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Hair Straightening Products And Buying Guide
You just cannot deny that ladies love to have strong, beautiful, shining and straight hair. And to achieve a marvelous look they opt for different methods for hair straightening. Permanent straightening is one of the methods of hair straightening. This method includes removing the wavy curls by using chemical treatments, hair straightening products, and shampoos.
The most common way that salons choose is they use a sodium based hair straightening shampoo to break the curls and make your hair more manageable. And then they use a hair straightening product containing oxidant to neutralize the Keratin action and bring the fibers of your hair to the desired shape.
How to Straighten Your Hair
One of the simplest and elegant ways of wearing hair is wearing it straight. Straight hair is versatile. You can wear it down to parties, to work, on dates, and just about anywhere you plan to go. Straight hair, compared to think curls, are also easier to manage. Curly hair that has been straightened can be styled further to create up-dos for formal occasions or can be made into a sexy pony or a messy bun for everyday style.
If you have curly hair, there are many ways on how to straighten your hair. These range from temporary straight hair for a day solutions to treatments that will give you permanently straight hair.
Different ways that you can straighten your hair.
1. Use a hair straightening iron
Perhaps the easiest way to achieve that silky straight hair look is by using a hair straightening iron. You can have your hair done at a salon, or you can also do this at home. All you need is your trusted hair straightening iron, hair clips to hold your hair, and a styling spray to help your hair keep its shape.
To straighten your hair with a straightening iron, here are some tips:
- Wash and dry hair prior to styling with a straightening iron. You want to wash it to make sure your hair is clean and free from any other styling product that can interfere with straightening it. And you want you hair to be completely dry before you style it because most straightening iron cannot handle wet or damp hair.
- Use a good quality ceramic (not just ceramic plated) hair straightening iron, and one that is the correct size and setting for your hair type. Doing so will give you lasting straight hair, and less time spent in styling hair.
- Make sure you part your hair into small and thin sections for a more effective straightening.
2. Keratin hair treatment
This type of hair treatment will give you straight hair for about 3 to 4 months. What it does is it coats curly hair with keratin, which allows the hair to have a smooth and straight frizz-free texture. The effects wear off though. To prolong it, it helps to use a special shampoo and to limit washing the hair because each time hair is washed, a bit of the coating is removed.
3. Using a hair relaxer
Hair relaxers are chemicals that weaken the protein bonds of hair, which causes it to turn straight. It’s a permanent way of making hair straight. Just the roots need to be touched up after every few months. While you can do this at home, it is best to have this done at a salon, because the chemicals have the potential to break hair when used improperly.
4. Thermal reconditioning treatment
This is another type of treatment that aims to give you permanent straight hair. In this treatment, the bonds of hair are broken and then restructured to turn it from curly to straight. This process takes several hours to complete as you hair is shampooed, treated, blow dried and washed several times.
It’s also the most expensive option, but the results are currently, the best that you can expect in hair straightening technology. Just like with the chemical hair relaxers, only the roots need touching up after about 6 months, depending on how fast your hair grows.
The Best Hair Styling Products You Need!
Straightening hair isn’t just about getting the right flat iron or learning the best blow drying technique. While both these methods are effective and can give you the results you want, there’s a good chance that you can damage your hair. This is especially true if you use either of these methods often. Because of this problem, finding the best hair styling products is also a big part of proper hair straightening.
1. Cleansing Shampoo
Using the right shampoo can help make sure you scalp and hair stays clean. Clean hair is always easier to work with because it is free of excess oil or dirt which can impede the styling process. Get a moisturizing shampoo that is designed for your hair type. Some shampoos are designed specifically for those who want to achieve the straight look. Usually these are the frizz control shampoos or they simply say “straightening”.
2. Intense Conditioner
Even if your shampoo has moisturizers, you still need to condition your hair. Conditioner will help protect your hair from the heat of the blow dryer or straightening iron, while helping keep it tangle free and making sure frizz and volume induced by humidity is kept in check. At least once a month, deep condition your hair to make sure that it is staying well protected.
