Wednesday, May 1, 2024

12 Best Hair Straighteners & Flat Irons 2024, Tested by Experts

hair straighter

We straightened, styled, and even curled our hair to find the best of the best. The Chi Original Ceramic Hairstyling Iron has an under-30-second heat-up time and an extra-long ... Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times.

BEST OVERALL HAIR STRAIGHTENER

Keratin hair straightening is one way to get sleek and smooth hair while revitalizing it at the same time. But for the durability & effectiveness it provides, it’s worth the extra expense. Especially if your hair is “problematic” — as in, other flat irons didn’t do the job — we recommend BaByliss for its amazing strength and reliability. Like the other flat irons with titanium plates, you may want to stay away if your hair is damaged. Try out a tourmaline hair iron instead, such as the INFINITIPRO Tourmaline Flat Iron. Instead of just a hair straightener, you receive a decently-sized styling set.

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One quick pass at a high temperature is better than multiple slightly cooler passes. Its design is innovative, which can sometimes have a tricky learning curve, but testers rated the manual as most easy to understand. The plates are nice and wide, at 1.5 inches, which can make styling long hair a lot faster (although those with shorter hair may find the extra-wide plates unwieldy). My hair isn't curly, but it is wavy and frizzy from many years of home coloring.

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How do you clean a flat iron?

I’ve also noticed how many hairstylists I’ve seen opt to use Chi models, specifically this one. When I ask them why, they say they like its no-nonsense speed and versatility for creating everything from straight styles to flatiron waves. Over the years, we've tested more than 90 flat irons — and in our most recent Beauty Lab test, we tallied 2,013 heat data points and 960 survey responses.

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Romanowski advises going up to at least 300 degrees to get the job done. Try temperatures above 400 degrees only if you find that you have to do multiple passes on strands of hair. Again, the goal is to limit the amount of time that you use a straightener on your hair.

Our top picks for best hair straighteners

Before using each straightener, I started with freshly washed, conditioned and towel-dried hair. While my hair was wet, I first liberally spritzed a heat protectant (I used this Bumble & Bumble oil) throughout. I then blow dried my hair with a round brush so it was dry, but I didn’t take extra time to style it. I continued with each section until I reached the top of my head. I assessed how many passes each flat iron required to make my hair straight, smooth, shiny and free of frizz.

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Additionally, we believe the ion technology truly did give us softer, shinier strands. With our hair woes solved, our one wish is an automatic shut-off, but given all of its other great features we can let this con slide. Though the slim rectangular water reservoir for the steam feature makes the design a bit bulky, it wasn't heavy to hold or cumbersome when styling. One thing we noted is that we spent a little more time styling finer hair, as it was more likely to slip through the plates. This Hot Tools flat iron gave us sleek, shiny tresses fast — and with less heat than many other options, courtesy of its steamer function.

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This reduces the frizz in your hair, helps solve the issue of split ends, and seals the hair shaft. You may not need to trim your hair as often if you use tourmaline irons. These plates heat up your flat iron evenly and quickly, which results in better heat distribution. That, in turn, makes them more effective even on hair that was never anywhere close to straight in the first place. They do not, however, offer the same degree of success as a flat iron.

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But by using a quality device and using it correctly, you can reduce your chances of heat damage and keep your hair looking healthy (and as straight as you prefer). In a Lab test, we found that the flat iron heats up fast, reaching 99% of its claimed temperature in just 30 seconds. A good straightening iron is essential for giving hair that silky smooth, glass-like shine — but you'll need to opt for one that fits your budget and hair type without totally frying your hair in the process. Find your perfect flat iron, whether your hair is damaged and thin, or thick and frizzy. Playing Ginny is a “refreshing and cathartic experience” for Gentry.

No matter your hair type, you’ll be capable of achieving a really smooth look with this product. HSI sports 1″ plates, which means it’s good for really short hair and even bangs, but it will work with long cuts, too. Longer hair will take you a while to style, as 1″ is rather thin for a flat iron.

