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Table Of Content

• MOST INNOVATIVE HAIR STRAIGHTENER
• Tourmaline flat irons
• BaBylissPRO Nano Titanium Ultra-Thin Straightening Iron

The Conair would burn me when I got distracted (I am VERY clumsy), and I was in constant fear my young child might accidentally touch the wrong side of this device. Having the ease of wrapping up the cord and Velcroing it together was an added bonus in The Perfecter’s favor. The casing on the Remington S5500 Digital Anti Static Ceramic Flat Iron feels cheap, and we found it hard to really clamp the plates together. We actually liked this quite a lot and appreciate that both of these ample cords come with swivels.

MOST INNOVATIVE HAIR STRAIGHTENER

Thanks to its ionic technology and pure titanium-coated plates, the tool reduces frizz and delivers a smooth, straight finish sans breakage. We also really loved that the stay-cool housing resists ultra-high heat for comfortable styling; the cherry on top is that the iron is lightweight and easy to hold for a while. This uniquely-designed flat iron features unique teardrop-shaped plates that are designed to make it easier to straighten close to the root, perfect for pressing cowlicks and baby hairs on curly or frizzy hair nice and flat.

Tourmaline flat irons

Neither of the heat brushes I tested requires the same kind of stretching that blowouts and hot irons do. My last morning there, I took a shower and then dried my hair while using the limited amount of hair products that I packed for the trip. As I put the hair dryer away, a hair tool lay there on the shelf, looking inconspicuous, but super intriguing. I decided that I had nothing to lose and would spend a few minutes exploring this device that looked like a hybrid of a round brush and a wand. To gauge maneuverability, I measured factors such as weight, cord length and swivel. I considered heat-up time, temperature control variability, accuracy and whether the iron has temperature memory and automatic shut-off.

BaBylissPRO Nano Titanium Ultra-Thin Straightening Iron

After hearing consistent reports from our experts, we decided to exclude most straighteners that cost less than $50, except for one or two of the highest-rated ones to be certain. The basic technology is the same in all the devices, said Romanowski; the difference is that the more expensive ones (which he defined as $50 and up) have higher quality electronics that last longer. “You can get a $20 flat iron, and maybe it works for a couple of months, and then it breaks, and that’s because they’re using cheap electronics,” he said. “They get hot so quickly that they must be hotter than the guide is telling me they are,” she said. The plates on the Conair Infiniti Pro flat iron grip and style hair just as well as the high-end straighteners, plus you’ll have a very wide range of temperature settings, but it has a short cord. We rated and scored how smoothly each flat iron slid across different hair types and checked the accuracy of their temperature settings using a digital multimeter and a thermocouple.

The 14 Best Hair Straighteners For Pin-Straight, Frizz-Free Looks, Tested & Reviewed

It doesn't have a hinge lock, and we measured the maximum temperature to be slightly lower than the claimed amount. All in all, it's a great value hair straightening iron — not the best for professionals, but we think it's the perfect choice for anyone looking for the best value when it comes to these products. Weighing under a pound and designed with smoothing plates and an overall adorable look, there’s a lot we love about this mini pink tool. We were particularly over the moon about its compact, rounded tip design, ideal for styling and curling short hair. Unlike traditional flat irons with an elongated shape, this one held our shoulder length strands in place, courtesy of the miniature size of the plates, and we never saw any dents from too much pressure.

Hairart H3000 Tourmaline Ceramic Straightening Iron

“Ceramic, tourmaline and titanium are all good options for flat irons,” says Henry. If you find yourself going through new hair straighteners on a semi-regular basis, the Conair InfinitiPro Tourmaline Ceramic Flat Iron offers the longest warranty—five years—among the flat irons we tested. The plates are also an inch and a half longer than those of our pick, measuring about 5 inches, which can make this tool cumbersome for flipping or curling hair but is useful if you want to work with thicker sections of hair at once. Ceramic flat irons, which have ceramic-coated plates, are the most affordable option out of the three types of hair straighteners, says Bertin. They don’t get as hot as titanium and tourmaline, which makes them “ideal for those with dry, damaged or fine hair,” he says.

