A Straight Line With The John Frieda Sleek Finish Flat Iron
If you have naturally curly or wavy hair and you like to straighten your mane, you know first-hand about the shortcomings of many a flat iron. They can damage your hair, leading to fried, straw-like strands that are prone to splitting and breaking. Their plates can be so carelessly positioned that strands get caught in the actual tool, making for a truly painful experience. They often take so long to reach the desired temperature that it makes the styling process feel marathon-like. Their temperature controls can be persnickety and unreliable. And the list goes on and on.
Sure, you can get the Maybach of hair straighteners and shell out a cool $200 to $300, but what if you want to straighten your hair without breaking the bank?
In that case, my frugal darlings, check out the John Frieda Sleek Finish Flat Iron ($49.99 at Ulta.com), one of the highlights of the new John Frieda collection of styling tools. This lightweight flat iron features thinner but longer blades than most of its counterparts, so that you can grasp wider sections of hair (about 1″) and hence work through your mane at a faster pace. Granted, you won’t be able to clutch as thick a chunk of hair with each stroke (remember, the blades are longer but thinner, so you want each section to be no more than a half-inch thick), but that’s actually preferable since, when you grab too thick a section of hair, it’s harder to distribute the heat equally (which is why, oftentimes, we have to run a flat iron over the same section several times before attaining the desired results).
The scratch-resistant plates are made of a ceramic and titanium fusion for optimal performance and more even heat distribution, while an exclusive ionic technology fights frizz and fly-aways, leaving hair looking straight, shiny, and silky smooth.
Results aside, I really appreciate the speed at which the John Frieda Sleek Finish Flat Iron functions. As soon as you press the power button, the tool starts to heat up and, in less than 30 seconds, it’s hot enough to use, making it easier to straighten hair on busy workday mornings when you’re glancing at the clock every minute. There are 11 digital temperature settings, ranging from 275 degrees to 455 degrees. If you have curly and medium-to-thick hair, I’d recommend working within the 375-400 degree realm.
The controls are self-explanatory and easy to manipulate — a breath of fresh air from higher-priced straightening irons that practically require you to watch epic video tutorials, read Bible-sized instruction manuals, and sign up for private workshops in order to use properly. The flat iron basically has a power button (you press and hold to turn on and the same goes for turning it off), a digital window that shows the temperature setting and “plus” and “minus” buttons that allow you to manipulate the temperature as desired.
It’s simple, fast, effective, and will cost you $50. That’s hard to beat, right?