3. Brush & A Wide Toothed Comb
Getting a good comb and a good brush will help you straighten out your hair without damaging it. You want a wide toothed comb to use on your hair while it is wet. This will be gentle enough with the strands. When hair is dry or when you’re using your blow dryer and/or straightening iron, you want a good brush with boar’s head bristles. These bristles will flex and move with your hair, instead of tugging and breaking it.
4. Mousse
When it comes to styling hair, mousse is one of the best products you can choose. It can be used on both wet and dry hair to achieve different looks. For straightening, use it on damp hair then blow dry the hair in order to finish off the straight look. You will have straight hair that will hold all day long. Use mousse everyday to add further moisture to your hair, and lock in moisture while blow drying.
If you plan on straightening your hair often or are in the habit of doing it often, it’s a good idea to invest in some of the best hair styling products. They will help preserve your hair’s natural beauty and shine, making it easier to work with when you do straighten it or style it in other ways. It also always gives you the option of having wash-and-wear hair, something that will surely come in handy when on vacation!
Liscio Hair Straightening Products
When it comes to the Japanese method of straightening hair, the Liscio hair straightening products are considered top of the line. They are used in many salons that offer the Japanese thermal reconditioning method for permanent hair straightening.
During the hair straightening products, several products may be used on your hair. Depending on the condition or state of your hair before the treatment, your stylist or hair technician may recommended supplementary and additional products to protect and support weak or damaged hair.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the various Liscio products that you may encounter
- Liscio Heat Protection Spray :- This product is applied after your hair is shampooed. It is sprayed evenly across your hair. Applying this product will protect hair from damage and allow heat to be applied evenly to it.
- Liscio Scalp Protection Oil :- Your stylist or technician might use this to protect sensitive scalp from the chemicals used in the straightening treatment.
- Liscio Root softener :- This product is used on portions of your hair close to the scalp where you cannot apply the hair straightening treatment. This gives you an even and straight finish from root to tip.
- Liscio Hair Protection Cream :- This product comes in several grades. It is applied to hair before the straightening process to prevent further damage on damaged and chemically treated hair. This includes hair that have been color treated.
- Liscio Thermal Solution :- This solution is used to transform curly hair to straight. This solution is available in varying types – there’s one for damaged hair, virgin hair and for touching up roots.
- Liscio Crystal Cream Straightening Solution :- One of the newest offerings from this line of hair straightening products, this solution provides permanent straightening solution to those who would like to get rid of frizzy curly hair. There are 3 variants of this product – one for resistant hair, one for normal to damaged hair and one for severely damaged hair.
- Liscio Knoteur Zero :- This product offers both protective and conditioning properties to straightened hair. It leaves processed hair as healthy as new growth, giving you natural looking smooth straight hair.
Alterna Hemp Seed Straightening Balm (Product Review)
Before I discovered a home hair straightening system that worked well for me, I had experimented with a variety of products and treatments to help me straighten my hair. These ranged from long days at the salon to long days at cosmetic sections, carefully debating and choosing the products that might finally give me control over my unruly curls.
Through the years, I ended up having quite a collection of products. Some of them did a pretty good job at helping me somewhat straighten my hair, while others just didn’t seem to do anything at all. Later on, I discovered that many products actually work differently with different types of hair, and there are very few that work well with all types.
One of the products that I’ve known to work with almost all types of hair is a straightening balm. It works with almost all hair types because it’s kind of like mouse or leave-on conditioner, and these types of products usually work with all types of hair. The difference between a straightening balm and mouse or leave-on conditioner is that the balm has long lasting effects.
My absolute favorite straightening balm is the Alterna Hemp Seed straightening balm. I discovered it online, and based solely on good reviews, I decided to give it a try. I’d never done this for any other product, but there was something about this product that seemed trustworthy. Maybe it’s because I do trust hemp seed or hemp seed oil and its benefits.
Hemp seed oil is known to be amazing at hydrating your skin and hair, which I needed at the time I bought it because my hair was starting to look fried. Alterna’s balm is all natural, a feature I really liked. It is sulfate free and uses enzymetherpay to care for your hair, giving it protection while you style it, but at the same time restoring hair’s health and beauty.
