New Flat irons are at the $20 USD range

Do you remember paying $150 to $200 US Dollars for a ceramic, ionic flat iron? Were you really paying for a lightweight microwave attached to two heated plates? I believe that you can purchase a microwave to cook food at about $100. So maybe the beauty industry finally realizes that the indirect heat of the ionic flat irons were destroying too much hair? Notice the word "new" on the Revlon SmoothStay titanium plate flat iron packaging pictured? Titanium plates have proven to be smoother to run down the hair strand than the ceramic plates. Notice these new flat irons are not promoting any "ionic" nor "far infrared heating." I am so excited about the new technology push and its price points. At $20 US Dollars, there is no excuse! All you flat iron addicts, can now try a healthier flat iron with adjustable temperature that is not designed to "cook" your hair from the inside out! These New flat irons pictured were found in a local Target store in December 2011.

Flat iron damage: Plate Burn Pattern

Occasionally, people are selling used flat irons on line such as this one pictured. Do you see a solid black area running down the center of the flat iron plate? Well, this is a sign that you are frying your hair by not using enough heat protection serums/sprays prior to using this flat iron. Although, this is not the worst picture I have seen, but this was the only picture I found during the time of me composing this article.

I may add a few more pictures as I run into them on the Internet to give you a better idea of "frying hair." I recently sold four professional flat irons online. All were used and not one had a "burn pattern." They all looked brand new. I had to remove heat protector "clingy" residue from the side ridges of my flat irons, but the plates stayed a uniform, consistent color unlike the picture I obtained from the Internet in this article. The fact that my "used" flat irons had no burn patterns were a sigh of relief. It let me know that while I still feel that ionic flat irons "microwave" hair, I was using adequate heat protection serums to prolong as much short-term damage as possible.

Remember once the hair is extremely damaged; it will eventually break off. Please see my article on the flat iron free pledge and consider going back to the curling irons.

Is your Flat Iron Burning your Hair Test

This is a Babyliss Tourmaline Ionic, Ceramic Flat iron with adjustable temperature. I turned it on to the highest setting and let it sit still for 10 minutes until I felt it heated up and was "piping hot."
I clamped this flat iron onto some toilet paper. Smooth paper versus "quilted" is better. After holding my grip for about a minute. I let go.
The discoloration of the toilet paper shows that this flat iron could burn the hair. I placed a black mark on the toilet paper in order to show that it was the same test piece of paper. I know that most people would not hold their flat iron in one place on the hair for a whole minute, but you can try this test with different flat irons to see if you get varied results. Remember this was a Tourmaline, Ionic flat iron. A good flat iron should "silken" the paper without obvious discoloration. Babyliss has come out with their Titanium plated flat irons. They may eliminate this potential damage. Titanium plates are scratch resistant and may help eliminate static electricity. Metal is suppose to have the ability to reduce static electricity in clothes. Ex. Running a metal hanger down your clothes is a static electricity reducer.