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The Hit List: Worst Flat Iron
What’s the Worst Flat Iron…?
What brand/product wins this category? Any particular reason it wins?
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CHI without a doubt for me. My first one broke on the first day I got it and after I was able to get a replacement but that broke within 3 days after recording. I switched to my Conair Infiniti and never had problems, I’m on year 3 with it and never a problem.
I have returned more chi’s where I work than any other straightener.
I dislike conair, I got my first flat iron sophomore year n it never did its job. Then I got chi nano n it worked like a dream. Gosh I dropped it so many times n it still works like the first day I got it….
Agree
Anything by Conair. Just plain awful.
I once tried a steam flat iron, and it was horrible. I don’t remember the brand but it never worked for me.
Conair Wet/Dry model from 5 years ago with ceramic plats. A completely waste of money on human hair it really didn’t straighten anything but fine hair … I use it to stlye synthetic wigs now. lol
I have fine hair (but a lot of it) and I still returned!
The worst I ever used was by Conair (back in the 90’s)! It had a little capsule on the end that you could fill with water to allow steam to vent through the iron. The capsule was impossible to remove, and the iron didn’t get hot enough to do anything to my already mostly straight hair. I’m sure they make better ones these days though… this was the stone age of flat irons.
The best is my CHI, I’ve had it for the past 7 years and it’s still perfect. Works amazingly well every time!
i had the saaaamme one!!!!!! hahahaha. thing sucked!
YES OMG I HAD THAT ONE! It was so terrible.
I do think Conairs have gotten better because I’ve had mine a few years (it’s a curler/flat iron 1″) and had no problems. It’s really about your hair, how much product you use or don’t use, the temp setting, and what’s done to your hair afterwords (i.e. humidity, weather, other products). I use the highest heat setting for my thick! hair and it works well (less so in SCarolina humidity but fine in SCalifornia). Conair’s cheaper so it probably does take some searching for the ones that will work for you.
The new Chi’s being made are awful! I’m so disapointed in them, what a waste of money.
I second this! My sister-in-law wanted to invest in a really good flat iron and her brand new CHI didn’t even turn on!
Conair anything by far! I used to have their curling irons and all, they always broke within a few months. Bed head straightener was okay, but my hair never stayed flat and straight. I now have a Chi flat iron & curling iron, straightens my unruly hair, stays straight in our Southern heat & humidity and doesn’t damage nearly as bad. Had my Chi stuff for 3 years now.
I had an Andis that did the Job rather well then I found a Jilbere at Sally’s Beauty supplies in New York, for the last three years everyone thinks i went to the Salon when i flat iron my self. The plate allows size allows you flatten dead straight, slighly waivey or if you twist you can curl just like Milye Cyrus kinda styles.
i had one of those for 5 years and it was amazing! but then the plates began to wear down so it would make my bathroom smell so i got the Solia and i compared them; Andis- 20 dollars Solia- 130 dollars and they worked the same, but i love my Solia so no complaints here!
My revlon straightener is AWFUL but it’s all I have while I save up for a kqc 🙁
i have a revlon straightener too and it’s the worst 🙁
I actually like my revlon flat iron! I’ve had it for 2 years and its kinda on its way out but I’m getting a GHD for christmas.
CHI’s are definitely the worst in my opinion. I have very healthy hair and as soon as I put a CHI to my hair, it fried the crap out of it. I absolutely LOVE my Paul Mitchell iron – it’s the best out there.
I agree the Chi’s are horrible it fried my hair too!! Now i have the Solia its the best straightener i have ever bought and i have thick air and it makes it pin straight!
conair is the worst, but i love my chi!
Cosmopolitan magazine released a hot styling tool set, the wand came with changeable heads, like a steam iron, a crimper, 3 different curling tongs. It was my first ever steam iron. It was absolutely awful took ages to heat up, and when it did it wasnt hot enough to do anything! £25.00 wasted =(
ConAir does suck, but as far as brands that are raved about I hate CHI! Especially the new ones. I don’t think they are the same quality as older models, but it’s just my opinion
CHI + Conair!
I think it was a conair…it was silver and had interchangeable plates. Could either straighten or “waves”. Yeah, there was definitely some crimping going on. When I tried to straighten it would pull on my hair.
