Flat irons, curling irons and curling wands utilize surface technologies that can make a difference to the health, body, shine and bounce of your fine hair. With ceramic, tourmaline ceramic or titanium surfaces, many styling irons are designed to minimize heat damage. Infrared heat, natural ions and a uniform, evenly heated surface can protect your fine hair while you create a great style.
Do you know the expression lit from within? It means emitting light or radiating warmth from a source seemingly inside a person. “She glowed as if she was lit from within.” More than beauty, we think being lit from within connotes energy, health and happiness combined. That's how you should feel when you look your best, when your fine, lifeless hair has more volume, shine and bounce.
Fortunately, you have great, heat-styling choices that can add life and dimension to fine and damage-prone hair. Let's take a look at those options.
Curling irons, curling wands and flat irons bring volume, bounce and a smooth texture to naturally limp locks. They can also tame the kinks and curls that may not be part of the look you desire.
Fine hair needs a short amount of heat exposure to keep damage at bay. It also needs help capturing and holding moisture in its fragile strands to keep them resilient and shiny.
By adding the benefits of ionization, tourmaline, ceramic and temperature control, you'll find that the styling iron is your friend.
The right tools let you control where and how to apply the magic and give you precision where you need it most. Wisps of broken strands are blended back into place. Unwanted curls are tamed to perfection. Flat roots are coaxed to roll with style.
Fine hair begins with genetics. The unique structure of your hair results in a circumference that's relatively small compared to medium, thick or coarse hair.
No worries: Fine hair can be very healthy hair. Its core size, chemical makeup and the styling products you apply all affect the resiliency of each strand. It may take some smarts and TLC to keep this hair happy.
You don't want to cause problems while working these locks into a luscious look. Too much heat can damage your fine hair:
You'll need a styling iron with heat that's gentle yet effective enough to hold a style.
Best Features for Fine Hair
Stay Away From These
Styling irons come in all shapes, sizes, lengths and widths, which can give your hair a variety of styles. Using different tools to create different looks is completely possible, and Conair has a wide selection of styling irons and wands with features that work especially well with fine hair.
One advantage curling irons have over curling wands is the spoon or clamp that holds your hair in place. Fine hair can be slippery hair, and the clamp will secure the strands while you style. The downside is the potential for creating crimps while you clamp. See if you can capture only the very end of each strand in the clamp before you wrap the rest around the barrel.
Conair is creating a line of styling tools called OhSoKind™ which will feature both a curling iron and a flat iron. The curling iron pictured above has a silicone-covered clip to gently hold hair while styling. Soft, flexible edges will ensure a smooth finish every time. Be on the lookout. OhSoKind™ styling tools are coming soon!
There's a "clampless" curling iron technique to try on fine hair:
Tip: To avoid thermal damage, keep the temperature on the low to medium side and don't let your hair remain too long on the heated barrel.
A curling wand offers multiple styling options for fine hair. You can wrap hair strands around the tapered barrel to produce fullness at the top and a natural curl toward the end.
A key advantage of a wand is its lack of a spoon or clamp. You can control how tightly the hair wraps around the barrel, thus controlling its proximity to the heat. A wand can prevent that clamp-induced crimp to your susceptible, fine hair.
The wand approach will take practice and a heat-resistant glove to avoid burning your fingers while you coax your fine, slippery, straight hair around the barrel. Try the pinch-and-wrap approach described in the Curling Iron section above.
A flat iron is typically used to make your fine hair very straight and silky. It has a terrific effect on fine wisps and broken ends by smoothing them into place.
With a little practice, you can also use a flat iron to create flips and curves. We think one of its great benefits is its ability to add volume at the roots. Flat iron plates have a level, rather than cylindrical surface. Creating curves and lift may take several passes and practice on your part.
The OhSoKind™ flat iron, which will be available from Conair soon, will have almond and aloe vera-infused, ceramic-coated plates to help minimize damage, add shine, and reduce frizz. Rounded edges on the plates won't snag or pull. It will also have 3 gentle heat settings, perfect for fine, delicate hair.
Keep the plates moving as you iron each fragile hair section. Avoid high-heat settings; use a flat iron with ceramic plates and tourmaline to get the benefit of smooth ionic conditioning for the surface of your hair strands.
Conair makes many flat iron sizes to suit your style. Consider building an arsenal of widths for precise control and hairstyle experimentation.
Low Temperature to avoid heat damage.
When the difference between dazzling and damaged hair is just a few degrees, a variable-heat setting is the first feature to consider for fine hair. Styling iron temperatures for fine hair should be between 300 and 325 degrees F to minimize heat damage and still set a style. Most styling irons have two or three temperature settings, and Conair offers models with as many as 10 heat-setting choices.
Plate/Barrel Material to effectively transfer heat.
The material used on the plate or barrel surface of styling irons is essential to the success of your hairstyle. Elements with particularly effective heat transferring properties include ceramic and titanium. Tourmaline added to a ceramic coating helps your hair shine. These minerals help smooth hair for better manageability and protect it from damage and breakage.
Some styling irons have interchangeable plates and barrels that allow them to do double duty as crimpers or wavers or go from tight tendrils to loose locks. Many other models, like Conair's Curl Secret®, are ready for some serious specialty styling with their own unique features.
Regardless of its particular profile, a styling iron should be made with heat-transfer material that protects your hair from thermal damage, while giving you the look you want.
Barrel Size for Curling Irons and Wands to control your look.
The circumference of a curling iron's and wand's round barrels can range from a pencil-like ½ inch to a robust inch-and-a-half in diameter. All of these sizes are suitable for fine hair, and should be selected based on the look you want to achieve.
Plate Width on Flat Irons for precise control.
Most flat irons are equipped with plate widths of 1 to 2 inches to straighten fine hair of any length. You can even find them in ½-inch widths for super precision (and portability).
Take a look at the entire selection of curling irons, wands and flat irons on the Conair.com Hair Care page. For more information on styling fine hair, check out the article Best Hair Dryers for Fine Hair.