Selected.Our top picks

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We will admit that the AmoVee Nano-Titanium Mini Flat Iron is not the best option for daily use and is more of a specialty item. However, this compact flat iron stands out for its exceptional portability, making it a great option for travel. It has ½" wide plates that slide decently well across hair, as well as a cord pivot and a hanging loop. This flat iron will also work with 110V-240V, making it even more travel-friendly. “Even with the best heat protectants in the game, heat is not something you should be exposing your hair to every day,” says Bertin. “Those with afro-textured hair, for example, should consider flat ironing their hair at most once a week because our hair is naturally more fragile and dry, so flat ironing any more than that is a huge no-no,” says Bertin.

Both tools ended up giving me a hairstyle that was smooth and touchable, but more importantly, it was quick and easy. It took almost exactly 10 minutes to achieve a look that was aimed at smoothness with a hint of movement towards the bottom of the hair. I used the second to lowest setting to try to keep from damaging my already far-gone hair even further. I am very much not interested in spending a lot of time or money on my hair though.

At half a pound, it was among the lightest straighteners we tested (the lightest was Rusk’s Deepshine, at 0.44 pound). The Rusk W8less was one of the easiest flat irons to hold for long periods of time. Tool weight and cord length can greatly impact your overall experience in using a flat iron.

LA-based hair stylist Laurabeth Cabott says there are a few specific features to look for when shopping for a flat iron that will help preserve the health of your hair, most notably temperature and plate material. Titanium is a strong, durable metal best suited for professional salon use on coarse thick, curly and coily hair. These plates typically heat up the quickest and more evenly distribute heat compared to ceramic plates, which allows for fewer passes over the hair, a smoother finish and better results than a ceramic iron, says Foster. However, titanium can cause the most damage to your hair, so you should avoid these if you have fine or damaged hair, according to Hill. Beyond material, "some of the aspects that make a great flat iron include the heating element ... a good visual digital thermometer, the quality of the plates and the length of the cord," says Toye. "The best flat irons are ones that sit comfortably in your hands, have an even heat distribution and selection of temperatures so that you don't damage your hair," adds Porsche.

I especially liked the wide range of temperatures on this iron, which I toggled between for more intense straightening sessions on rainy, humid days or for quick, second-day touchups. It has a clear digital temperature display, and the buttons are conveniently located on the inside of the iron so you don’t accidentally change the temperature while ironing. After all, can we really say a skin-care product is the "best" for people over 50 if the only testers we’ve solicited opinions from folks who have yet to hit 30? Can we honestly deem a high-end diffuser worthy of your hard-earned cash if it’s never been tested on curls? We're proud that our staff spans a wide range of ages, skin tones, hair textures, genders, and backgrounds, which means that we are able to fairly assess any beauty product that comes into the beauty closet. You might be searching for a face cream to address persistent dryness or a new nail product to add to your Sunday self-care routine; you may simply be browsing around for the latest launches to hit the hair market.

The 6 Best Hair Straightening Irons Tested

Table Of Content

• Do flat irons damage hair?
• amika The Antidote Silk-Wrap Styler
• CHI Original 1-inch Digital Ceramic Iron
• CHI Lava Ceramic Hairstyling Iron
• BEST HAIR STRAIGHTENER FOR DAMAGED HAIR

On the other hand, the cord has the shortest length out of the entire group, and the digital display and interface aren't necessarily our favorites. Our biggest gripe, however, is that this hair straightener feels like you need to apply more clamping pressure to ensure the plates make full contact with your hair. It may not be our first pick, but it will straighten your hair well for considerably less money than the high-end models. It's a good option for anyone pinching pennies or those who only occasionally straighten their hair.

Do flat irons damage hair?

In a Lab test, we found that the flat iron heats up fast, reaching 99% of its claimed temperature in just 30 seconds. Revlon’s super long, 1-inch-wide tool gave lasting straightness to even the longest, thickest hair. It's pricey, but one tester said they were "extremely satisfied with the way my hair looked afterwards," with another marveling at how "smooth" their hair felt. It also got a perfect score among testers for not burning their face, scalp or neck, even for those who said that's been "an issue I've had with other flat irons," making it a solid choice for those who aren't confident using a heat tool quite yet.

amika The Antidote Silk-Wrap Styler

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For instance, it offers 50 different settings instead of giving you the option to choose the temperature in degrees. Still, we think its straightening performance is so good that it outweighs these minimal flaws, making it a wonderful alternative for anyone shopping for a high-end hairstyling tool. However, if you choose the wrong one (or use one for too long), they can damage your hair.

CHI Original 1-inch Digital Ceramic Iron

You also won't have to worry about whether you left it on or not — it shuts off automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity. In addition to the plate materials, our experts recommend looking at features like size of the plates and a digital display to monitor the temperature. “The heat transfer from titanium is intense, quick and, if used frequently or improperly, can create irreversible heat damage and breakage,” says Hill.

