Flat irons give moms with curly hair the best of both worlds. You get to flaunt your natural curls by day, then go sleek and smooth by night with a few flicks of your wrist. Even if you were born with straight hair, a flat iron will make your hair uniformly smooth and flat, taking out any tendency it has to wave in certain areas. While the process may seem self-explanatory once you see your flat iron, a few tips and tricks will take your style from amateur to professional quality.
Step 1
Wash and condition your hair, then lightly towel dry. You must have clean hair to avoid clumpy, stiff hair after you straighten it.
Step 2
Apply a heat styling protection cream or leave-in conditioner, then blow dry or air dry your hair. Some flat irons allow you to straighten wet hair, but the steam can make your hair frizzy. For best results, use flat irons on dry hair.
Step 3
Turn on our flat iron to allow it to preheat. Choose a heat setting that corresponds with your hair type. Thin, fine hair typically requires less heat that curly, thick or coarse hair. It may take some trial and error to find your perfect heat setting.
Step 4
Apply a light coating of smoothing serum. Smoothing serum makes flat-ironed hair shiny and prevents curly hair from developing frizz.
Step 5
Divide your hair into 4 to 6 sections and secure each section with its own hair clip.
Step 6
Let down one section at a time. Take a 1-inch section of hair and run a comb through it to make sure it’s tangle-free and that all hairs are facing in the same direction.
Step 7
Place the 1-inch section between the flat-iron plates, as close to the roots as possible. Clamp it closed and pull down in a firm, quick motion. Repeat if your hair doesn’t go completely smooth on the first pass.
Step 8
Continue flattening 1-inch sections until you’ve completed your whole head. Avoid working with larger sections of hair because they won’t flatten as smoothly or effectively and it will end up taking more time instead of less.
Step 9
Finish with a light coating of hairspray or a shine-enhancing finishing spray.
