Ceramic vs Tourmaline Flat Irons
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Posted: Saturday, February 21, 2009
by Grace Lyon
Simply Straight Hair
Recent years have shown many new developments in the area of hair styling technology. One of the most popular new technologies is tourmaline plated flat irons.
Metal plated flat irons have become outdated, and were replaced by ceramic plated flat irons several years ago. Ceramic flat iron technology has recently expanded to include the material known as tourmaline. Tourmaline is a semi-precious gem that is crushed to a fine powder then infused in the ceramic plates of the flat iron. It reacts to heat by becoming charged as it attracts impurities to itself like a magnet. It will also destroy odors like smoke, pollutants and perfumes. When tourmaline is heated, it is a natural source of negative ions and far-infrared heat, and it produces a far greater number of negative ions than plain ceramic plates.
There far fewer differences between ceramic and tourmaline plated flat irons as there are between ceramic and metal plated flat irons. Ceramic and tourmaline plates perform almost equally when it comes to styling results and hair damage, but tourmaline performs slightly better.
The most significant differences between the two materials are:
Hair Damage
Flat irons with ceramic plates are better at preventing damage to your hair than metal flat irons are because they produce negative ions. Tourmaline flat irons are even better at preventing heat damage, because tourmaline is designed to produce more negative ions. The negative ions protect your hair cuticle from damage by locking in the hairs own natural moisture, while reducing frizz and static electricity.
Ionic Technology
As mentioned before, tourmaline plates produce more negative ions than ceramic plates. Aside from protecting your hair from damage, the purpose of the negative ions is to help to neutralize the positive charge that is present in dry or frizzy hair, which makes it straighter and silkier. The negative ions work to diffuse all of the excess water in the hair into tiny particles, enhancing the moisture balance of the hair while reducing frizz and static electricity, making the hair smooth and shiny.
Selection
Most companies that manufacture high end professional flat irons have models with both ceramic and tourmaline plates, but the selection is sometimes limited. There are many more choices when it comes to plain ceramic compared to tourmaline, but tourmaline flat irons are becoming more and more popular, so there are more available now than there were a year ago.
Styling Time
Most tourmaline flat irons take only 25 seconds to straighten a section of your hair, while ceramic flat irons may take a slightly longer time. The less time spent straightening your hair, the less damage that occurs.
Price
Even though tourmaline flat irons are better for your hair and use more advanced technology, tourmaline flat irons are usually less expensive than ceramic flat irons.
Visit Simply Straight Hair for more information and to browse their extensive collection of professional quality ceramic & tourmaline flat irons.
Simply Straight Hair brings you the lowest prices on high end ceramic flat irons. All of the flat irons that they sell are guaranteed to provide you with the best results at the least amount of damage to your hair. They also have detailed reviews of every type of flat iron that they sell to help you choose which one is best for your individual hair type.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Thank you for writing this article Grace. I saw your name and was surprised to see that you wrote this information especially since I am about to buy a new iron and was confused as to what was better.
I hope things are well with you and that you have a blessed week.
Mary-Anne
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