By itself, meaning absolutely without any other product or procedure having been done on my hair, the Alterna straightening balm made it really easy to blow dry my hair straight, giving me more manageable hair that feels silky and looks soft. More than that, though, the effects on the hair last about a week! I usually apply the product on a Sunday, after washing my hair and letting it air dry. Once dry, I apply Alterna’s straightening balm, then I blow dry my hair. Throughout the week, my hair stays manageable! It doesn’t get puffy or frizzy! Sure it’s curly, but it’s manageable. So for those who love their curls but need control over them, this product is probably the answer!
These days, however, I usually use Alterna after having used a hair straightening system because it prolongs the effects of the system! Most hair straightening systems will give you soft and smooth hair for six months or so.
Once I see that the effects of that system are starting to go, I apply the straightening balm , and it quickly straightens my hair out again! This lets me stretch out the effect of the hair straightening system by at least a month (two or three applications of Alterna), which helps me save money because I don’t have to apply the hair straightening system as often!
Apart from helping me either manage my curls or prolong straight hair, what I love about this straightening balm is that since I’ve started using it, I’ve begun to notice the difference in my hair. First, it really helps moisturize my hair, giving me shiny and silky hair that is resistant to humidity, which is why it doesn’t puff up!
I love that it helps protect my hair from the heat of blow dryers and flat irons, but most importantly, I love that even when you’re on your first day of Alterna, it feels like you don’t have any product in your hair! You get really natural looking hair, which is exactly what all of us who want straight hair want!
Perhaps the only downside to this product is that you need a few tries to learn how to work with it, which means you need some patience. But this is usually the case with most hair care products, so it didn’t bother me at all that there’s a bit of a learning curve.
Though I once thought I’d never find a system that would help me care for my hair and straighten it at home, now that I’ve found Alterna’s straightening balm, I know two things. The first is that I was wrong about never being able to find anything, and the second is that I am unlikely to want to choose any other straightening balm for my hair. It really works!
Read the customer reviews for Alterna Hemp Seed Straightening Balm and see how many other people have used this product with favorable results!
BaByliss Pro Nano Titanium Ultra-Thin Straightening Iron (Product Review)
The day I became serious about hair straightening was the same day I started using hair straightening machines like blow dryers and straightening irons. At first it was my mother who would help straighten my hair for me, but eventually, she taught me to do it myself. Before I knew it, I was testing various straightening machines, either from my mom’s collection or from those owned by friends, trying to figure out which are the best ones.
When I was old enough to visit salons and parlors on my own, I began interviewing the stylists and hair dressers, trying to figure out which products they use and why. Later on, I also did online research for the best straighteners to use. Eventually, I ended up buying straighteners, testing them, seeing how well they worked, and either using them till they konked out, because I like the way they work, or giving them away because I realized they don’t work well with my hair.
About a year ago, I decided to try the BaByliss Pro Nano Titanium Ultra-Thin Straightening Iron. At the time, I actually already had a great straightening iron, but it was on the bulky side, and I wanted an iron I could travel with. Most hotel rooms already have blow dryers either in the drawers of the closet or built into the bathrooms, but I’m yet to see a hotel room that also provides a straightening iron. Since BaByliss’ iron was ultra-thin, I decided to give it a try.
As soon as I got my new straightening iron, I decided to give it a try. First of all, I was really happy to see that it was very thin and lightweight, but it was the Nano Titanium plates got me really curious or wanting to try it right away. They were supposed to be able to straighten hair gently and quickly by controlling the type of heat, emitting negative ions and maximum far-infrared heat. Also, I wanted to see if the LED temperature settings would really heat the iron up faster and straighten hair faster than most irons.
It usually takes me about half an hour to straighten my hair using an iron, maybe forty-five minutes if I want to make sure everything is perfect. With this iron, it took me about twenty minutes or so! The plates heat up really quickly, and it retains the heat! This makes the whole process much faster because I don’t have to do several passes on one section of hair, two passes are enough! No wonder it straightens gently! I also really liked that it glides over hair easily, and it doesn’t pull at the hair the way other irons do. Apart from that, I appreciated that it has a really long cord, which means you can manipulate it easily.
