Trying to straighten your hair perfectly can often seem impossible. There were times I would spend an hour or more using a flat iron and my hair was still not perfectly straight. Then I realized the major mistake I was making.

The honest truth is that when it comes to hair straighteners, there is a huge difference in how well they work. The top rated flat irons work differently than the ones you get at the drugstore. This is because they are made with ceramic and tourmaline. Yes, a lot of the ones at your local store may claim on the package they are ceramic, but they’re not. The reason is that the best ceramic flat irons use a very rare mineral called tourmaline. When electricity flows through them, it creates physical process that results in negative ions. What does that mean? Well, in a nutshell, they defrizz your hair and re-align the parts of the hair follicle so they align straight. This is why you need a brand like CHI, GHD, or T3. And when you buy them online, they are surprisingly cheap.

For years I tried getting by on the cheaper irons you get at the store so I learned this lesson the hard way. Not only did they not straighten my hair, but they also caused some pretty nasty heat damage. My hair had a “processed” feel that was frizzy and frail. When you use the hair irons made with tourmaline plates, the negative ions actually help to prevent this type of damage.

My experience with a Solia ceramic iron
I’m sad to say this, but it took me years before I started trying out the good brands. Then I bought a Solia ceramic flat iron online. At the time the price was just shy of a hundred dollars, which at the time I thought was way too expensive, but after the first time I used it I totally changed my mind.

It came in the mail and I opened the box and gave it a whirl. The first thing I noticed when using it was how fast it would straighten the hair. It would be pretty straight after one pass and perfectly straight after a couple passes. The other thing I noticed after using it regularly (and my old hair grew out and got cut off) was that my hair was much more soft. My stylist would even comment to me everytime I saw her that my hair felt so silky and smooth. And she had been cutting my hair for years so she knew it better than anyone else! I had all kinds of expensive shampoos and conditioners and they never made it as soft as my Solia ceramic flat iron did.

My experience with a CHI ceramic iron
Because the CHI brand seems to be all the rage, I finally decided to hop on the bandwagon and order one for myself. I think I spent around the same amount as I did on my Solia – just under $100 for it. I also ordered it online because that was by far the cheapest option. I checked at a few local places that sold them and they charged usually 40-70% higher than the prices you can get on the web. I got the 1” size and it worked equally as effective as my Solia, but by far I was more impressed with some of the newest ones to hit the market this year. They use even more tourmaline and leave your hair so silky smooth and pin straight.

So if you want to know how to straighten your hair perfectly, the secret is to only go with the best flat iron brands instead of the cheap ones. It’s that simple!