The 9 Best Hair Straighteners of 2024, Tested by Real Simple

Table Of Content

• Best Frizzy Hair Products for Smoother, Softer Strands
• Cloud Nine The Touch Iron
• Best Cordless: Harry Josh Pro Tools Cordless Ceramic Styling Iron 1 Inch
• selectHow to find the best shampoo to help repair damaged hair
• The Best Ceramic Flat Irons for Professional-Looking Hair
• Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask
• FHI Heat Platform Tourmaline Flat Iron

The flat iron is made with titanium-infused ceramic plates that heat up very fast. When you put the flat iron on, it only takes about 40 seconds for the plates to reach maximum temperatures. The plates are 1.25 inches wide, which we found very effective, especially if you have medium to long tresses. If you have limited time to straighten your hair, such as during meeting breaks or lunchtime, this flat iron will come in handy because it heats up pretty fast.

Best Frizzy Hair Products for Smoother, Softer Strands

Keep in mind that this iron is fairly thin, measuring at just an inch in width. Perfect for shorter cuts and bangs, decent for long hair if you’ve got enough patience. The busy and forgetful among us will also appreciate the 90-minute auto shutoff feature which means you can glam up in the morning and leave without worrying if you forgot to turn off your flat iron. This is a good thing because you need to minimize damage as much as possible. Your hair is more prone to breakage and dries out much faster so high heat will scorch it, leaving it fried and frazzled.

Cloud Nine The Touch Iron

The best straighteners for thick hair in 2024 - Expert Reviews

The best straighteners for thick hair in 2024.

Posted: Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Plus, it comes with hairpins, a glove, a travel bag, a detangling brush, and a straightening comb. Though the gorgeous white finish and gold accents give this tool an elevated, luxurious appearance, the design was uncomplicated and straightforward, especially for beginners. One button controls all four heat settings and a clear LED screen on the handle flashes when one is changed. You also won't have to worry about whether you left it on or not — it shuts off automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity.

Best Cordless: Harry Josh Pro Tools Cordless Ceramic Styling Iron 1 Inch

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. With Cabott's help, along with two other celebrity stylists, we tested 25 of the most popular hair straighteners currently available in search of the very best. 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. This speed-heating, power-smoothing CHI earned a rare perfect score with GH’s expert evaluators and was by far our top-tested flat iron.

Featuring keratin-infused plates, the Remington S8590 Keratin Therapy Straightener provides essential vitamins and proteins to your hair while you style, in order to smooth frizz and create shine. Not only that, but the iron has an advanced, built-in heat sensor that adjusts the temperature to your own personalized setting, so you never have to worry about accidentally frying your hair. You can get over 40 minutes of styling time on a single battery, and you can adjust the heat up to 425˚F.

That's why there's not a single best one-size-fits-all hair straightener. To curate the perfect list of top straighteners, we identified reviewers' favorite flat irons to address each of the most common problems, wants, and needs. This flat iron only comes with 6 heat settings and for fine hair, you’ll likely only be able to safely use the first two of those. While those lower settings are definitely up to the task for healthy hair or even dyed hair, they may still be too hot for fragile hair. The main method flat irons use for controlling frizz and flyaways is by using ionic technology.

So, even if you forgot to unplug the straightener, you can have the peace of mind that it will not cause accidents. Another awesome feature of this straightener is that it allows you to adjust the heat settings to as low as 270°F for fragile and fine tresses. If the straightener gets too hot, it uses an intelligent safety temperature reduction system to the preset level. The straightener uses ceramic floating plates with a high spec gloss finish that makes styling easy.

Best Titanium Straightener

We also tapped master barber stylist Darrius Peace; Lindsay Ryan, senior stylist at Mirror Mirror; and hair stylist Terri Rehkopf of Ippodaro Natural Salon to provide tips on shopping for hair straighteners. Titanium is known for its strength and durability and applies more intense heat to the hair. "Titanium straighteners are suitable for individuals with thick and coarse hair due to the high temperatures they provide," says Rehkopf. "Thicker sections of hair can be flat ironed in half the time compared to ceramic plates. However, they can easily burn hair if not used carefully." When testing this product on curly hair, we found that this straightener moved over strands smoothly—and curled hair well, too. That said, fine hair slipped out from between the plates, and their larger size made it difficult to curl shorter, fine hair.

