Mistakes You've Been Making With Your Flat Iron

Perfect blowouts typically only happen at a salon. If you want super-straight hair at home, a flat iron is the way to go. Once you find a hot tool that you like, avoid these big mistakes to protect your hair and perfect your straight style.

When it comes to beauty, there are few things more cover table than long, sleek, shiny, straight hair. You know the look the one that beguiled audiences at shows like Ralph Lauren and Chloés this past season? It's the kind of style that somehow manages to look chic with everything from a great dress to a lazy Sunday outfit.

But, according to some of our friends in the hair world, there are concerns about at-home straightening. After all, you're clamping your precious, pretty hair with an iron that's at the temperature required to bake a whole pizza! To help you upgrade your game, we asked them exactly what we're doing wrong and how to fix it. Read on to see how you score.

1.You Skip Heat-Protect ant Spray
If you're not putting a heat-protect ant spray on your hair before you use your flat iron, it's like asking for damage. (This goes for any heat-styling tool.) On clean, damp hair, spray on a heat protect ant to shield your hair from hot-tool harm.

2.You Use The Lowest Heat Setting
You might think, "If heat damages my hair, I'll keep my flat iron on the lowest heat setting possible!" Counter intuitive as it may seem, a medium to high temperature lower if your hair is fine, higher if your hair is thick is better. Why? On a low heat setting, you'll have to go over your hair multiple times to smooth it out. A higher temperature means a better chance that a single pass can do the trick.

3.You Pull Your Iron Down As You Straighten
This technique can make your hair fall flat. Instead, get as close to your root as possible, and flat iron each section of hair, pulling the hair up as you go (instead of pulling it straight down). This will give you a boost of volume at the crown, so you'll have straight hair with body.

4.You Don't Use a Brush
Before you hit it each section with heat, brush out the hair to get any knots out of the way. This will make the straightening process go much more smoothly, so you won't need to go back over certain areas multiple times.

5.You Don't Let Your Hair Cool
While heat styles hair, cool air sets the style. So instead of immediately putting straightened hair into a ponytail or clip, allow your hair to cool after you iron it.

6.You Never Clean Your Iron
Heat-protect ant spray and other styling products you apply to your hair can and will build up on your flat iron. To prevent the residue from snagging your hair, clean your flat iron regularly.

7.The blow dryer is in the wrong direction. 
"The blow dryer is what's really the most damaging to the hair," says Tim Rogers, the creative director for Living Proof. "So that makes all the difference when you're trying to get a sleek finish." If you do use a dryer out of the shower, Potempa suggests rough drying (which is a technical term for shaking the dryer back and forth over the head) until it's 80% finished.

"But it's important to keep the nozzle facing downwards the entire time, otherwise the hair will frizz," she notes. The next 20% is up to you: You can apply your product then let it air dry, or, "Blow it out smooth for the best result," Rogers says. "It gives the hair more direction and shape." Potempa insists on using her boar bristle and nylon mix brush: "Nylon would cause static on its own, which is why plastic brushes are difficult to use," she explains. "The boar bristle helps to smooth and polish.

8.Sizzle is the enemy.
If you see steam or you hear the sizzle, stop and evaluate the situation," says Harry Josh, stylist to top models like Miranda Kerr . "Hair should be bone dry when you straighten." If you're certain that the hair is dry, it could be that product build-up is the culprit. "You need to be selective about what products you use before you flatiron," insists Potempa. "You should avoid applying anything to dry hair, which is what makes straightening different than curling. Because the iron clamps down on the hair, there's nowhere for the product to go. You're essentially boiling the product into the follicle, which isn't a great idea, especially when it contains alcohol.