Flat Iron Guide

How to Choose a Flat Iron?

Most of women with short, medium to long hair use 1" to 1-1/4" wide flat iron. If your hair is well past your shoulders in length, and coarse or thick, you can choose a flat iron with 1-1/2" or wider plate. It might save some time, but you'll sacrifice easy maneuverability.

For the average women, a small and light weight flat iron, like 1" plate, offers better control, and therefore much easier to handle. We recommend FITI Lilii hair straightener.

How to Use a Flat Iron?

1. Always start using your flat iron on clean and dry hair, best after shampooing and conditioning the hair with a moisture-rich formula in both your shampoo and conditioner. While hair is wet, use a frizz control product (like Phytodefrisant Relaxing Balm) to prevent frizz.

Before hair straightening, apply a heat protection spray to protect the hair during the drying and thermal styling process. It also will maximize the life of the style, and make straightening result last longer.

2. Set an appropriate temperature and work with the hair in manageable sections. Draw thin sections of hair through flat iron slowly, but keep the iron moving. Continue until all of your hair has been straightened. 

• Use a slow pulling motion to counteract the ridges in the hair and get a smoothing, silkening effect. Keep the iron moving with the even pressure.
• The smaller the hair partings, the cleaner and straighter each of your sections will be.
• The hair base needs the most amount of heat, the ends need the least.
• Fine hair or color-treated hair needs to straightened at lower temperatures, while the iron needs to be hotter to flatten coarse or curly hair.
• With super-curly hair, it's important to get as close to the scalp as possible, then pull the hair straight. A second, quick run through gives that super-sleek finish.

Divide your hair into sections no wider than the heating plates of the iron, and straighten slices no thicker than half the width of your heating plates. By working with small sections and slices, you can apply the heat evenly, and will get the desired straightness fast.

Many women complain that their flat iron don't work well. Usually it's because they are overloading the iron. If you try iron too much hair at once, you end up with an uneven application of heat, as the hair against the heating plates gets most of the heat, while the hair in the middle isn't heated enough. In addition, if you try to straighten a section that is too thick by heating the hair longer, you only end up overheating the outer layers of the hair, and potentially damaging it. There is also the danger of damaging and burning the hair if you use too high a setting on the iron.

What is Ceramic Flat Iron?

Ceramic Flat Iron plates are able to distribute heat across the entire surface evenly, retains heat more efficiently, and eliminates damaging hot spots. Ceramic plates radiates far-infrared heat to preserve more moisture within the hair shaft and causes less damage to the hair cuticle. It also emits negative ions, which eliminate static electricity and deliver shinier and sleeker results. 

Your hair may be fine with metal plate flat iron, but a ceramic flat iron definitely provides smoother and glossier hair.

What is Ionic or Ionic Flat Iron?

Technically an ion is an atom or molecule that has gained or lost an electron and bears a charge of energy. An atom that has more electrons than protons in its nucleus is called a negative ion.

For centuries, natural negative IONS have been used to restore, rejuvenate and revitalize the body and mind. Nature produces negative ions wherever energy is transferred-through lightening and thunderstorms, by friction in wind and rain, the splitting of water into droplets by waterfalls and ocean surf, and by natural activation in minerals from the earth.

The word "ionic" is frequently used to describes styling tools ranging from flat irons and hair dryers, to hair brushes and hot rollers. An ionic styling tool is basically one that emits negative ions.

Negative ions close the hair cuticle and reduce the static electricity that dulls hair and causes fly-away frizzies. Ions also break water molecules into tiny, micronized clusters for deeper moisture penetration into the hair, and hold the moisture longer for silkier and shinier hair.

Negative ION energy is powerful enough to break water molecule clusters into micro-fine particles and penetrate the hair shaft, leaving the hair moister and less brittle. An Ionic ceramic flat iron or hair dryer utilizes negative ion energy to infiltrate each hair shat to energize, strengthen and restore the hair from the inside out. It dries your hair more quickly, and make your  hair softer, shinier, more manageable and less flyaway.

What is tourmaline, titanium, or diamond technology and what is the benefit to use in hair styling tools??

The new trend flat iron.  Tourmaline gemstone crystals, titanium, or diamond, mixture of performance-enhancing minerals and natural source of negative ions and far-infrared heat, are infused into the plates and the body of heated styling tools, which penetrates the hair from within, resulting in faster dryer with less damage; and produces negative ions, which break up water molecules quickly, reducing drying time and locking in hair’s own natural moisture. The naturally tourmaline ionic flat iron ensures the most negative ions and far infrared heat, creates beautiful styles with a pure gloss finish.  

What is a swivel cord?

A cord that turns so you can spin an iron or dryer in a 360 degree circle and the cord will not tangle up. A nice feature makes your hair styling experience easier and more manageable.

Why should I invest in a professional flat iron instead of a cheap drug store flat iron?

Flat iron quality is all about the contents of the plates and the heating elements used. Consumer flat irons are generally made with cheap materials and are poorly designed.

Plates - Many drug store flat irons claim “Ceramic” or “Tourmaline”. But in reality the majority of them are made with aluminum plates coated with regular paint. Coating usually comes off plates after a few uses and hair get caught between the plates.

Heating Element - Consumer flat irons uses PTC or Ceramic Coated heaters which are more inefficient and they don’t regulate heat as efficiently. This causes two major problems:

1. Heat is not distributed across the surface of the plates evenly causing ‘cold spots’(temperature lower on the outer edges of the plates) and "hot spots";
2. Slow heat up times. Images you wait three or five minutes every morning, but your iron is still not hot enough; While a professional flat iron is ready to use in less than thirty seconds;

Important Tips for International Travelers

Most appliances in North America use with 110V and bear a polarized plug. If you want to bring a flat iron, curling iron or hair dryer overseas, please check if your tool needs any voltage transformer, and/or plug adaptor to use in the destination country.

1. Voltage Transformer or voltage converter, also known as "power adaptor". North America runs on 110V current; Europe and most Asian countries on 220-240V current. Unless your item is marked with Universal Voltage, or Dual Voltage or 100-240V, otherwise, you will need a voltage transformer.

2. Plug Adaptor - The North American plug is a polarized plug (one blade is wider than the other). As a safety feature, this plug will fit in a polarized outlet only one way. Similar to voltage, other countries use different shape of plugs. You will need a plug adaptor, which lets you put your plug into the adaptor and the adaptor plugs into the socket.

Universal Voltage Flat Iron / Hair Straighteners

These dual voltage hair straighteners, or universal voltage flat irons, can be used worldwide with any voltage, from AC 100 to 240V. There is NO button to press or switch to turn. The iron itself will automatically adjust the voltage.  But these flat irons have polarized plugs (one blade is wider than the other), and fit in a polarized outlet only one way. If you want to use it outside of North America, like Europe, Asia or Australia, you will need to buy a plug adaptor.

We recommend FITI Meilii Universal Voltage Tourmaline Ceramic Flat Iron.

Dual Voltage Hair Dryer

A hair dryer features dual voltage and can be used all around the world. It usually has a switch that you have to select to have the correct voltage. They usually are travel hair dryers, which are compact, lightweight, and convenient to carry.