Best Flat Iron 2017 — Hair Straightener Reviews

Any woman who has ever wondered what the best flat iron or hair straightener for her type of hair is knows the feeling of being overwhelmed with the sheer amount of options, bells and whistles they can come with.

There are different sizes, materials, coatings and heat settings for just the heating plates, let alone trying to find the one that will suit your particular type of hair, style or budget.

Hello, my name’s Erika and this little blog is my modest attempt at making your decision to purchase your next straightener just a little bit easier.

I’ve done my best to compile what I believe is a list of the top straighteners you can find.

Which one do I pick?

Picking out your next straightener does not have to be hard, but there are a few things to keep in mind before making a final decision on your purchase:

What type of hair do you have? Is it thin or weak? You might want to go with one that doesn’t get as hot, whereas people with thicker or frizzier hair need the extra heat to get the results they want.

Are you just wanting to straighten your hair or do you want to be able to curl, wave or spiral your hair?

Do you want to be able to use your iron if your hair is wet?

Without further ado, let’s get straight into the nitty gritty, shall we? I know, stupid joke…

BaBylissPRO Nano Titanium – Best Overall Hair Straightener

When you’ve got a special occasion or event coming up, you want to look your best.

You’ve purchased a new dress, new shoes and makeup for the special day – but what to do with your hair when it just can’t be tamed?

Good news, the Babyliss Pro Straightening Iron can solve the dilemma for you!

When you need to straighten or style your hair, this compact multifunction beauty packed full of features can leave you feeling glamorous and like a rock star!

Today we take a full look at all the benefits and highlights the Babyliss Pro  offers to make your next hair iron purchase a simple decision to make.

It features ultra smooth titanium plates that allow high temperatures (up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit) and that are 5″ long  with wider sections that allow for increased effectiveness and flexibility while styling.

Cutting styling time in half, the Babyliss Pro Straightening Iron is great for women on the go that care about the quality of their hair. State of the art titanium plates ensure snag free and damage resistant control when straightening your hair, a must have feature for all straightening iron users.

It is available in a range of sizes to suit your hair requirements – you can choose from a 1-inch plate, a 1.5-inch plate and a 2-inch plate dependent on length and thickness level of your hair. There’s something to suit everyone’s needs.

CHI Air Expert – Best Ceramic Straightener

Next up, we’ll look at one of the most well-known brands and that is CHI.

They were one of the first companies to hit the market with a ceramic iron and are still considered one of the best hair straightener brands out there.

When you’re after a professional salon result for your hair, consider purchasing the Chi Air Expert Classic Tourmaline Ceramic Flat Iron.

With so many features and functions for various hair styles and lengths, it’s got you covered for all your hair styling needs – whether you have curly thick hair, or thin and weak hair.

These babies feature 1.5″ floating ceramic plates that are infused with tourmaline – allowing greater ease of use and styling, while protecting the hair and minimising damage. It also makes use of innovative Far Infrared technology which reduces static and promotes a healthy hair shine while protecting from snags.

While it doesn’t warm up as fast of gets as hot (max temperature is 410F) as other irons on the market, it does an excellent job while using less heat due to the superior heat distribution on the ceramic plates.

With so many versatile functions, you can’t go wrong with purchasing this hair tool – it’s great for all hair types. When you are looking for a professional finish on your hair while protecting hair health, choosing the Chi Air Expert Iron for your next iron purchase is a great decision.

Rusk RSK732 – Best Iron for Natural, African American Hair

Our next contender is the Rusk RSK732.

Things to also consider when purchasing a straightening iron are factors such as hair type – do you have thick, curly or wavy hair? Or thin and weak hair?

Be mindful of your hair type when deciding what iron to purchase to achieve the best results for your hair – some aren’t suitable for thin and weak hair and may cause too much damage to the strands causing breakage.

This is the best flat iron for natural hair that requires more heat to get the same soft, silky and shiny appearance that you get with other types of hair. It is why it is very popular with many African American women.

The RSK732 is incredibly quick at heating up to high temperatures, enabling instant access to immediate styling needs, easily reaching over 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Because this iron gets hotter than most others, it is more suitable for longer hairstyles versus shorter ones. If you have a shorter hairstyle, you will be straightening closer to you scalp and the risk of accidentally burning yourself is a little higher.

Another thing to keep in mind is that, like a large number of straighteners, this one does not have an automatic shut off function. While that is not a dealbreaker for most, it can be of concern for the more forgetful among us.

Croc Classic Nano Titanium – Best Iron for Long and Thick Hair

On to our next one, the Croc Classic Nano-Titanium straightener.

One thing you’ll instantly notice about this one is its ergonomic design, so maneuvering this tool through your hair is almost effortless. In short, this baby means business!

With its 1.5″ titanium ionic plates, this tool is more suited for people with longer hair while still managing to straighten hair in record time and giving it a salon-quality shine.

For those with little time, the Croc Classic heats up very quickly so you can start straightening right away. Oh, did we mention there are 18 different temperature settings on this thing? You can easily find the right styling temperature for your hair type.

The Croc Classic titanium plates also features a nano-silver coating, this technology keeps it from getting too dirty or smelly due to product build-up. Cleaning is still required from time to time, but much less so than with other irons. All in all, this is a very low maintenance straightener.

The precision digital temperature system with the FND Digital display take out all the guess work as you can change and see the temperature controls very easily.

ghd Professional Classic – The Original ghd Styler

This multi-award winnning, stylist recommended hair straightener has been around for quite a while and for good reason: it is tried and true.

This particular straightener has been so popular that you need to do your homework when shopping for one of these. The ghd Professional Classic has been widely imitated and plenty of knockoffs exist on the market, so please make sure you buy from a reputable seller.

This iron has smooth, contoured ceramic heat plates so you can style your hair snag-free and scorch-free, it also features a barrel-like design which is excellent if you’re wanting to curl or spiral your hair.

While it does only have one optimal heat setting, the ceramic heaters make the most of that heat by distributing it evenly across the plates.

Lastly, this iron also has an automatic sleep mode that kicks in after 30min of not using it, so you never have to worry of you’ve left it plugged in or not.