Using a hair straightener is not bad provided you are using the right kind of straightening machine and following the safety guidelines. It is generally seen that too much usage of the straightening machine, especially wrong kind of machines damages your hair to great extent. Hair gets frizzy, dried up and also leads to hair fall.

To avoid this you need to first know what kind of hair irons are safe to be used. Ceramic or titanium plated machines are safe to be used. They might me little expensive but common machines with metal or glass straighteners are often painted and this paint chips may come off and can damage your hair. They burn your hair as the glass or metal don’t heat up evenly and hot spots are created that singe your hair. On the other hand, titanium and ceramic plates provides constant heat. They slide smoothly through you hair without damaging them. Ceramic machines gives out moist heat to keep up to the natural look.

What comes next is the degree at which you heat the machine for your hair. There are machines which come with automated temperature adjustments but there are different temperatures suitable to each kind of hair. Ironing your hair is different from ironing your clothes. A good hair straightener comes with exact temperature control settings. There are cheaper models which may only have a few pre-set temperature settings. In fact hair are more sensitive and that is exactly why certain degree of temperature, for different kind of hair, as to be kept in mind.

A normal straightening machine will operate in the range from 100-180+ degrees C. note that around 100 degrees it is only hot enough to dry your hair. In order for it to work the temperature scale needs to be this hot for especially thick and curly hair. A detailed breakdown of different temperature for different types of hair is:

• 80 degrees - Drying hair

• 100 degrees - Completely hair

• 120 degrees - Partly damaged hair

• 140 degrees - Slightly damaged hair

• 160 degrees - Ordinary curly hair

• 180 degrees - Curly hair

• 200 degrees - Very thick curly hair

Another factor of a good straightening machine is Infra Red radiation produced from high temperature ceramic or titanium plates. These special plates help to seal the moisture in your hair so that the hair does not loose its condition. Ionic technology breaks down the size of the water molecules on the hairs surface making the molecules smaller and easier for the hair to absorb. As and additional bonus it can improve the condition of you hair.

Hair straighteners have improved significantly over the years. In fact nowadays the use of Tourmaline, which is a precious stone, possesses unique ionic and infrared properties which not only help reduce any heat damage risk but they also leave you with shiny healthy looking hair. This magical material is now used in many of the top-end, and medium price range, hair straighteners. These latest generation hair irons are certainly much more capable and are less likely to do any, short or long term, damage to your hair.