A while ago, I was approached by
Misikko.com to do a product review on a
Flat Iron straigther and I'll be honest, at first I was like, "I have the straightest hair ever!" But I do use a flat iron every once in awhile to curl the ends of my hair...or if I'm feeling adventurous, do "beachy waves." I use quotes while saying "beachy waves" mainly because I have no idea if I'm doing it right or if I'm going to sear my fingers off (it's intimidating!)
I currently have a Magic ceramic flat iron that works really well, but is chipped on the side and is pretty beat up so I was pretty excited to try a new one.
First off, the packaging is AMAZE. It comes with all sorts of goodies from a sleeping eye mask to anti-bacterial (lol wat?) to elf makeup products (awesome):
After skimming through the manual (come on, you know I dive right into things), what I really liked is that they had a scale of how hot to put the flat iron depending on what condition your hair is in. For instance, if you have very thin, fragile or damaged hair, you should set the heat setting to 230 degrees (F), but if you have very thick, healthy hair in good condition, you can amp up the heat to 450 degrees (F). That is HOT! The big selling point for the Hana Elit Flat Iron is that it's 100% solid ceramic plates (versus the typical coated aluminum plates), which allows for better heat distribution/retention and a smoother process. Let's get to the pictures!
This is my hair at a natural state: Day 2 hair, no curling or straightening, kind of stringy:
I decided to do half of my hair with the quick and easy "curled ends" where you just slightly run your flat iron through the ends, curling before you let go. I set the heat to 370-degrees since I didn't want to scorch my hair or my hands.
Overall, it was a smooth and easy process. It took a few swipes of the flat iron to really get the ends curled, but I'm sure a little more heat would have helped (as well as some patience). I would curl about 1 1/2" - 2" sections of hair, I should have probably stuck with 1":
I always see how great people can curl their hair with the flat iron - for me, I personally prefer to use either hot rollers or a curling iron, but hey! I wanted to try something new and show the versatility in a product. It took some getting used to (and I admit, a few "ow" moments of me holding the tip of the flat iron a little too long), but I think I may have gotten the hang of it:
For me, it was about sectioning my hair first, doing it layer at a time. I tried doing strands randomly and I got frustrated after the 4th or 5th strand. This is the first layer:
After awhile, I got used to it, allowing it to set, before running my fingers through it and fixing it up. I think I like this look for something that isn't SO curled. This is definitely "romantic" hair - adding a braid would really spruce it up too...hmm, not a bad idea for next tutorial!
You can really see how different these hair styles are, even from the same product - and though the beachy curls took a little longer than the curled ends, I think once I get used to it, it might be just as easy as using a traditional curling iron.
And to round out the review, I decided to curl my bangs both ways (oh you didn't know I went both ways? Lol, jk) to test it out. Though my bangs are naturally straight, everyday I curl my bangs inwards, even today I had used a blow dryer and a round brush to curl them in.
Using the flat iron, I curled my bangs in quickly:
I decided to flip my bangs outward to see if it would look as cute (IT DOES NOT), but hey, I ain't ashamed of some failures - how else do you learn?
It looks a little more "breezy" (lol, what a weird description) but I think it's just because I'm not used to how it sits on my face.
Overall, I really liked the Hana Flat Iron, I give it an 8 out of 10. It's a little pricey, but since it's 100% ceramic (and not just ceramic-coated), I think it's worth the investment if you're going to use it on a somewhat regular basis.
Also, through this partnership, we are giving my readers a
$10 off of any $100 purchase! That includes
Flat Irons, the
T3 Dryers, and
The Best Flat Irons - just use the code:
ThatGirl10 during checkout! Sweet man, that's 10%, like Los Angeles city tax rate. Plus they have free shipping, so you know, can't beat that.
What are some of YOUR favorite flat iron tricks? I need to know1
