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Ceramic Hair Straighteners: Benefits of the Material Ceramic |
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Tuesday, 10 March 2009 |
Straight hair is in, (for now anyways) and most people want it, whether their hair is curly, frizzy, wavy or all of the above. The most common way to achieve straight hair is with a heat driven hair iron or hair straightener. The most common type on the market today are the ceramic ones. They consist of two ceramic plates which are heated electrically and are mounted on a pair of tongs that allow you to press hair in between the two plates. Straighteners are also made from other materials such as metal but do not have the good qualities that ceramics do.
Ceramic makes a good heating plate since it is very hard and therefore can be made very very smooth. Being extremely smooth is good because sliding your hair through the plates over and over again at high temperatures can cause damage if the surface is even slightly abrasive. Another inherent good quality of ceramics is its ability to distribute or spread heat out evenly. This is important since you would not want part of the iron to be at burning temperature while other parts are too cool to straighten properly. A straightening iron needs to be hot enough to properly alter the hydrogen bonds in your hair or the effect will no last throughout the day. Changing the hydrogen bonds in your hair is not a permanent affair. The next time you wash with water the bonds reform and your hair goes back to pretty much normal.
Ceramic also heats up and cools very quickly reducing the time you wait to use the iron. In some case this can be under a minute from cold and allows for the iron to maintain its heat level even with long hair and continues strokes. Some straighteners embed microscopic particles into the plates that release negative ions. These ions are attracted by the positive ions naturally occurring in your hair. This helps to ‘seal’ your hair and give it more shine and feel more smooth. Most ceramic models cost more than metal but it is well worth the extra since the metal ones can cause damage much easier.
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