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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. A number of straighteners claim to emit negative ions, often thanks to tourmaline-infused plates, which supposedly straighten hair faster and reduce frizz. We discuss this in our guide to hair dryers, but basically, ions would theoretically help kill static. In practice, Evans says he’s found that some hair dryers are able to do this.
How we picked
If you have been injured by a chemical hair straightening product, now is the time to consult with an attorney and discuss your options. If you place your hand at the bottom of the iron while the plates are closed, you risk getting some skin caught in the hinge. The hinge on the Pro G2 Digital is similarly designed—with the plates closed, there’s enough space at the bottom of the device to trap a finger. On most of the other flat irons we tested, however, the hinge placement and width were unnoticeable. If you dye your hair lighter colors, a flat iron may not be the best tool for your hair.
Detox Dry Shampoo
If you find yourself going through new hair straighteners on a semi-regular basis, the Conair InfinitiPro Tourmaline Ceramic Flat Iron offers the longest warranty—five years—among the flat irons we tested. The 1-inch-wide model is lightweight at 0.51 pound and comfortable to hold. All of the irons we tested weighed less than a pound, and the difference between the lightest and heaviest straighteners was minimal (1 to 2 ounces). The GVP weighs 0.56 pound—it was one of the heaviest straighteners we tested, but it weighed only 0.12 pound more than the lightest straightener we tested.
Get Your Free Hair Straightener Lawsuit Case Review
Within the same MDL, it’s possible for some plaintiffs to win their case and others to lose. Conair Corporation is an American company based in Stamford, Connecticut which sells small appliances, personal care products, and health and beauty products for both professionals and consumers. The buttons are color-coded and are located on the outside of the plates.
Money Maker Flexible Hold Hairspray
Wider plates are bulkier and increase the chances of accidentally clamping the same sections of hair multiple times, and the chance of warping, such that the plates don’t meet evenly across the whole surface. Plus, they’re not great for people with curly or textured hair, who need to focus on small sections of hair at a time, or people with short hair. Likewise, we aimed for straighteners with plates on the long side, but not so long the straightener wouldn’t be maneuverable.
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A budget flat iron
This was probably because the most expensive straighteners featured easy-to-hold casings and high-quality hinges that allowed for easy gripping. With flat irons, we’ve found that price correlates pretty well with quality. Except for our budget pick, the models we tested that cost less than $60 were not worth buying. “Any time there’s friction, there’s tugging and snagging and fatiguing of the hair,” said Trefor Evans.
This can lead to a number of health risks, including reproductive cancers. 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. This straightener comes with a five-year warranty—the longest of all our flat iron picks. The straightener is the same overall length as the GVP, but the casing is slimmer in width by about half an inch and the plates are slightly shorter (around 3.25 inches). We noted the time it took to straighten or style hair with each straightener and if any snagged pieces of hair.
Professional Products
People with fine or thick hair especially need to see how hot the straightener is before clamping it down on their hair. The GVP takes 40 seconds to bring its 3.5-inch-long plates to 360 °F and one minute to get to 450 °F, about as fast as the rest of the irons. All flat irons straighten and curl hair about the same, but the GVP Ceramic Titanium Digital Flat Iron stands out because it heats up quickly and is well-constructed enough to style hair without causing snags or dents. The GVP also includes features that are usually found on higher-end models, like a real-time digital display and accurate temperature, at a midrange price.
The Lightweight Rusk W8less Beats All the Pricey Hair Dryers I’ve Tried. And It’s Under $100.
However, normal conditioners (like ones you use in the shower after shampoo) “do a wonderful job of killing static flyaway,” Evans said. “If you use a conditioner, you barely get any static buildup anyway,” he added. If you’re straightening your hair, you’d better be using a conditioner in the shower. Tool weight and cord length can greatly impact your overall experience in using a flat iron. We also preferred models with warranties (since sometimes the electronics simply burn out) and automatic shutoff features, as it’s dangerous to leave hot plates lying around. When it comes to plate size, stylist Tippi Shorter said that a 1-inch-wide plate is the best option for most people.
After decades of use, in 2022, a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found a positive correlation between use of chemical hair straighteners and diagnoses of uterine cancer. People who used hair relaxers more than four times a year were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer as people who never used chemical straighteners. In 2023, a 25-year study was released that supported the connection between the use of chemical hair relaxers and uterine cancer. Price can vary, with straighteners that cost from as little as $20 to more than $200.
There are some general temperature guidelines by hair type, but even those vary by head. The now-discontinued Rusk Deepshine was slightly lighter—0.44 pound—than our runner-up pick, the Rusk W8less, which weighs half a pound. The Deepshine straightener was the lightest model of all the flat straighteners we tested, but it didn’t feel as sturdy as the W8less and other models we considered.
We tested the straighteners on three friends’ hair to see how they worked on different hair textures. 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. One quick pass at a high temperature is better than multiple slightly cooler passes.
These products tended to be less irritating than the lye version, although they were more likely to dry hair out. Chemical hair straighteners have been in use in the United States for over 100 years. Over that time, a variety of different chemicals have been used to relax and straighten hair.
Studies have shown that people who use these products four or more times a year have a greater chance of developing reproductive cancer. Most of the irons we tested were equipped with a dial to change the temperature instead of a digital display. Per all our experts’ advice, figuring out the right temperature to get your hair straight in as close to a single fluid pass is crucial to helping it maintain its health. The GVP’s display will best allow you to figure out the right temperature and use it consistently.
After hearing consistent reports from our experts, we decided to exclude most straighteners that cost less than $50, except for one or two of the highest-rated ones to be certain. The basic technology is the same in all the devices, said Romanowski; the difference is that the more expensive ones (which he defined as $50 and up) have higher quality electronics that last longer. “You can get a $20 flat iron, and maybe it works for a couple of months, and then it breaks, and that’s because they’re using cheap electronics,” he said.
Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time). The HSI Professional Ceramic Tourmaline Flat Iron is bulky and uncomfortable to hold. And all of the dials and buttons are located inside the straightener, dangerously close to the plates.
