My life changed when I discovered the the flat iron. (Well, ok, my hair and my look definitely changed, if not my entire lifestyle).
After the first couple of times the hairdresser used a hot iron on my hair, I invested and bought a professional flat iron to use at home myself - it cost around $90. Today they are much less expensive and design and performance is vastly improved too.
With hair that is neither straight nor curly, neither long nor short, thick yet not frizzy, and generally in good condition, it has been a life saver in terms of avoiding bad hair days.
Although I have heard many times hairdressers exclaim what great hair I have (thick and bouncy), I felt it was a rare day when I was totally happy with the way my hair looked. Because of it's unruly waves, it seems to take a long time each morning if I wanted it to look good for the rest of the day.
Oh, how I longed for dead straight locks that grew downwards instead of outwards, and stayed in place throughout the entire day - and night. I envied woman who just got up in the morning, ran a comb through their hair and were out the door in a flash looking great - what was their secret?
The flat iron? What a wonderful invention. Not too difficult to use - hot irons are pretty quick, and give straight hair exactly where I wanted it that lasted for a couple of days.
I learned the hard way of the damage heated hair appliances can do to hair with over-use. Dried out, stick-straight, straw-like results don't actually look very nice. So it was back to hair care basics and a bit of extra attention if I was going to get salon-perfect results every time using the flat iron.
Best of all, I actually use far less product on my hair to get the result I want. And it takes less effort.
Here's the simple how-to, to get a glossy sleekness never before achieved with LBF (Life Before Flat-irons).
On damp hair, always use a dollop of straightening product designed to also protect you hair against the heat of a straight iron.
Comb it through your hair, then dry your hair as usual using a directional nosal on your hairdryer. Blowdry your hair in the direction you want it to lay. Use a big brush when drying to hair smooth and give extra shine.'
On dry hair, apply a silky smooth serum - sparingly. This will help flatten the hair cuticles. Don't go too near the roots. You don't want hair plastered down on your head.
Pin up the top layers of your dry hair and start underneath. Use the flat iron about 2 or 3 inches away from your scalp. Slide it down your hair in a continuous motion so not to burn your hair or scalp.
Repeat until all sections of your hair have received the flat iron treatments. Finish we a final tiny application of smoothing serum and you're ready to go!
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As seen in Oprah’s Magazine!