Today's hair straighteners get the job done—without the damage or the drama. In fact, they often go above and beyond and can double as a curling iron, smooth frizzy hair, and even condition. There’s a flatiron option for everyone, from folks with the tightest of curls to fine, straight hair. The best hair straighteners can withstand even the steamiest weather and the most unfortunate of hair days—without frying hair in the process.

Jessica (she/her) is a deputy editor at the Good Housekeeping Institute and a longtime product tester, reviewer, writer and editor of beauty and lifestyle content. You can usually find her sorting through piles of beauty products — and testing the best ones on camera. Some flat irons claim to prevent damage, and others claim to be made with the best material for a healthy shine, but as a shopper, it can be confusing to tell which is best. In our penultimate test of flat irons at the Good Housekeeping Institute, we rounded up more than 50 products from over 20 manufacturers to find the best flat irons — and in our most recent test, we added 40 more.

Straightening brushes all have their perks and downsides, but this one has more of the former. It’s astoundingly powerful for a brush, super-gentle, and easy to use — so much so that you can gift this to a pre-teen and let them explore hairstyling from an early age. The design allows you to get quite close to the scalp without hurting yourself, so you don’t really have to worry about having an uneven hair texture. For this story, she compiled insights from our in-house testers, read dozens of online reviews, and rounded up our top picks. She also spoke with hair experts Annagjid Kee Taylor, Kieron Justin, and Laurabeth Cabott.

Before we show you our favorite hair straighteners, let’s have a quick look at the most important things for you to consider while shopping. After applying a heat protectant and curl cream, Justin tells us to separate the hair into manageable sections, starting with the bottom layers of hair first, moving from the base of the head to the tip of the strand. To create the curl, “run the irons from the root to the end, twisting the iron at 180 or 360 degrees slowly away from the face with the iron vertical until you reach the tips of the hair,” says Justin. Repeat this method around your head, changing the direction of how you curl the hair to add depth and dimension. If you want a more natural look, Taylor suggests allowing the curls to cool before combing through with your fingers and  giving your hair a good tousle. I especially liked the wide range of temperatures on this iron, which I toggled between for more intense straightening sessions on rainy, humid days or for quick, second-day touchups.

12 Best Hair Straighteners and Flatirons in 2024, Beloved by Testers and Hairstylists

hair straighter

Another high-end iron we tested, the BaBylissPro Nano, is very narrow and overall good, but we didn’t find anything to justify the cost. In size and design it’s very similar to our budget pick from Conair, except the Nano has a longer cord. An ideal straightener gets quite hot, but not hotter than 460 ºF, with clear and granular controls that will help you figure out what temperature your hair responds to. At Roberto’s salon we will help you look and feel your very best in a professional and friendly environment. The ultra-private “Cowboy Carter” crooner hopped on the viral haircare trend and posted a nearly two-minute clip taking followers through the multistep process of caring for her color-treated tresses. In it, she explained how she maintains her textured blond hair with her seven-product regimen (and other tools) and subtly flexed about her “long and healthy” hair.

hair straighter

The best hair straighteners for sleek, shiny lengths

The iron will distribute heat unevenly, leaving you with less-than-desirable hair. This flat iron will straighten just about any type of hair, even type 4C, with ease. The titanium plates make it distribute heat evenly as well as generate the highest possible amount of warmth.

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Best Titanium Hair Straightener Kipozi Titanium Flat Iron

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They also give the hair some slip and control, for more long-lasting straightness. "A relaxer is a permanent hair straightening method to remove all curl/wave from the hair," says Ramos. It uses chemicals, like sodium hydroxide, to permanently break those disulfide bonds in the hair and keep it straight. The solution is applied to dry hair, processed, and then washed with a neutralizing shampoo to lock the straightness in place. A silk press is similar to flat ironing, except the prep is more intense. "A silk press involves deep washes and cleanses to the scalp and hair followed by a blow-dry and straightening the hair," says Roque.

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Styling takes time, and flat irons can be a financial investment, so you want to be sure you’re choosing the right one. After extensively testing factors such as maneuverability, performance and temperature range—and re-evaluating over the course of a year—I landed on the top models on the market. I chose the T3 SinglePass StyleMax as the best overall for its excellent straightening and smoothing power. This Paul Mitchell model is a straightening powerhouse for those with long, thick or coarse hair, and its ceramic construction and temperature variability make it a good fit for fine hair as well. While most flat irons are best when used on 1-inch sections of hair, I found that this iron’s broad plates offered extended surface area to cover bigger sections of hair. This allowed me to work faster to smooth my shoulder blade-length strands and tame frizz from roots to ends.

