Best Hair Straightener [Review] in 2022

Whether you have wavy, frizzy, curly, thick, coarse, unruly hair, the flat irons are crucial in our hair care routine; the glossy, sleek finish is almost addictive. But the scorching temperatures can wreck your hair if you buy a poor quality straightener or forget the heat protectant.

We all love the finished look of using straighteners but hate the aftermath of using one. We’ve probably all forgot our heat protectant over the years, whether it was when you were younger, straightening your hair before school, or just in a rush to get to work. 

So while having a high-quality straightener is important, it is nothing without a trust heat protectant sidekick! Having sleek, shiny, luscious locks doesn’t need to come with a whirl of damage with the right products and right hair care. 

I’m here to show you everything you need to know when buying a hair straightener and how to care for your hair to prevent heat damage, so stay tuned my friends; you won’t want to miss this. 

Curling your hair with flat irons is a brilliant way to create full and bouncy curls that don’t look like ringlets; they also provide much more hold than any curler so that you can have defined, luscious curls for longer.

It may take a little practice, but once you’ve got the technique down, your curls will always look red carpet ready, plus you’ve saved yourself a hundred bucks on buying a curler!

Here’s the step by step to curling your hair with a straightener:

Step One: Wash & Blow Dry Your Hair:

You’ll want to start with freshly washed hair for the best results, so wash, condition, and blow-dry your hair like usual. Don’t forget your heat protectant; this is super important and the key to protecting your hair from heat damage.

Make sure you buy one suited for the temperatures of your straightener; some heat protectants only protect hair from the heat coming from your blow dryer and don’t protect against extreme temperatures such as flat irons. 

Work in sections when applying your heat protectant. Ensure you detangle thoroughly with a comb or detangling brush to ensure the heat protectant is evenly distributed over your strands. 

Dirty hair won’t hold the shape, and clean hair; you need to be sure that you’ve washed it in the past 24 hours. I like to use a mousse when curling my hair as it will keep my hair from looking too flat when I curl it. 

Step Two: Use A Thin Flat Iron:

For best results, I recommend using a thin flat iron around 1 to 2 inches in width; any thicker won’t form smooth curls as it is much harder to wrap this kind of straightener and keep hair in place. Thin flat irons are key to defined curls. 

A good quality flat iron is super important as it works faster, makes your hair smoother, and makes it less prone to damage like a poor quality flat iron. A poor quality flat iron will impact the shine and consistency of curls. 

You don’t need to spend a fortune on GHDs if you curl or straighten your hair once in a blue moon, but if you do straighten your hair regularly, I would recommend investing in a good quality flat iron. 

However, the only issue with GHDs is that they are at a set temperature, and you cannot customise that temperature, but their high-end technology and heat-protective features make up for it. 

The best flat irons, in my personal opinion, come with customizable temperature settings. 

Enough about me rambling on about GHDs; if you have fine hair, I would recommend keeping the temperature below 300 degrees, for normal hair stick between 300 and 380 and thick, coarse, frizzy hair can manage 350-400ºf. 

Step Three: Part Your Hair Into Sections:

Don’t try to tackle your whole head at once; it will leave your curls looking uneven and messy; the best thing you should do is work in sections. The thicker your hair, the more sections you’ll need. 

Tie your hair on top of your head for each section, so it is out the way, and you can work underneath, closest to your ears and neck, and work your way up. Work with 1, 2-inch sections at a time and pin up the rest. 

Once you’ve finished one section, part the next section and pin up your hair until you reach the top layer. 

Step Four: Curl Using Desired Technique:

You can use a few different techniques to curl your hair; it all depends on what works for you and what curls you’re looking to achieve. You can experiment with a few to see which one works for you. 

Flicks: If you want some wavy flicks in your hair, you should start halfway down the length of your hair, clamp the flat iron and turn it back on itself in a half-turn, creating a U-shape with the iron. 

Keeping that half-turn angle, slowly move it down to the tip of your hair strands. The faster you move the flat iron, the less pronounced curl/flick will be. So change the speed accordingly. 

