Do you find that you’re just not getting the results that you want from your flat iron? Do you need way too many passes to get your hair smooth? Are you finding that your hair is feeling, really dry, really crispy, and it’s just not growing no matter what products you use, no matter what you do? You can’t seem to get your hair in a healthy state.
All of these issues may be coming up because you are using the wrong flat iron plate for your hair type. Today we are going to be talking about the different popular flat iron plates on the market, what type of hair benefits from the plate, and what differences these plates have in the result.
We are going to go through each type of iron plate and we’re going to talk about it in terms of a few features: smoothing capability, durability, heat, and hair type suitability. Stay with me, this is all going to make sense.
Ceramic Plates
So let’s go through ceramic plates first. There are three types of common ceramic plates: a full ceramic, a ceramic coated plate, and a tourmaline plate. Let’s talk about the full ceramic first. The full ceramic plate was the first to enter the high-end straightener market. When it comes to smoothing capability, it’s fantastic because it has an even heat distribution without hot spots.
So you get a nice hot iron that smooths out the hair, and the iron is consistent throughout the entire barrel, which is always fantastic.
In terms of durability, ceramic is a porous material, so although it can last you a long time, it’s not the most durable plate. In terms of heat, ceramic plates do hold heat well, they have an even heat distribution, and they don’t get hot spots.
They do heat up quickly but they don’t heat up as quickly as some of the other materials we’re going to talk about.
Finally, for hair type suitability, ceramic plates are great for fine, thin, and sensitive hair because there’s less potential for it to burn your hair. Ceramic-coated plates work differently because they have a metal and a ceramic coating that plate. They get hot quickly because of the metal underneath the ceramic coating, but they don’t stay as hot and they don’t have even heat distribution. This is good to know.
Ceramic coated means that it’s a cheaper iron. These are the types of irons that you find on Amazon.
They can be great for a short duration of time, but they aren’t as high quality and they don’t hold the heat as well for as long. So you may just find that you’re just not getting the results you want, and that’s because it is a lower-grade item.
It’s not necessarily to say that you can’t have a ceramic-coated plate that you might not love. I have a lot of drugstore-level hot tools that I think are great and they do work, but if you’re comparing hot tools to a Toyota and Porsche, you know the full ceramic would be like your Porsche, and then a ceramic-coated would be like a Toyota.
It’s still gonna work well, it’s still gonna be okay, it might not last as long, it might not have the bells and whistles and all of those additional features that may be the Porsche car would have.
Tourmaline
Tourmaline is the newest in heat styling technology. Tourmaline is a gemstone, it’s a crystalline mineral that’s crushed up and it’s used to coat the ceramic plate. So this straightener is said to create an even smoother and glossier result and that’s because the crystalline mineral has a lot of negative ions.
So when it works with your hair, it creates a glossier, smoother result. It does have consistent heat and even heat distribution but the only con about this is that it can be extremely expensive. It’s kind of an innovative new technology.
It’s kind of like the hot thing in the market right now so these plates can just be a little bit more expensive than a traditional ceramic and I’m not 100% sure if you’re getting the benefit of that plate in terms of the actual look of the hair.
If you look at two pieces of hair side by side one is straightened with a tourmaline one is straightened with a true ceramic, well you notice the difference enough to warrant the price.
Titanium
Titanium is considered a forefront in straightener technology. In terms of smoothing capability, this has an incredible smoothing capability it does leave hair looking very, very straight very glossy, and very, very smooth. In terms of durability, it’s extremely, extremely durable it is not porous it’s not a porous material like ceramic so it does tend to last much longer and to also be just much more durable in general.
In terms of heat, titanium heats up very, very fast holds high heat very well and it also has really good heat distribution it’s better in those regards than an actual ceramic plate. Now, hair type suitability again is what is important this is a fantastic iron for someone with very thick super curly very resistant hair hair that just doesn’t straighten.
I have the Baby Less Pro Nano titanium Optima 3000 iron and I find that that iron will smooth out anything my clients with extremely, extremely thick resistant puffy crazy curly hair.
I do one or two passes with that and it is bone straight so it is an excellent iron however you can’t just go running out and buy yourself a titanium iron if you don’t have these issues. It’s not the best option for people like myself with really smooth soft very fine hair because it can scorch your hair like the nano titanium Optima 3000.
Metal Straighteners
Finally, let’s just mention the metal straighteners. There aren’t many of these out in the market anymore but you could find them for very, very, very cheap. I caution you to stay away from these irons completely.
They have uneven heat distribution, they get hot spots, they can kind of spike up real quick, and they can break easily but the worst thing about them is that they can cause a tremendous amount of damage and that’s damage that cannot be reversed once you scorch your hair that’s
