Flat irons have a srsly bad rap for damaging hair. Visions of burnt, scorched, dry, and straw-like scarecrow hair instantly come to our mind. To find out how what we’re doing wrong when flat ironing, we hit up hair stylist Chloe Swift, the global educator for ghd. She righted our wrongs *and* gave us her top tips for straightening and smoothing hair like a pro. Since our chat, we can deffo say that our hair has ~never, ever~ looked better.
If you’re “travelling, check out the ghd unplugged (Dhs2055, ounass.ae) is a cordless on-the-go styler. It is small enough to keep in your handbag and is flight friendly. It’s also great for topping up my hair after the gym or enhancing my style before heading out after work.”
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Break these 3 habits
Fess’ up- are you guilty of committing these common mistakes when flat ironing your hair? Don’t worry, we also had an infraction (or three 😬).
Not sectioning the hair first
“This will usually lead to missing the back and the underneath and focusing only on flat ironing the front pieces of hair. These front pieces of hair are usually more fragile and need more TLC.”
Passing over the same section of hair multiple times
“This is not needed when styling with ghd, one pass is all it takes to achieve silky straight hair. The more passes, the more heat you are putting onto the hair.”
Not prepping the hair with heat protection
“The most common mistake is not prepping the hair with heat protection first and not investing in hair care.” This is super important because “some flat irons have been known for damaging hair with incorrect use, styling without heat protection, or styling long term with temperatures of 190°C and above.”
Instead of us trying to figure out which heat protection product to use, we decided to unashamedly copy Chloe. Lucky for us, she gave us the deets. “My go-to will always be the ghd bodyguard heat protection spray (Dhs87, amazon.ae) before flat ironing my hair. This contains an invisible layer of protection between the heat of the tool and the hair, it’s so lightweight and easy to use on damp or dry hair.”
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Do it like a ~pro~
“The great thing about ghd is that all of our flat ironing tools work at the optimum temperature of 185°C and this has been proven to keep hair healthy, whilst creating styles that last. My top tips for straightening and smoothing hair like a pro are:
- Always use heat protection first
- Use a comb to lead the way first, this will detangle the hair and achieve a sleek result
- Pass over the hair once, with a slow and steady pace”
Damaged or fine hair? keep reading
“We do recommend that you can style your hair every day if you wish with ghd platinum+ as this is our smart styler which has ultra-zone predictive technology, adapting to your hair type, so it’s kind to hair.”
Product-wise, we’re always looking for the latest and greatest. For our strands, the “ghd rehab split end therapy (Dhs145, amazon.ae) seals split ends for up to 10 washes. This is a great product to use when in-between hair trims, it smooths the hair so nicely and is a fabulous product for making the hair look healthy.
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What about hair that’s been used and abused or hair that is ultra-fine? Is flat ironing a no-go? “Everyone has different hair types and different factors which can affect how often they might want to style their hair. However, I tend to advise if the hair is fine, fragile, and not in a good condition, to begin with, then save your heat styling for only a couple of times a week and focus on improving your hair condition with your hair care regime first.”