HAHA I still have mine just because of the crimping plates and the triangle barrel.
Conair, then Chi. Conair isn’t a surprise at all for me, I expected it not to work being the price and places sold… but with Chi I couldn’t believe it because of all that it’s talked up to be. I noticed that those with naturally straight / thin hair, it does work! But for those of us with a frizzy fro on our heads, it does zero justice. My favorite is the Cricket. I’ve had mine for 5 years and it’s yet to break and I am ALWAYS dropping it and accidentally leaving it on for hours on end. Hopefully I didn’t just jinx it with this comment!
I have 2 conair ones and I am not a fan of them. I rather just blow dry my hair straight than use it. I use it for my bangs and that’s still a rarity.
My first flat iron was Conair… I hated it with a passion, so I upgraded to Hot Tools… That worked a litlle better and thought maybe it was just me and my hair sucked. Then my hubby surprised me with a CHI and boy oh boy what a difference! I love it! I’ve had it for 3 years and it’s still awesome. 🙂
One of these days I’d like to try a ghd…
I have a ghd, and i absolutely love it. It is quite a splurge for a flat iron, but its amazzzzing. I have really thick curly frizzy hair and it turns smooth, shiny and pin straight in 10 minutes of use. I would definitely recommend it!
Definitely Conair. Never had any success with any of the ones I tried, and I fried my hair trying to get it straight.
I’ll have to agree with some others and say Conair.
Conair for me too.
The brand doesn’t matter. They’re all bad for your hair if used too often.
The old school metal ones were terrible, but being a teenager when I had it, I made it work.
The absolute worst I ever had was a Corioliss, from a mall kiosk (yep). A few weeks with it, and the “ceramic” peeled off, leaving metal patches, that tore my hair. I took it back, and they said that they found out that they weren’t ceramic.. Uhhhh.. The kiosk refused a refund, but said they would give me the “better, pink version”, so I agreed, I got home, and it was another regular one, but it was a different model. It would stick and pull my hair. I tried to take it back, but again, they refused a refund, citing that the problem was my hair, not their iron. When I calmly stated that I would call the BBB, they said “Ma’am, you need to leave, or we will call security”.
Ugh.
I gave up. I went and bought a t3 later that week, which I kept for 5+ years!
The corioliss sat in my closet, and when my sister visited, with her crazy curls, I tried it on her hair. It worked very well for her, so I gave it to her. I’m glad someone got some use out of it.
Oh, and every time I would go by that kiosk, and they tried to ambush me, I would refuse, and say loudly about the peeling ceramic, and make sure all the other customers heard me.
I agree! They ripped my hair out and made a funny noise. I hated that straightener!
The knockoff CHI’s from Sally Beauty!
I hate the Corioliss straighteners! I had two and gee, what a waste! They snagged strands of my hair all the time and I could never get it out, so it caused my hair a lot of unnecessary damage.
This Revlon one with a straight edged side for just straightening and the other curved side for doing hair flips. It doesn’t work at all and the part where you’re supposed to use to flip your hair sometimes burns your hands if you’re not careful. T_T
Conair hands down! Their dryers are decent, but I still prefer my Chi iron and dryer.
I’ve had my pink ribbon set for about 6 years, and I purchased a new iron last year. Not because my pink one doesn’t work, but because the new one was so cute with the green and gray butterflies and ivy on white. I used my pink one at home, and my newer one when I travel because is came with a heat resistant travel pouch. My newer Chi was eligible for the Beauty First’s 2nd or 1st (Can’t remember) Tuesday of the month sale. If you have a Gold Priority card you can get 20% off of almost all of the items in the store. They always send a reminder email with a special promotion.
I don’t have a bad one to list…but I’ll tell ya what is good: GHD!!! OMG I would die without mine!
Any one thats from the drugstore; they suck. I also have to say Hot Tools. That one burns and damages your hair.
Conair
CHI – dried out my hair and it eventually died
Chi and Solia, Would not recommend either one
I dislike anything without the ability to adjust the heat, surprisingly they do exist. I’ve only ever had one flat iron anyway and I still love it, it’s a Solia.
To each his/her own….I bought a $$$$ Babyliss one and it sucks. I use my friend’s cheapo Conair one and I love it! I have fine straight hair though that just needs to flipped under so that helps.
