Hot irons are more popular then ever before.  Whereas there used to be just a few types of irons, now they come in every imaginable length, thickness, color and style.  There are flat irons with and without clips, mini irons, maxi irons and irons the create custom textures.

(Image of Anna Faris with flat ironed tresses - Los Angeles Premiere of ‘Observe and Report’ 04-06-09 - DailyCeleb.com - All Rights Reserved).

Depending on the flat iron you use, you may or may not want to iron your hair using a clip.  Clips can sometimes leave a hair wrinkle or a ridge.

Flat Iron Pros And Cons

Flat irons, when used properly can help to instantly smooth unruly hair, leaving it bone straight, sleek and super shiny.   When used improperly a flat iron can flatten newly styled strands leaving them limp.

Nothing is worse than spending tons of time washing, blow drying your hair with a round brush and then using a straight iron only to have flat strands.

Using A Brush Rather Than A Comb

Celebrity hairdresser Ken Paves has a tip for maintaining body when thermally smoothing hair. Ken recommends that you use a 100% boar bristle round brush rather than any type of comb to smooth each newly flat ironed section.

Ken said if you use an appropriately sized round boar bristle brush, the newly ironed hair will have plenty of bounce and body.  Ken also suggests ironing the hair based on the size and shape of the head.

To achieve more movement with your flat iron Ken suggests taking horizontal sections of hair in different widths to create newly ironed volume, vertical sections for length and diagonal sections for a more rounded result.  He also recommends going light on any styling products to avoid over medicating the hair with products.  Too many styling products can result in limp or even greasy hair.

Other Flat Iron Techniques

Remember the important hair rule.  The smaller the section you flat iron, the straighter the finished style.  The larger the sections, the less straight the sections.    If you want to create movement with your flat iron you can create it near the roots, throughout the mid-sections and throughout the ends.

Even if you are shooting for stick straight strands, you may wish to slightly turn the ends in with the iron to have a slight bend along the perimeter.  This is especially true if you have scraggly or damaged ends.

More Movement And Texture

How should you use the iron to create more movement and texture?  Alternate the size of the various sections moving from thin to thick.  You can also slightly twist the flat iron to create a finished style with more bend.  The amount of bend you have will depend on how much you twist the iron as you work through your hair.

Alternating Thickness Of Sections

Besides alternating the thickness of the hair ironed, how much you twist it and whether you twist it all the same direction or not will result in different finished styles.

Even if you want a stick straight finished style, you probably don’t want it limp or with all your hair laying exactly the same direction which lack interest.  Especially if you have your hair colored, highlighted and lowlighted to create dimension, you may wish to flat iron to dial up your hair’s finished dimension.

More Information

Please follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Hairboutique

Tags: Flat Irons, how to flat iron hair, Limp Hair, round 100% boar bristle brushes

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 8:55 pm and is filed under Hair, Hair Styling Tools, Hairstyling Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.