Conair HotTools Ceramic Flat Iron

Needed a cheap flat iron while on vacation (My daughter uses a higher quality tourmaile/ionic flat iron back home) so we picked up a low-end Conair at a local Target. Meh.

In a pinch? fine - for travel? Small and light.

Less than $20.

I got the original con-air flat iron ten years ago. The 1 and a half inch black one with gold plates. The one that has a ceramic shaft, not a crappy plastic shaft. And fortunately for me, it is still working great. But probably wont last forever. So I tried to repurchase and got sent the wrong one three different times. And I can not find it in any stores. I am so upset, they must have taken it off the market. I cant see why since the new plastic ones are such junk. But the original one that I'm talking about was great. It got extremely hot. It is the only straightener that has left my frizzy thick hair completely straight, and it stays like that all day. It leaves my hair shiny and smooth. It clamped down on my hair very effective without any gaps. It is the only straightener that will work on my hair. So I don't know what I'm going to do when it breaks.

Conair has come out with so many versions of ceramic flat irons but the one that I am reviewing is the one that has a Turbo setting and heats up to 400 F. Mine is about 3/4 inch and has pink plates. I have had CHI, GVP and Hot Tools but they are 1 1/2 and 2 inches. I have to say that the smaller the plates are, the better they work on the hard areas like the back of your head. This is actually a great product and very inexpensive ($19). It is very light and unlike CHI and Hot Tools does not cause a pain in my shoulder. Also, if I put it on the Turbo setting, the starightening time is much faster than CHI, GVP and Hot Tools. It does a great job in not damaging the hair. I used to have breakage but this really helps. My hair is pretty thick and unruly so I use this with Suave Keratin Shampoo and Conditioner and Kerastase Oleo-Relax serum and then I am all set. I do not like my hair to look needle straight and this can create nice curls. Highly recommended.

i've been using this straightener for about 2 years now and i have no idea whats going on cuz it's not working like it used to. the plates are all scratched with some kind of residue and i can't get it off! when i first started using it, it got really hot and straightened my hair pin-straight. now, it takes me a lot longer than it used to to do what i did before. i don't understand! it's really disappointing because i really liked this iron. i won't buy this again.

I have to preface this by saying I really want a CHI like my hairstylist uses, but I haven't quite convinced myself to spend that much money.

Overall, this isn't a bad iron. The packaging was terrible, though -- that sealed formed plastic stuff that you can hardly even cut through with heavy scissors. The iron itself does a decent job, though. With a little practice, I can get a passable flip or a wee bit of curl. It straightens and smoothes very well. The ceramic plates are not harsh on my coloured, very dry hair. I use it everyday and it's a good little workhorse, but I don't think I would buy it again.

I have stick straight hair naturally but I only wash my hair twice a week. When I sleep I always wear my hair in a messy bun which leaves frizz, wave and kink. I got this out of my little sister's bathroom who has mildly wavy hair and this perfected everything & made my naturally straight hair look refreshed and good to go for the 3rd and 4th day. Didn't burn my hair (but why would it since I use a heat protectant) and heats up really fast which is amazing for days I run late and need to quickly tame my old hair. The barrel is wide enough to be able to straighten large sections at a time which is such a blessing in the morning.

I bought the Conair Tourmaline 2 inch ceramic straightener after my hairdresser straightened my hair, and I loved the results. She uses a very expensive one; I think mine was $39 at Target...and the results are the same. This straightener heats up in 5 seconds. It doesn't hurt my hair at all, makes it shiny and straight. I highly recommend this: It's reasonably priced, covers a big expanse of hair in a short time, and easy to use with fabulous results for even the most inept hairstylist - me.

My first Conair flat iron worked beautifully, but after a year, the plates broke off. The company must have tried to "upgrade" this product, because the second time round, the iron only heated up to lukewarm after a half hour. Switched to Chi, love it.

I don't have this model, but I do have a hot tools straightening iron. I tried out my cousins when she came to our house for vacation, and I had to buy one. It makes my normally wavy, thick hair stick straight. It cost a lot for me, because I ordered it online, off an American website, and I'm Canadian, so the shipping was huge amounts of money. But I must say, it was well worth it.

I have been flat-ironing my Japanese hair forever with a Conair ceramic iron...it always looked good enough to me and I always assumed the reason it never looked exactly like it did when my stylist did it was because I wasn't using the exact products she was. So eventually I bought every product she uses on me - the same Redken shampoo, Tigi S Factor Smoothing Lusterizer Defrizzer & Tamer and Soya Want Flat Hair and I STILL wasn't getting the same results - the only difference was my flat iron so now obsessed I checked out the reviews for the CHI flat iron and decided to make the plunge and bought one. DUH - that was it! The kick is I never splurged on the CHI b/c of the high price and I could have saved myself the $$ I spent on all those styling products and just bought the dumb CHI iron!!!! So while the Conair worked ok for me there is NO comparison to the CHI.

I am not one who likes to spend $$ on name brand/high end beauty products unless they are worth it and I find they usually aren't - 95% of my cosmetics are bought at CVS but the CHI is worth it so if you can afford to try one don't bother with the Conair.