It made its way to the United States in 2000 where it has grown in popularity as the number one system for permanent hair straightening. Somewhere midway between a modern mousse and a full-on straightening cream, blow-dry lotions and sprays are a more lightweight formulation and give a more natural finish. If super-polished results are what you’re after, it may be worth investing in an anti-frizz product, like Bed Head by TIGI Get Twisted Anti-Frizz Finishing Spray, to help smooth your hair and transform it into luxuriously sleek locks. "A keratin treatment is a chemical treatment that uses safe amounts of formaldehyde to help smooth the hair follicle," says Roque.

With a real-time digital display, good-size plates, and no sharp corners or gaps to snag your hair, the GVP flat iron makes straightening quick and effortless. This lightweight and bargain-priced Remington delivers smooth strands that stay in place. The tool was the lightest-weight of the winners in our most recent test (0.77 pounds!) and tied for best at maintaining sleekness. "One pass for effective straightening that lasted," an evaluator said, with another adding hair "felt soft and looked straight with this iron," perfect for even tough-to-manage frizzy hair. Still, it ranked best in almost all categories, including fully straightening hair and keeping it sleek and frizz-free all day. It also got perfect marks from testers for gliding smoothly through hair and being easy to use, with all commenting on the "noticeable shine" in just one pass.

The titanium plates on its styling iron slid through our hair like butter and took no stragglers in the process. We took advantage of its slightly curved edges to target the flyaways around our faces — a feat we weren’t able to accomplish with the bulky, rectangular designs of traditional flat irons. It also features Drybar's signature Ionic Technology, which releases negative ions to seal the cuticle to lock in the style and prevent frizz. We spoke with Trefor Evans, the director of research at TRI Princeton, a hair testing and consulting firm; cosmetic chemist Perry Romanowski; and stylist Tippi Shorter, Aveda’s global artistic director for textured hair. We read research papers on heat damage, blog posts about hair destroyed by hair straighteners, plus hundreds of customer reviews of various flat irons. When it comes to material, professionals tend to favor titanium flat irons.

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This straightener comes with a five-year warranty—the longest of all our flat iron picks. We tried dropping each of the straighteners a few times each on a tile floor and then turned them on to see if they still worked (all of them did). We noted the time it took to straighten or style hair with each straightener and if any snagged pieces of hair.

The iron’s ceramic floating plates had an extremely smooth glide, and the plate’s beveled edges let me angle the iron as I moved it through my hair to create waves sans creases. In a time when heatless curls and moisturizing hair masks are all over TikTok, your old straightener from high school may be gathering dust. But while you may cringe at the core memory of your hair literally smoking as you used the hair straightener, the classic hair tool is far from a relic of the past.

Still, as we noted above, using a slightly hotter temperature in favor of being able to work quickly may help minimize damage, versus applying lower amounts of heat for more time. If you dye your hair lighter colors, a flat iron may not be the best tool for your hair. Cosmetic chemist Perry Romanowski has tested straighteners on hair dyed in a range of colors and found that high heat from straightening can change color noticeably for blondes or redheads.

The handbag-friendly size is a revelation, yet it still proves powerful enough to achieve salon-worthy results – even on thick and curly hair. The plates reach a maximum of 200 degrees (there are three settings to choose from) and the floating ceramic plates mean you'll get results every bit as good as with a traditional corded pair. While innovation in the styling arena abounds, there’s still little getting around the fact that flat-plate hair straighteners can tug on your hair, inevitably contributing to damage. If your hair is really damaged, it might be good to seek other treatments before you pick up your straighteners once again.

12 Best Hair Straighteners & Flat Irons 2024, Tested by Experts

Table Of Content BEST OVERALL HAIR STRAIGHTENER Best 2-in-1 Hair Straightener Furiden Hair Straightener and Curler How do you clean a flat i...