All of that being said, like all straightening irons there are definitely areas that need improvement. First, it didn’t come with a heat case the way some irons do. Though considering the appeal of this iron is mainly portability, not coming with a case does make it easier to pack. Second, the plates don’t pivot, but this feature was probably hard to add because of the slimness of the product design.
Third, it would have been nice if it came with a kill switch in case it gets too hot. Connected to that, however, there have been some times that I accidentally turned it off while maneuvering. Again this is probably because of how skinny it is. However, it does stay hot for some time after you turn it off and it does heat up quickly, so this problem is negligible.
Despite the “issues,” I’m actually very happy with the BaByliss Pro Nano Titanium Ultra-Thin Straightening Iron . No iron is perfect, and there really being give-and-take with each product. This straightening iron gets the job done and it gets it done well. Apart from the gentle straightening, it is very kind to your hair, locking in natural moisture, preventing it from looking fried or dried out.
I would recommend this product to anyone who likes traveling with their iron or for anyone who is looking for an iron! I do suggest that you begin with the lowest settings, though, and slowly working your way to higher settings till you know which one is best for your hair.
Want a thin straightening iron ? Check this product out by clicking on the product photo!
Bio Ionic Retex Hair Straightening System (Product Review)
When I was younger, I thought there was no hope for my hair. I remember being eleven and miserable with my hair. It was incredibly curly and totally unmanageable, unless my mother spent a lot of time blow drying it or I went to the parlor to get it done by a professional. This system wasn’t exactly worth it, of course, because blow drying it that often only ruined my hair, which meant it needed frequent hot oil treatments, which basically meant I was spending too much money!
So for most of my teen life and early twenties, I kept my hair tied back in a pony tail, choosing only to blow dry or straighten it when there was a special occasion or for a night out with friends. Conditioner (lots of it) became my best friend as I tried living with my curls. Every so often, I’d try getting it straightened professionally, having it relaxed, getting Brazilian blow outs, and so on. I never really stuck to a regimen, however, because you need both time and money to do so!
About a year ago, I had once again resigned myself to a life of bad hair and terrible curls, until a friend of mine told me about a home hair straightening system c alled Bio Ionic Retex. The system uses an advanced ionic technology, which works on breaking the bonds that keep curly hair curly. Basically, it is composed of the same type of creams that professionals use to soften and straighten hair. It re-texturizes it, making it straight, but giving it body at the same time.
The friend who recommended it told me that she’d been using it for two years, and that it really worked well for her. Without hesitating, I decided to try it right away. After all, once received, the system was ready to go. There was no mixing of solutions necessary, which means it would be difficult to get it wrong. Plus, the chemical procedure of the system does not use sodium hydroxide, which is generally something most of those who know about hair straightening try to stay away from.
The product arrived soon after ordering. It was composed of two jars and instruction booklets.. The first jar was the re-texturizing cream, which is the solution that chemically straightens the hair. The second jar was the neutralizing cream, which is what you need to stop the chemical processing of the first jar.
As soon as my Bio Ionic Retex Hair Straightening System arrived, I decided to use it that Saturday. Slightly tweaking the instructions
- I washed my hair with a moisturizing shampoo
- divided my hair into eight different sections and applied the first cream, leaving it on for 45 minutes,
- washed my hair out thoroughly,
- blew it dry,
- straightened with with an iron,
- applied the second cream for twenty minutes, and
- washed that off and rinsed my roots with a protein treatment.
This was the system my friend followed, and it took me all of three hours to do it. The results were amazing! Without having to go to a salon, I had natural looking straight hair! I have to emphasize the part where I say natural looking because when you have your hair straightened at a salon, it tends to be pin-straight, which is unnatural.
The hair I got using this product looked natural! It looked like I was born with straight hair! I know that there are some days when I will have to blow dry it just a little to make it look really good, but with this product, I pretty much got wash-and-wear hair!