Curls: For curls start fairly close to the scalp, but not enough to burn it, clap the flat iron and turn. It back on itself in half turn and run slowly down the hair shaft. 

Continue to twist the straightener as your run it down the shaft, but be slow and gentle. The slower you are, the tighter the curl, and the faster you move, the looser the wave. 

You can experiment with the direction you use, whether you do a full rotation or half rotation and how fast you run the straightener through your hair. This will all change the shape and hold of the curl. 

Step Five: Play With Your Curls:

Once you’ve worked through each section, you can either run your fingers through your hair or flip your head upside down and give your hair a little shake at the root to give more volume. 

Add in hair spray (optional), and then you’re good to go!

Check out my full guide here! 

The most common materials you’ll find in flat irons are either titanium plates or ceramic plates. Titanium flat irons tend to heat up quicker than ceramic plates, but the strength and speed you get don’t compete with the protection of ceramic plates.

With a ceramic flat iron, heat gets evenly distributed across the ceramic plates, often enhanced to further protect hair. 

Ceramic flat irons are often infused with tourmaline, which creates negative ions during the heat-up process; this adds a conditioning layer to protect and moisturize strands. 

Ceramic plates paired with infrared ions emit negative ions and emit heat evenly from the inside out to reduce visible damage and help retain moisture to protect strands. 

If you have quite damaged, whether that is from heat damaged or from chemical coloring treatments, you can also look into purchasing a steam hair straightener or a ceramic hair straightener with different heat options, this can help further protect your hair.  

The technology of hair straighteners is constantly evolving to better style your hair without damage. As long as you have your trusty heat protectant, there’s no reason why you can’t straighten your hair. 

As you know, protection is always better than a cure, especially when it comes to heat damage. Hence, protecting your hair before using a flat iron is super important for minimal damage and extraordinary results.

Make Sure To Deep Condition & Moisturize Before Use:

Before using any heat tools on your hair, you need to remember to wash your hair and deep condition using a hair mask before use. Leave the hair mask on for the recommended time, as this will help penetrate and nourish the cuticle. 

A deep conditioner will also work to smooth the cuticle, making it easier to straighten. I would recommend towel drying with a microfibre towel or cotton t-shirt rather than your regular bath towel as this can rough up the cuticle and cause frizz. 

Once you’ve gently removed the excess water from your strands using a microfibre towel, apply a leave-in conditioner as this will form a protective coating over your hair strand– preferably one with a heat protectant. 

Let Hair Air Dry 50-70% Naturally:

Blow drying your hair as soon as you get out of the shower can actually be quite damaging for your hair strands; hair is most prone to heat damage while soaking wet, so if you have an hour or two on your hands, then leave your hair to air dry then blow-dry. 

Then once your hair has been left to dry for a little while, the blow dryer will help straighten your hair, along with preventing knotting and tangling on the hair’s ends. 

Point the nozzle downwards and around 15-25cm away from your hair, working in sections to ensure each section is dried fully. Blow-dry your hair on medium-high heat and finish on a cool setting to protect your cuticle.s 

Never Forget Heat Protectant:

Let’s be honest here; we’ve all forgotten the heat protectant when styling our hair in the past, simply whether we’ve started styling our hair and have an “oh crap” moment or forgot altogether. 

But your heat protectant is the most crucial thing you should remember, especially when using a flat iron. Our hair strands are very similar to our skin; while we cannot feel it burning our strands, it does equally as much damage over time. 

You wouldn’t intentionally burn yourself with 450ºf heat, so why apply it to your hair without a heat protectant?

All the other steps are irrelevant if you don’t use a heat protectant. If you don’t use a heat protectant, your hair will become very dry, brittle, and prone to damage and breakage, along with frizz and tangling. 

Go For A Straightener With Customizable Heat Settings:

Having a flat iron with customizable heat settings is brilliant as you can lower the heat if you have quite damaged hair for less damage. GHD’s are set at 365ºf, which is ideal for normal hair but may not be ideal for fine, damaged hair. 