CHI. It lasted my 5 months, I really took care of it and never dropped it, but eventually it just stopped working. I think CHI really overrated, even my $20 Conair straightening iron lasted years longer than the CHI one. Conair has actually improved over the years, it used to suck but now I think it’s really good. I really like FHI, I literally only have to run it through my strands once.
They’re all bad! If a flatiron so much as looks sideways at my hair I’m dealing with stiff, wiry ends for weeks.
Pretty much any mini flatiron sold for travel and costing under $50. I’d do better trying to iron my hair with 2 cups of coffee. Somehow I have 3 – bought one, bought another when #1 proved awful, got #3 as a promotion someplace. Two of them can’t produce enough heat to make an impact. The third gets hot enough but lacks any way to hold it without frying your fingers. These days, I don’t travel enough to justify buying one of those for $200. But dragging along the full-sized iron is a waste of overnight bag space. Any hair tools company that can manufacture a great travel iron could make a fortune.
Philips!
I was thinking of replacing my Corioliss ( wet/dry) that I’ve had pretty good luck with. I was thinking of buying a CHI but after some of your comments I’m now wondering WHAT DO OTHERS RECOMMEND ?
t3 if you don’t want to spend toooo much. If you want the best of the best, get the ghd.
I loved my t3, but after five years, it wasn’t working quite as well. I’m able to shop at Cosmoprof, so I sprung for a GHD, since I get a bit of a discount. The GHD outperforms anything I’ve ever used.
Afterthoughts – If your hair isn’t too wiry, or resistant, you could probably use pretty much anything, like Solia, Sedu, or babyliss.
Also, I’d stay away from the wet/dry ones. They pretty much pressure cook your hair. Use a good thermal protectant, and blow dry your hair, and then straighten it.
Try the croc infrared, i just bought one and it is the best iron i’ve ever had,I like it because even though all irons are going to cause damage I feel like im not damaging it as much with this one. I had a coriolis, my hair ended up breaking really bad before I realized what it doing,then I got a sedu and that was good but it stopped getting hot, then I bought a paul mitchell one and it was good too but not like the croc!
I’ve only owned a CHI and 2 GHDs and I hated the CHI. I had gone through 4 CHIs in 4 years. After a year the CHIs work about half as good as they did when you first bought them.
But my biggest complaints with the CHI are that they make your hair greasy and your hair constantly gets caught on it and it rips out your hair.
I bought a hot tools that was horrible. I have fine hair, and it didn’t work at all for me. I use a Hai, and it is really good. I’ve had it for 3 years now.
Remington Wet to Straight is the absolute worst. Total waste of money. It completely fried my hair, and not to mention it was $50!! My personal favorite is the Solia hair straightener. I used to use the Chi, but I kept having horrible electrical problems with it. Solia actually works BETTER than the Chi! It leaves my heair beautiful and smooth! And it takes mere minutes to straighten my (fine) hair! It even works on my cousin’s jewish fro!!! 🙂 highly recommended!!
for me, Sephora’s mini straightener for sure !!!
This stuff (mine at least !) doesn’t have any temperature regulation, which is not very convenient. Moreover, it becomes really hot even outside !!!
So after a while I have to disconnect it to let it cool down before continuing to use it (if I don’t I can hardly hold it)……..
t3 I got the Single Pass as I have thick, curly hair. I returned it. I couldn’t quite justify the upgrade to the ghd so I got another CHI. (My first CHI died after 4 years and many falls onto my tile floor so I can’t complain). I do plan to splurge on the ghd someday…
Sally’s version of the Chi!
Conair CS26VCS 1 1/2″ Wet Dry Straightener
I posted about it on my blog (http://blondeshellbeauty.blogspot.com/2010/10/conair-wetdry-straightener.html). I have fine, thin hair and I have to put it on the highest heat setting to get it to actually work. AND the lights don’t even follow the instruction manual.
Conair, Helen of Troy, Hot Tools! Basically everything that isn’t my GHD! Well my Chi did last a long time! But man when that thing died, it went out with a bang, literally! It sparked and threw a breaker! And my house is only 3 years old!
Conair does suck, i love my CHI and GHD!!! I have both and I love them equally.
Bellezza….. melted my hair and wont accept returns