Hair straightener suggestions?

August 8, 2013 10:05 AM

My beloved Conair 2-in-1 Straightener and Curling Iron (model CD110, now discontinued) finally died yesterday and I can't seem to find anything similar.

Two things made this iron really great: (1) the straightening irons on the inside of the barrel were 1.5" wide and got much better pressure over a wider section of hair than the single-purpose flat iron straighteners I've tried, and (2) the clip on the barrel held the hair tight against the barrel for curling. The newer Conair 2-in-1 models don't seem to have the clip anymore and are only 1" wide. The single-purpose flat iron straighteners that I've previously bought (HSI Professional Ceramic Tourmaline Ionic 1" Flat Iron Straightener and the Remington Wet 2 Straight 1" flat iron) have never provided enough pressure so it takes forever to actually straighten my unruly, thick, wavy hair using them. Anyone have suggestions?

posted by Endure You Are Not Alone to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (4 answers total)

I found great advice on this site. There are oodles and oodles of reviews (the top straightener has over 5,000k reviews). I have very, very thick and curly hair, and I found the Sedu to work extremely well. It doesn't have a rounded barrel, so I don't use it to curl. There are, however, plenty of the top 10 that are rounded.
posted by frizz at 10:13 AM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

I have thick and unruly hair too. I have and love these 1.5" and 1" flat irons. I use the 1.5" for straightening and the 1" for curling but these are not wet to dry straighteners though I have used the 1.5" on damp hair and have been alright. And the detachable comb is the best.
posted by xicana63 at 10:53 AM on August 8, 2013

I don't know about 2-in-1s, but you'd have to do some serious convincing to get me to buy something other than Chi. They're quite affordable now (about $100 for a flat iron) and very durable. If your hair is long thick I recommend one of the 1.5" ones like this (the digital-temp is irrelevant, I had that and I just turned it all the way up).

Please note about the Chi - they get super hot so make sure you use some kind of heat protecting product first!
posted by radioamy at 12:33 PM on August 8, 2013

When my last high-end straightener died (it was over 100 dollars -- a Muster Professional)-- I went and got a wet-to-dry ceramic, which was okay, but not great. I don't really recommend the wet-to-drys. I don't feel they can produce enough heat when my hair is wet.

So when that started going, I tried out a GHD but I felt it was making my hair frizzier. So I went to the store and got the cheapest one they had, which was a ceramic plate Remington. It was actually amazing, but they don't make the model anymore. It looked a lot like this; and the rounded part makes it easy for me to loop it around and curl. But the newer generation Remingtons seem really good too. Even the cheapest one. In the interim, I bought a tiny Vidal Sassoon one for travelling, and it's rather average, so, I'm thinking my next one is going to be one of the Remingtons again.

Anyway, for what you want particularly, the CD86TCS Conair seems really similar to what you had, and I think it's possibly still available at some places.
posted by Dimes at 3:25 AM on August 9, 2013