I cannot believe that this straightener, Tourmaline Flat Iron, works better than any of the more expensive straighteners that I've tried (Solia, Sedu, FHI). I purchased this for $50 at Sally Beauty on a whim, and am so glad that I did. My only issue with this straightener is the designer, it kinda has a tiny crevice in the upper corner, so it prone to snagging tiny pieces of hair if you are not careful. Other than that, I am so happy with my purchase. It gets my thick, coarse hair super duper straight!

I bought this in the Tourmaline series. It has red plates and the exterior is in plastic and has a silver color. It is very light even though the size of the plates is 2 inches. It has different settings for different hair type. I used to be a loyal customer of Chi so I can compare this with Chi. The price of this tool was high considering that it is not as known as Chi but the Sally Beauty Salon sales lady told me that this worked the best. I had actually seen this lady before and admired her hair. My hair can be unruly and rebellious. I have a thick set of hair and it is wavy. I am talking about stubborn waves. I dry my hair with a blow dryer and then use Beyond the Zone Turn Up the Heat on my hair and then use this on the high setting. For retouch however, I use the lower settings. My hair glides through the plates effortlessly. Within first or second gliding on each section, my hair is straight. The beauty of this is that my hair stays straight even through humidity. I also had some hair breakage at the ends and my curling iron was making it worse but after starting to use this, I have no breakage. In fact, my hair ends look great and are tamed. In comparison with Chi, this is a superior product. I have seen that some of the reviews say that the iron did not last long but I have not got to that point yet. I know that if I get there, I would get another of these because it does the job right and keeps my hair healthy. Also, although I have had my Chi for a long time, the iron has got old and even the exterior is getting destroyed because of the heat, so I am not going to make a life time commitment to an iron.

I think the quality of this is as good as any other brand--after all, they're all made in the same asian continent, how different can they be? I got my ceramic professional 1.25" gold curling iron at Big Lots for 7 bucks. I was NOT expecting it to work much less even turn on by the time I got it home--it had been rifled through by someone, you know how Big Lots can be. It got so friggin hot that it actually left skid marks along my hair as I ran it down the piece. I wasn't smooth enough. It heated up in 30 sec flat and made the nicest flip. I have thick hair too, and so I'm utterly impressed. This is replacing a Solid Gold 2" barrel iron I've had for 2-3 years now, which took forever to heat up and never seemed to get that hot. Let me also add, that I just yesterday bought a Chi 1" original that worked TOO well. I decided that I don't like myself with stick straight hair--it seemed to exaggerate the shaggy ends and I couldn't flip well with it despite what people say. All I really needed was a better curling iron! Gives me flip, flattens the pieces around my face (I prefer to leave my waves at the back for bounce). Man, if you can get Jilbere for 7 bucks do it. I would pay probably 30 bucks retail for this, but I'm very pleased to see that it goes for 45 bucks usually in brick and mortar stores, which was what I was prepared to spend on a ceramic chi iron at Ulta. Amen Big Lots. You just saved me a ton.

Forget the expensive brands. The Jilbere ceramic flat iron is the only one my daughter is happy with. I am always worried that she is going to ruin her hair (which is relaxed) by using a flat iron almost every day but she uses this one on the lowest setting and is very happy with the results. I have tried more expensive brands which I think might be better for her hair (why i think this I don't know)! But they don't seem to straighten at all at the lowest heats. When the gold colored plate area starts rubbing off I buy a new one.

I would never buy this again. It's only an ok straightener and doesn't have any control dials to tailor the straightening powers. Gets pretty hot, but doesn't straighten well and sometimes leaves my hair frizzy, wouldn't buy this again.