A Quick history on flat irons

Women since the beginning of time have had a desire to have straight hair.  The  main issue was how to achieve this feat. In 1872, Erica Feldman used heated rods to straighten her hair and anyone else who would let her.  When women realized that they were not bound by the hair they were born with the flood gates were opened.

In 1909 Isaac K. Shero patented a hair straightener composed of two flat irons that are heated and pressed together. This is the first known “flat iron” to ever be created.  But with any industry there is evolution, a desire to make a current product better.  Flat irons of today can more closely be credited to Scottish heiress, Lady Jennifer Bell Schofield, who refined and combined previous efforts into a hinged, two plated heated iron in 1912.

Today the most effective flat irons have ceramic heating elements. The ceramic coating on these irons are more effective due to their ability to provide constant heat while styling.  Their heat up time has been slashed to about 10 seconds, so there is no longer a need to wait for the flat iron to get hot.  The better the plates that are on your flat iron the better the flat iron.  Better plates straighten the hair more easily and cause less damage. It is best to get an iron with a very hard ceramic coatings that are sprayed in layers and baked on, this will perform the best.  Less expensive units usually do not have ceramic heating elements and some may have a paint-like coating that gives the appearance of ceramic plating. These cheaper coatings wear off very quickly and cause more damage to the hair. Most plates are made of aluminum and are coated with ceramic which is where they get their name, a ceramic flat iron.  True ceramic irons will not loose their coating after many uses like many of the cheaper imitation.

Some Ceramic irons have the added ionic or infra red technology that helps to seal in moisture and oils and reduces static and frizz. Why is this beneficial? Flat irons work by breaking down the hair’s hydrogen bonds found in the hair’s cortex, which cause hair to bend and become curly. Once the bonds are broken, hair is prevented from holding its original, natural form, though the hydrogen bonds can re-form if exposed to moisture. Therefore with the ionic and infra red technology you are able to seal in additional moisture that is normally lost in the straightening process resulting in less split ends and other damaged that can be caused due to over heating hair too regularly. Hair straighteners should only be used on dry hair, unless they are specially made with vents to let the moisture out. These sorts of irons are usually called “Wet Dry” irons. So as usual be careful with any heat that you add to your hair and make sure that you buy a quality product that is going to help maintain your hairs health rather then quickly deplete it.

The flat iron has changed and is now able to take you from curly to straight in a matter of minutes.  If you what to make the transformation then you will have to do you research and get the product that is going to maintain your hairs health and give you the look that you want.  So my advice to you is the days of buying a $10 flat irons is over. Spend a little more and see a big difference in the health of your hair.