How Ceramic Flat Irons Overcome Typical Ironing Issues
Straightening your hair can be a tedious and even borderline laborious process. You want sleek, smooth strands that put ever Vidal Sassoon commercial model to shame with its shine and glorious straightness. Unfortunately, the reality is all too often that we spend an hour in front of the mirror trying to combat frizz, horizontal lines, and even breakage in our hair when we just want to look like Greek goddesses, okay? So, is there an answer to our struggle (it is SO real!)? And could this answer be as simple as the material the flat iron plates are made of? You bet.
Your Iron Might Be the Death of You
Unfortunately, the simple act of straightening your hair with the twenty dollar iron you picked up at the corner drugstore may be damaging your hair, especially if you are using it regularly—or, like many of us, if your hair has a mind of its own and just doesn’t want to be straight. Excessive heat can damage the layers that exist in each strand, frizzing the ends and drying the hair right to the follicle. Traditional aluminum and plastic plates and heat conductors are the main culprits in this situation; cheap materials will yield cheap results.
Heat Depletes Moisture
Our hair, like the rest of our body, needs moisture. The radiant glow of a beautiful mane owes a large part of its pizzazz to the moisture that flows from its core to the outer layer. Straightening your hair when it is dry is vital—the moisture problem WILL NOT be alleviated by flat ironing your hair when it is wet. That’s actually the worst thing you can do; ironing from wet to dry will actually dry out the strands, even more, adding more problems than you already have. Plus, cheap, drugstore flat irons may very well have uneven heating, burning your hair and sapping out more moisture.
And Other Cheap Iron Woes
Worst of all, burnt hair can stick to the plates of your iron and then stick to the hair you’re attempting to straighten, leading to further damage. Your iron will become “sticky” and build-up may even become visible. If you have fine or thin hair, it will be even more easily damaged by the typical cheap flat iron. Even if you have thick or curly hair, your use of higher temperatures will get you to just the same spot—dull, lifeless hair that may be straight, but lacks the sleek and shine you desire.
Ceramic to The Rescue
Most cheap drugstore flat irons use pulsing heat to apply your straightening. Ceramic plates are great conductors, and their heat sources apply even heat to the plates. They maintain temperature steadily, rendering them far more gentle to the hair than their cheap metal counterparts. Because of their superior heating capabilities, ceramic flat irons require less passes over the hair to produce the sleek straightness, which—you guessed it!—means less heat applied overall, with more effect.The heat transfer—the amount of time it takes for the iron to pass heat from itself to your hair—is also superior in ceramic flat irons. Using a gentle far infrared energy, the heat is transferred quickly, straightening your hair quickly and without damage. This makes ceramic flat irons ideal for anyone with fine hair. Ceramic’s fantastic ability to conduct heat also means that the same temperature is present in all areas of the plates, without any “hot spots” or “cold spots”. This makes for less passes of the iron over your hair, and less applied heat overall—which means less burned hair.
Ionic ceramic hair straighteners use negative ions to reduce the amount of frizz in your hair, leaving your finished product ultra sleek with a glassy shine, without the heat damage. The smooth material glides over the surface of the hair with no pulling or tugging, sealing the cuticle with the natural oils and moisture within your strands intact.
A Final Word
Ceramic flat irons heat evenly and quickly due to their excellent conducting abilities, so you don’t have to wait forever for your iron to heat up. The protection afforded by the material means that even thick, curly, or otherwise stubborn hair, you won’t need to worry as much about possible damage because the heat is distributed so well, with the aforementioned superior transfer of heat. Ceramic irons supply amazing amounts of shine, protecting hair from damage and preventing frizz. They are a favorite in salons and homes alike. Best of all, they come with a moderate price tag. They may be a bit more than you’d find at CVS, but they’re well worth it.