Although we are reluctant to admit it, but in most cases, our mood depends on whether we like our hair that day or not. Bad hair day equals bad mood, while good hair day significantly improves your confidence. Fortunately, there are many ways to style your hair and get a completely new look to spice things up from time to time.
When it comes to hair styling women use different “instruments” and methods. Flat ironing is the most common styling method and the chances are high you already have one flat iron you’d like to replace or you’re thinking about buying your very first one.
When buying a flat iron, it’s not just about going to Amazon or to the store and picking the first one you see, there are some considerations you have to bear in mind and this post will help you with that.
Keep reading to find out how to choose the best flat iron for your natural hair regardless of the thickness.
How To Buy Flat Irons For Natural Hair
Natural hair can be thick, normal, or thin and in most cases it’s black. As you already know it’s tricky to manage it. That is why it is essential to pay more attention to products and tools you purchase.
Why? It’s because wrong tools have a tremendous potential to harm and damage your hair, thus affecting its appearance and making it more difficult for you to style it properly.
Using flat iron for natural hair has multiple benefits including the fact it improves the quality of your hair. Nowadays, we identify the good quality of hair with its attractiveness, but it’s not the only factor that plays the role. Great quality also implies it’s easy to manage and style.
As mentioned above, choosing the best flat iron for natural hair isn’t the easiest task in the world. Below, you can see different things to consider when choosing the perfect straightener for your hair.
Budget
Regardless of what you’re about to purchase, budget always plays the role and it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, one of the most frequent mistakes when buying appliances and other products is that people don’t set the budget. Determining the amount of money to spend on flat iron can help you automatically rule out all tools that are more expensive. The budget here helps you narrow down your search, but of course, it doesn’t mean you have to settle for the cheapest option.
The secret behind ending up with the perfect product is to stop assuming that price dictates quality. Just because something’s cheap it doesn’t mean it’s automatically better. The same way, more affordable items aren’t necessarily worse. Once you set your budget your “job” is to make sure you get the best value for your money and you can do so by taking into consideration parameters mentioned below.
Types of Flat Irons
Now that you have determined your budget, it’s time to consider the type of flat irons you should go for. They are:
Ceramic flat irons
The first type of flat irons to enter the hair straightener market. This type of hair straighteners has been around for more than two decades.
A major advantage of ceramic irons is that they get hot easily and stay that way as long as you need them to. That said, you should avoid ceramic-coated irons because they are of lower quality and don’t hold the heat quite well
Tourmaline flat irons
Tourmaline is a coating on top of the plates. The coating is made of gemstone. These hair straighteners retain the heat efficiently, but the amazing advantage of these flat irons is in the fact they trap moisture your hair needs. It won’t make your hair dry and rough to the touch, which is extremely important for girls and women with natural hair
Titanium flat irons
The “newest” addition to the hair straightener market. Titanium irons have the safest metal plates and they distribute the heat evenly, without damaging your hair. That said, these hair straighteners aren’t suitable for ladies with very delicate hair e.g. if your hair is very thin and doesn’t take the heat quite well, you should stay away from these tools
Besides titanium irons which aren’t suitable for highly delicate hair, all types mentioned above can be used to straighten and style natural hair.
Hair Type
It’s not just the iron type you should consider, but your hair as well. There are three common types of beautiful natural black hair: normal, thick, and thin. Normal hair requires flat irons with medium temperatures while the flat iron for thick hairs, that is usually curly, is the one with high temperatures. On the other hand, thin hair is very delicate and gets damaged easily, which is why you should go for flat irons with lower temperatures.
Your hair type and temperature of flat irons are important. For example, you can’t straighten thick hair with low-temperature flat iron. Also, using high-temperature straightener on thin and delicate hair would only damage it or affect its appearance.
When discussing flat iron temperatures, you should ensure that the product you buy has a relatively fast heat up time. You don’t want to end up with a straightener that takes ages to heat up so you can use it, particularly when you’re in a hurry.
Hair Length
Is your hair long? Or maybe you have short hair? While the length of our locks is the last thing we consider when buying different products, it plays an important role. Flat irons for natural hair are created with the plates that accommodate different hair lengths. Long hair will benefit the most from the long-inch flat iron plates while short hair will thrive with short-inch plates.
Manufacturer
Selection of hair straighteners is immense nowadays and you have multiple options to choose from. It’s entirely possible to find an ideal flat iron regardless of the budget. That said, not all products are the same and it’s always useful to consider the manufacturer as well.
While some manufacturers provide high-quality products, others don’t. Ideally, you should go for flat irons made by reliable brands. You can conduct a little research, take a few products into consideration and read about experiences of other customers. Are they positive? Are negative comments prevalent? These seemingly unimportant factors can help you reach your decision faster.
Flat iron Checklist
So, to sum up, here’s what to bear in mind when purchasing the hair straightener:
- Budget
- Hair type
- Hair length
- Plate size
- Temperature
- Heat time
- Type of plates
- Manufacturer reliability
Avoid these flat iron mistakes
Once you find a perfect flat iron for your hair, you have to use it properly. Although it may seem boring to you, make sure you read the manufacturer’s instructions about usage and maintenance of your brand new hair straightener. Also, avoid some common mistakes, like these:
- Forgetting protection – in fact, a vast majority of girls and women don’t use sprays that protect their hair from the heat. That’s a big mistake as these useful products can prevent damage and retain the smoothness of your hair
- Thinking bigger equals better – okay, this a flat iron shopping mistake but it’s important to mention it. It is not uncommon for ladies to think that bigger flat irons are automatically more effective. As seen above, you should choose the product according to your hair length. In fact, some hulking irons make it more difficult to get to the hairline where the hair is the curliest
- Straightening damp hair – this is a major “NO”. Even when in the hurry, never try to straighten your hair without drying it first. Doing this can only damage it. If you hear sizzling sound, stop the action immediately
- You’re not sectioning – when straightening your hair, you shouldn’t randomly grab fistfuls of your locks and try to flatten them. That way, the flat iron won’t be able to reach to the pieces of your hair that are too thick. The best method is creating sections that will allow you to easily track the progress and you’ll finish fast. One of the main reasons why people complain that straightening takes too long is because they try to work with random bits of hair, thus prolonging the process or reapplying the heat to the parts they already covered
Conclusion
Flat iron isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity that every girl or a woman needs to style her hair from time to time. Hair straighteners don’t flatten the hair only, they can also be used to curl and style it, and so much more. In order to get the most out of your hair straightener, you have to make the purchase bearing your hair in mind.
Throughout this post, you’ve seen easy buying guide to get the best flat iron for your hair type and how to end up with the perfect product. Set out your budget, evaluate plate sizes and temperatures and get your hair straightener. Nowadays, you can also choose from products with different designs, patterns, colours, you name it.
