The Sedu Ionic Ceramic Pro Flat Iron Hair Straightener

One of the most fashionable ways for a female (and I suppose some males) to wear their hair these days is completely straight. To achieve this look at home, without going to a salon for a blow-out, you will have to invest in a hair straightener. For people like me who have thick, wavy hair, it can take a particularly heavy duty straightening iron in order to get the job done.

I split the costs of the Sedu Ionic Ceramic Pro Flat Iron with my mother, as it was $150 at follica.com to purchase and we would both be using it. That came with a one-year warranty and a promise of straight, silky, shiny hair. I had tried using $15 hair straighteners from Wal-Mart, but they really did nothing for me. I was ready to be amazed.

And amazed I was! The Sedu Flat Iron works wonders. It heats up very quickly (you can choose a temperature from 120 - 200 degrees) and stays hot. It also has an on/off switch so you can leave it plugged in if you are planning on having multiple people using it in a short amount of time. As for the straightening itself-absolutely fantastic!

Ulike most straighteners, you do not have to keep running the iron over your hair again and again; you can simply run it through once and be done with it. It actually makes your hair smoother than it was to begin with, and adds an extra glow. It even makes my mother's naturally curly hair stick straight.

It lasts all day, too. Some straighteners require you to use hairspray afterwards if you want to keep your hairstyle in, but with the Sedu, you can count on having straight hair until your next shower. Unless you end up standing in a rainstorm, of course. Avoid that, and you should be fine.

There is a downside, however. There is a long cord (as there are on many hair styling tools), and the cord is very delicate. My hair straightener stopped working about five months after we bought it, because the cord somehow became slightly jarred from the straightener itself, thus making the power supply unsteady.

The warranty does not cover cord damage, and according to reviews at places like Amazon, this is a common problem that people with the Sedu face. However, if you are careful with it (pick it up after you use it, try not to step on it!), it is well worth the investment.