"It heats up quickly and is a very even heat, which translates to better results and less time go over the same strands of hair." This straightener proves that you can find high-quality hot tools on a budget. This electric hot brush also makes styling incredibly easy—all you have to do is run it through your hair like a traditional brush.

Furthermore, it easily recognizes the thickness of the locks to ensure you get optimal shine and strength. The first flat iron for fine hair on our list is this BaBylissPro Nano Titanium Straightener, which has stood out for its excellent performance. BaBylissPro used the latest technology on this flat iron to make styling fast and fun without wrecking damage on your hair. You will also like the straightener because of its sleek looks and durability. Titanium plate flat irons are always in a league of their own, but this one shines amongst all the other good contenders. It has an LCD screen that makes it easy to see what temperature setting you’re currently using.

With this flat iron, you can straighten your locks in less than ten minutes because of the vibrations. The most notable thing about this flat iron for fine hair is its ultra-predictive technology that recognizes every section of your locks and adapts appropriately to ensure the temperature remains consistent on both plates. It monitors temperatures about 250 times/second so that it remains within your preset level.

Another awesome thing about this straightener is its ergonomic design that helps to reduce fatigue when you are straightening or styling your tresses. For example, it is very light and easy to hold, allowing you to create super sleek ‘do straight without tiring your arms and hands. Unlike other straighteners, the suspended plates perfectly align with your hair to capture each strand in one stroke, helping you achieve a one pass perfection that will help not to cause any damage to your thin hair. If you feel like you’re constantly pumping mousses and dry shampoos into your roots, only for them to fall flat mere minutes later, you likely need to take a few steps back. The road to thick, full hair actually starts in the shower – specifically, with a specialist shampoo for fine hair.

The vegan, color-safe mask uses the company’s patented peptide formula that promises smoothness, softness and bounce. To use it, the brand says to shampoo your hair first but not to condition it. My hair isn't curly, but it is wavy and frizzy from many years of home coloring. I was concerned that the straightening process would be too damaging to my already over-processed hair. Takako examined my hair and she determined that straightening would not harm my hair and that I was a good candidate. Step 3 - Applying the Activator (First Solution)The hair is separated into sections and the solution is applied to your hair avoiding the scalp.

The winner of the GH Beauty Lab’s hair dryer test, BaBylissPro’s model dried hair fastest of all those evaluated. In calculations of drying time of standardized prewashed hair samples, it earned a perfect score, outperforming every other hairdryer tested. It also received high marks for its strong airflow and simple to operate buttons and attachments. This applies even to the most gentle models with low heat and plenty of protection. If you intend to straighten your hair daily, make sure you invest in a really good, delicate straightener, such as the MiroPure Enhanced Hair Straightener Brush. They’re not as strong as titanium, so if your hair is really curly, you’re not going to love the result.

This professional-grade flat iron is one of the easiest to use and most durable designs on the market. The super lightweight nano titanium plates give you salon-quality results without pulling or snagging on your hair. As counter intuitive as it sounds, you need a hot tool that doesn’t get too hot and frizz control that doesn’t control frizz too much. With fine hair, the top three priorities are lower temperatures, a wide range of temperature settings, and mild frizz or static control. Another heat-related factor to consider in a straightener is its plates, which are what hold and distribute heat from the iron onto your hair. If you have thin hair, you should look for an iron with plates made of either ceramic or tourmaline.

The flat iron is designed with a titanium protection coating that helps with fast heating and styling. When you turn it on, it only takes about 30 seconds to heat and reach maximum temperature. To straighten fine tresses with this flat iron, you should use the cooler of the heat settings preferably less than 300°F. You will also love the floating plates that expand easily to accommodate locks of different thicknesses.