Best for Fine Hair

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This one from BaBylissPRO heats up super quickly and has a wide, adjustable range of temperatures. “Any time there’s friction, there’s tugging and snagging and fatiguing of the hair,” said Trefor Evans. The ceramic tourmaline plates didn't pass over hair as effortlessly as we would have liked, and we were a little concerned with the performance of this product in our temperature accuracy tests. We measured a maximum temperature of 464°F — quite a bit higher than the claimed maximum temperature of 455°F and high enough that we would be concerned about damaging hair at the highest setting. It only has a 6' cord, and the interface isn't the most user-friendly, as it gives you 30 temperature settings to choose from, rather than just letting you choose a temperature. We blame frizz and flyaways on bad weather and high humidity, but sometimes it starts with what tool we’re using — and Drybar just came to the rescue with their new innovation.

Wider plates are bulkier and increase the chances of accidentally clamping the same sections of hair multiple times, and the chance of warping, such that the plates don’t meet evenly across the whole surface. Plus, they’re not great for people with curly or textured hair, who need to focus on small sections of hair at a time, or people with short hair. Likewise, we aimed for straighteners with plates on the long side, but not so long the straightener wouldn’t be maneuverable. Anyone can use a flat iron, but how well a particular iron will work on your hair—how straight your hair will get, how long it will stay that way, and how much damage it will endure from the heat—depends on a variety of factors. The curlier or more textured your hair, the more heat, time, or styling products you may need to invest to get the style you want; the finer your hair, the more easily it may be damaged by high temperatures.

A tighter clamp may have led us to see more defined curls on fine hair, but we were glad that it was loose enough to avoid clamp marks. This gadget worked like a pro; it has a super smooth glide with zero snag, and the slightly longer plate allowed me to include a bit more hair in the iron per pass without compromising the effectiveness, which ultimately saved me time. The floating plates are more versatile than the standard, static plates on many other irons—they compress just the right amount of hair to create smooth and straight styles or a subtle curve at my ends. When it comes to plate size, stylist Tippi Shorter said that a 1-inch-wide plate is the best option for most people.

Best for Curling Hair

It took around a minute to reach 94% of its claimed temperature, but our pros were disappointed that there was no audible tone to indicate when it reaches temperature. It earned the top score for maintaining hair straightness in our technical test, though the lowest score for keeping hair straight, shiny and frizz-free all day long, according to consumer testers, so make sure you use an anti-frizz serum. When it came to the actual physical action on the hair, she explained that many ways of smoothing hair, such as doing a blowout or using a hot iron, rely on heating it up and stretching it out.

BEST HAIR STRAIGHTENER FOR DAMAGED HAIR

However, ceramic-coated plates often need to be routinely checked since the coating can wear and chip away — in fact, when the metal beneath (usually aluminum) is exposed, it can cause damage to your hair, says Bertin. This Paul Mitchell model is a straightening powerhouse for those with long, thick or coarse hair, and its ceramic construction and temperature variability make it a good fit for fine hair as well. While most flat irons are best when used on 1-inch sections of hair, I found that this iron’s broad plates offered extended surface area to cover bigger sections of hair. This allowed me to work faster to smooth my shoulder blade-length strands and tame frizz from roots to ends.

The cord is 9 feet long, giving you plenty of space to plug it into an outlet that is located far away from a mirror. The straightener itself is 13 inches long, which we found to be the perfect length to wield while styling hair—and the plates are around 3.5 inches long, plenty sufficient to capture a good-size section of hair. We found that it's not just the plate material but also the overall geometry of the hair straightening iron that influences glide performance, as some models require much more force than others to ensure the plates make full contact with your hair. We found the CHI G2, the Hot Tools Ceramic Signature Series, and the Remington S5500 to perform best in our glide test. They had the least resistance in our side-by-side straightening test with the hair extensions.

We always enlist a range of testers for any review, but hair-care products and tools are another story. While some can be used across different hair textures, lengths, curl patterns, thicknesses, colors (natural and unnatural), and concerns, many are created with specific consumers and their needs in mind. If you place your hand at the bottom of the iron while the plates are closed, you risk getting some skin caught in the hinge. The hinge on the Pro G2 Digital is similarly designed—with the plates closed, there’s enough space at the bottom of the device to trap a finger.