Other leading brands have a range of temperature settings to choose from so you can customize the temperature for your hair. If you have fine or damaged hair, keep the temperature below 300 degrees.

For normal hair stick between 300 and 380 and thick, coarse, frizzy hair can manage 350-400ºf.  

So how do you use a flat iron to straighten your hair? Well, following the first thing you’ll want to do is follow the tips above and use the same technique up to straightening your hair, such as washing, blow-drying, applying heat protectant, etc.

If you have quite thick, coarse hair, you can also apply a little extra heat protectant after blow-drying your hair for that added protection; it will be likely that the heat protectant will be absorbed into your hair and may need a top-up after drying, especially if you have high porosity hair.

That being said, if you have high porosity hair, make sure you apply your gels, creams, serums, or oils to the ends of your hair along with the heat protectant before drying to help smooth the cuticle and help close the cuticle.

Step One: Section Your Hair:

Just like curling your hair with a straightener, when using a flat iron to straighten your hair you should work in sections, starting underneath and working your way up. 

The number of sections you do will all depend on the thickness of your hair, if you have quite fine hair, then only a few sections will do, but if you have thick, coarse hair, you may be here a while…

Pin or clip up all the sections you’re not using and straighten each individual section, either pin your hair on top of your dead or behind your shoulders.

Step Two: Clamp the Straightener, Using A Comb To Guide Through:

For minimal damage, you want to be sure that the straightener glides over your hair, rather than snagging or pulling. I like to run the comb through each section before and when running the straightener over, this ensures each section is smooth. 

Start as close to your root as possible, and while I would only recommend running the straightener over each section, I know this isn’t realistic, so try to stick to 2-3 times. 

Smaller sections will mean that you won’t need to run it over with the straightner as much. Try to be gentle and not snag or pull on strands, you should try to glide the plates over your hair rather than drag it. 

Step Three: Apply Serum Or Oil:

Once you’ve gone over every section, make sure you apply a hydrating serum or oil to the ends, this will help restore hydration to the ends, along with providing a protective barrier to help keep your hair straighter for longer and not frizzy from the humidity. 

Apply a couple of pumps of oil or serum and rub it in between your fingers for a couple of sections and gently comb it through the mid-lengths and ends, this should leave your ends looking shiny and lucuious. 

How much is a hair straightener?

Well this is really more how much you should spend on a hair straightener, and this all depends on how often you straighten your hair and the condition your hair is in. I would recommend investing in GHD’s as they offer the most advanced technology and offer minimal damage if you can afford it. 

As a general rule of thumb, I recommend spending between $50-$200 on a hair straightener, aiming for around the $100 range. The materials tend to be of much better quality, and the technology is designed for minimal damage to your hair. 

How do you clean a hair straightener?

It is actually straightforward to clean a hair straightener; all you really need to do is wipe the plates over with some cloth or a wet wipe over the plates while they are still warm– not scolding hot, though, obviously. 

It is recommended that you do this once every month as the products on your hair will start to build upon the plates and leave your hair looking slightly greasy after using. 

Want more of a deep clean? Check out my full guide as to how here. 

How do you straighten your hair without a straightener?

There are a few ways you can straighten your hair without a flat iron; you can either blow dry your hair with cold air. This will help with frizz and is a great alternative to using heat. 

You can also professionally straighten your hair in the salon using a keratin treatment; this will help restore the protein in your hair and strengthen strands which helps with frizz.

I would only recommend doing this professionally. Using a $10 bottle that claims to “contain keratin” may only contain a dose of keratin and not enough to make any difference. Many professional brands cost $100-$200 a bottle, but it’s worth the money.

So there you have it, the best straighteners for your hair. Spending a little extra on a hair straightener is super important as it is an investment, and the more you spend, the higher quality materials you get and the longer the straightener will last. 

Plus, the better the technology will cause less damage to your hair strands and offer better results. Give any of the ones I have selected for you today; the quality is unmatched. 

&&& don’t forget your heat protectant, ladies!