick hair
If you have a lot of thick hair, it's best to use a hair straightener with wider or longer plates. That way, you can straighten bigger locks of hair in 1 go, meaning you'll be done faster. In addition, it's easier to create waves or curls in thick hair if you have a hair straightener with wider plates.
Thin hair
Narrower plates are better if you have finer hair. You can be more precise and don't have to straighten too much hair at once. Straightening with a narrow or mini hair straightener is a also more convenient for shorter haircuts. It'll make it easier to straighten specific haircuts and take it with you when you travel.
4. What kind of structure does your hair have?
Almost all hair straighteners have temperature controls that let you set the temperature you want to use for straightening. When straightening your hair for the first time, always start at the lowest temperature, regardless of you hair type. Got it the way you want it? That means you know exactly at which temperature your hair becomes beautifully straightened without excess heat. If a lower temperature doesn't get the job done, turn up the temperature a bit next time.
Coarse or curly hair
Do you have coarse or curly hair? In that case, you'll probably need to straighten your hair at a temperature between 180-230 degrees tot get a good result. For difficult locks, some hair straighteners feature a boost function. That briefly raises the temperature even further. Make sure to check out the hair straightening brushes too. These let you blow-dry and straighten your hair at the same time. Great for frizzy curls.
Fragile or dyed hair
Do you have fragile or dyed hair? In that case, straightening it at high temperatures isn't a good idea. A hair straightener will show results on dyed or fragile hair faster. A hair straightener with different temperature settings below 180 degrees will be enough to get your hair the way you want it. Using higher temperatures risks damaging or even breaking your hair.
5. Want to straighten damp hair?
Does your morning ritual take up a lot of time and would you like to skip a few steps if you could? You could stay in bed longer if you had a hair straightener that could also be used on towel-dried hair. Luckily, there are a few hair straighteners up to the job. Look out though, not every hair straightener is suitable for straightening damp hair.