What I love about the hair straightening system is that despite the fact that you’re using chemicals, your hair comes out looking healthy. It’s smooth and silky and has a good deal of shine. More importantly, I love that it helped save me money! It was so much nicer to do this at home versus sitting in a salon for half a day, knowing that I spent a fraction of what I would have paid in a salon. Plus, the straightness lasted about seven months before my hair started to slowly curl again! So the product is more than worth it!
Perhaps the only things I didn’t like is that the product did not come with its own gloves and application brush. I think these would have been important to include in the system. I also wish the first cream didn’t smell strongly, but I’m happy that the second cream makes your hair smell good again. Other than that, though, the product is a godsend for anyone with curly hair!
So far, I’ve used the Bio Ionic Hair Straightening System twice, and it’s worked wonderfully both times. I can’t imagine using anything else for my hair from now on, and I would recommend this system to anyone who is struggling with unmanageable hair or curly hair. It gives you the straightness you want, but provides the body you need to keep your hair looking great.
Matrix Opti Smooth Japanese Hair Straightener (Product Review)
In the world of hair straightening, the two heavyweight treatments are the Brazilian blow out and Japanese hair straightening . Though they have their own characteristics, recognizable to the trained eye, both treatments leave you with smooth, straight hair that lasts for months. The treatments are also known to cost quite a bit and take several hours to complete in a salon.
Being someone who has worked at straightening my hair for years, I have gone to parlors to try both the Brazilian blow out and Japanese hair straightening. Personally, I am a bigger fan of the Brazilian blow out because I feel it looks more natural on me. I’ve never liked the way pin-straight hair looks on me, which is what you get when you use a Japanese hair straightener. However, I will admit that it does look good on other people.
Because I don’t particularly like the results of a Japanese hair straightener, I never bothered to look at the do-it-yourself products that promise these results. It wasn’t until a friend of mine asked me to help her straighten her hair did I hear about Matrix Opti Smooth Japanese Hair Straightener , a home straightening system that promises to give the same results of professional Japanese hair straightening.
The Matrix system is designed for normal virgin hair, that means those who have dyed their hair or whose hair has gone through other chemical treatments cannot use the system till their hair has grown out. If they do, the risk the chance of frying their hair, making it frizzy and dry looking. When used correctly on virgin hair, however, the system protects the hair during and after the smoothening process, and results in shiny, smooth, healthy looking straight hair!
Users of this system have an option to go with the cold process option or the hot process option. The cold process reduces the hair’s volume, smooths and manages or “tames” curly hair, and it eliminates frizz. The hot process results in pin-straight hair. Each box of this product comes with pre-treatment spray, smoothing cream, conditioning neutralizer, post-treatment crème, and instructions, which come in written form and include photos or sometimes a DVD. Each box is good for two applications, depending on the length of the hair.
Understanding how frustrating having curly and frizzy hair is, I was more than willing to help my friend and we set aside one whole Saturday to do the Matrix Opti Smooth treatment. Based on one of the reviews we found on Amazon.com , she deep conditioned her hair four times before that Saturday with a protein product. This way, we were assured that her hair was very well conditioned and would be able to stand the chemical onslaught.
Come that Saturday, we applied a lot of the pre-treatment spray to her hair. Then we applied the smoothing cream in small sections, combing it into her hair and smoothening it out with gloved hands. Once done, we blotted the bottoms so that the ends wouldn’t be over-processed. It is very important to note that the hair has to stay as straight as possible, even when washing it. When the time came to use a ceramic iron, I used the highest setting and ran through each section of her hair three times.
At the end of the process, my friend was in heaven! She had straight, smooth, shiny hair, and I have to admit she looked great! She made me want to try the product on myself! It wasn’t exactly salon-looking hair, but neither of us are professionals, and this product is nowhere near as expensive as what a salon treatment would cost anyway! What’s amazing, though, is now, my friend lives off air-drying her hair! That’s how straight it is! There’s just a bit of frizz on humid days, but it’s straight!
