At Glamour, we’re constantly researching, testing, and writing about the best hair tools on the market, including curling irons, hair dryers, blow-dry brushes, and more.
While specs sheets and reviews are a crucial component of our research, we believe it’s important to put hair tools like flat irons to the test for real-world feedback. That’s why we sent more than a dozen of the top-rated and most well-reviewed options to team members to assess both performance and long-term durability.
Brigitt Earley, the author of this roundup, is a writer with more than 15 years of industry experience evaluating and testing consumer products, including beauty products of all kinds (hair, cosmetics, skincare, gadgets, and more), for leading publications like Glamour, Oprah Daily, Good Housekeeping, and more. Brigitt has long hair that’s wavy with a medium texture, and has been using hair straighteners for more than 20 years. We also tapped additional Glamour staffers and reviewers with various hair types to help test, including Alanna Martine Kilkeary, Glamour‘s commerce writer, and Brie Schwartz, director of commerce for Glamour and Teen Vogue. Together, they bring more than 22 years of industry experience to the table.
During evaluations, we looked for a variety of qualities like material, temperature range, ease of use, overall performance, and convenience features like an auto-shutoff. We also considered how durable the tools were over time. Most importantly, our top hair straighteners had to deliver sleek and shiny results that lasted throughout the day—and, ideally, beyond.
Five months later, we asked our testers to reevaluate each straightener. How well did each product hold up throughout continued use? Did our testers still stand behind their picks—why or why not? We also researched the market for new and notable flat irons, and put four of the most promising to the test, ultimately selecting three standouts to replace two previously recommended models that we felt were either outdated or didn’t live up to the hype in the long-run.
Read the full article here