The only downside to this Japanese hair straightener is that entire process took us four hours, but I’m sure the total time actually depends on the length of the hair. Also, I think this is the type of product you really need help with. I’m sure my friend could have done it on her own, but having me help her do the back portion and areas she couldn’t access well helped the entire thing come out better.
So we both recommend that the product be used with the help of a friend or a hairdresser and that it be used on virgin hair that has been conditioned well so as to avoid frying. Also, it is important to pick the right formula type. For example, thin virgin hair will need the sensitive formula while coarse hair will need the normal formula.
It’s been two years and my friend continues to use the Matrix Opti Smooth Japanese Hair Straightener . Her hair is pin-straight, smooth, and silky. Exactly what she wanted! And all for the price of a nice blouse! Oh, it also costs her a box of brownies, which is what she gets me every time we do this system together!
Remington Wet2Straight Wet/Dry Straightening Iron (Product Review)
In my many attempts to get my hair manageable and straight, I’m pretty sure I’ve tried just about every system or machine imaginable for straightening hair. One of the most popular systems used around the world is the blow-dry then straighten procedure. This involves using a blow dryer and a paddle brush or round brush to blow-dry the hair straight, then using a straightening iron to further straighten the hair. The system is popular because it is a system that works well at temporarily straightening the hair.
When using this method, you naturally need both a blow dryer and a straightening iron. Most salons will use both, making sure your hair has been perfectly dried with the blow dryer, and then using a straightening iron to work out any of the frizz. It takes anywhere between fifty minutes to about an hour and a half to do this to medium length hair. If you do it on your own, it can take slightly longer.
Despite being time consuming, blow drying then straightening my hair used to be my method of choice. It would take me around two hours to do the entire thing on my own. It took this long because I have long hair (goes halfway down my back) and because I’m not the best when it comes to using a blow dryer. This was during the heydey of this method that I found the Remington Wet2Straight Wet/Dry Straightening Iron (See all Flattening Irons) .
The Wet2Straight (See all Flattening Irons) iron is a blow dryer and straightening iron in one. It has steam vents which help release excess moisture, drying the hair. At the same time, the heated plates straighten the hair. What was appealing was that it can be used on wet hair when wanting to blow dry and straighten at the same time, and it can be used on dry hair as a straightening iron. The product comes with a variety of heat settings for the different hair types and it also has a digital display which lets you know how much heat you’re using. The maximum heat is 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
What I really liked about the product is that it saves time. It was my primary reason for buying it. I loved being able to towel dry my hair well, and then blow drying and straightening it all in one go! Using this product, what used to be a two hour process now only takes one hour. My hair-prepping time was literally cut in half! A big part of this probably has to do with the two-inch plates the iron comes with, which helps me straighten wide sections of hair.
I also really liked the fact that the iron heats up in about 30 seconds, which means it’s easily ready for use. The temperature lock, which stops me from accidentally changing the temperature setting and the auto-shut off feature, which turns the iron off after 60 minutes are also really appreciated because the features help me both make sure it isn’t on too long or that I don’t crank up the heat by accident!
As much as I love this product, it isn’t without its faults. It took me a while to get used to using the product, and my first few attempts came out terrible. It also took me a while to get used to the beeping sound it makes when it’s ready and that it emits a hissing sound as it dries the hair. In the beginning I thought there was something wrong with the product, but later on I realized this was just part of the process.
Personally, I’d recommend this product to anyone who likes the blow-dry and straightening system. It really saves time, is very affordable, and those who travel will love the fact that they only have to carry one product. I recommend that those using the product deep condition their hair fairly often so as to help the strands cope with the styling process. The steam hydration feature of the Wet2Straight (See all Flattening Irons) iron does help protect the hair by keeping hair moisturized, but deep conditioning will really help.
I’ve also noticed that hair tends to be frizzy when this product is used on very wet hair, so it’s really important that you towel dry the hair well. If the hair becomes wavy after a while, it could mean that you did not dry it well enough. However, it will become wavy on a very humid day, which isn’t too much of an issue as this would also happen if you blew it dry and straightened it with an iron as well. Finally, if you have thin, dyed, or chemically treated hair, its best to use the lowest heat settings so as not to fry your hair.
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