Today, I’m going to clarify the difference between titanium vs ceramic flat irons.
Do you find that you’re just not getting the results that you want from your flat iron?
Do you need way too many passes to get your hair smooth?
Are you finding that your hair is feeling really dry, really crispy and it’s just not growing no matter what products you use and no matter what you do, you just can’t seem to get your hair in a healthy state?
All of these issues may be coming up because you are actually using the wrong flat iron plate for your individual hair type.
As I said earlier, we are going to be talking about the different popular flat iron plates on the market, what type of hair benefits from the plate, and what differences these plates actually have in the end result.
Let’s get right into it …
We are going to go through each individual type of iron plate and we’re going to talk about it in terms of a few features.
I’m going to go over the pros and cons of each and hopefully, you’ll be able to better determine which flat iron is the better go-to and fit for you.
Those features are:
- smoothing capability
- durability
- Heat
- Hair type suitability
This is all going to make sense in a minute.
Titanium vs Ceramic Flat Irons
Ceramic flat irons are the generic go-to flat irons that you can find in your homes and stores.
They’re easy to find and in my opinion, they are on the affordable side compared to titanium flat irons.
Titanium flat irons are made with titanium metal and they are used commonly by professionals. These are also probably going to cost you a lot more in comparison to the ceramic flat irons.
Ceramic Flat Irons
There are three types of common ceramic plates: a full ceramic, a ceramic-coated plate, and a tourmaline plate.
So let’s talk about the full ceramic first.
Full Ceramic Flat Irons
First off, the Chi above is one of the best ceramic flat irons.
Made with a ceramic plate, a full ceramic flat iron was the first to enter the high-end straightener market. When it comes to smoothing capability, it’s fantastic because it has a really even heat distribution without hot spots. So, you want your flat iron to eat heat up evenly.
Heat
There may have been times where you’ve noticed that you run your flat iron through your hair several times and you had to do several passes because your hair was not getting straightened as well as it could have.
That may have been a result of cold spots.
Because ceramic flat irons heat up evenly, you do not have to worry about some parts on your flat iron getting hotter than others resulting in you having to do several passes.
So, you have a nice hot iron that smooths out your hair and the iron is consistent throughout the entire barrel, which is always fantastic.
In terms of heat, ceramic plates:
- Do hold heat well
- Have an even heat distribution
- Don’t get hot spots
- So heat up quickly but not as quickly as some of the other materials we’re going to talk about.
Hair Suitability
A ceramic plate is a must-have for fine thin and sensitive hair because it diminishes the probability of your hair getting damaged since everything is getting heated up at one time.
So, you are not going to be really worried about some places not being hot enough and having to continuously run your flat iron through that section of hair.
Also, because ceramic flat irons are not going to heat up as fast as titanium flat irons, you can really go in and play with the heat settings so that you can ensure that you are not damaging your hair.
If you’re finding that your hair is really dry and brittle and you’re not able to get any length, you might actually be burning your hair repeatedly with an iron that is just too strong for your hair type.
If that’s the case and you’re not using a ceramic iron, then I recommend switching over to that.
Frizz Control
Another great thing about ceramic plates is that they help minimize frizz. The plates on a ceramic flat iron are very smooth making it less likely to pull your hair and really smoothening out your hair giving you that nice seamless look.
Durability
In terms of durability, ceramic is a porous material. So, although it can last you a long time, it’s not really the most durable plate.
Ceramic-Coated Flat Irons
How that works is you have a metal and you have a ceramic coating that plate.
They get hot quickly because of the metal that is underneath the ceramic coating, but they don’t stay as hot and they don’t have even heat distribution, which is really good to know.
Ceramic coated basically means that it’s a cheaper iron. They can be great for a short duration of time, but they aren’t as high-quality and they don’t hold the heat that you might need as well for as long of a time.
So, you may find that you’re just not getting the results you want and that’s because it is a lower grade item.
It’s not necessarily to say that you can’t have a ceramic-coated flat iron that you might not love it. I have a lot of drug store level Hot Tools that I think are actually really great and they do really work.
But if you’re comparing Hot Tools to like a Toyota and Porsche, the full ceramic would be like your Porsche and then a ceramic-coated would be like a Toyota.
So, ceramic-coated flat irons:
- Are still going to work really well
- Are still going to be okay
- Might not last as long
- might not have the bells and whistles and all of those additional features
Tourmaline Flat Irons
These are actually tourmaline ceramic flat irons.
Tourmaline is the newest in heat styling technology. Tourmaline is a gemstone, it’s a crystalline mineral that’s crushed up and it’s used to coat the ceramic plate.
So, a tourmaline straightener is said to create an even smoother and glossier result and that’s because the crystalline mineral has a lot of negative ions
Heat
These straighteners do have really consistent heat and even heat distribution, but the only con about them is that they can be extremely expensive.
This is a kind of innovative new technology. It’s kind of like the hot thing in the market right now.
So, these plates can just be a little bit more expensive than a traditional ceramic and I’m not a hundred percent sure if you’re getting the benefit of that plate in terms of the actual look of the hair.
Sometimes, you have to ask ‘is this tourmaline flat iron worth the money when compared to just a true ceramic?’
If you look at two pieces of hair side-by-side, one is straightened with a tourmaline flat iron and one is straightened with a true ceramic, will you really notice the difference enough to warrant the price?
Remember, the line between EXCELLENT and PERFECT is very thin.
Titanium Flat Irons
Heat
Titanium flat irons are made with titanium plates, of course. Titanium metal is a naturally occurring metal that actually heats up really fast.
Tianium is considered a forefront in flat iron technology. In terms of smoothing capability, this has an incredible smoothing capability.
They really do leave your hair looking very straight, very glossy, and very smooth.
Again, titanium:
- Heats up very fast
- Holds high heat very well
- Has really good heat distribution
So, with the titanium’s ability to heat up fast, you can expect to possibly deal with heat damage if you are not paying close attention to the temperatures.
Generally speaking, titanium flat irons actually are known to heat up a lot faster than ceramic flat irons.
You can expect your titanium flat iron to heat up within about twenty to thirty seconds or maybe even less depending on the brand.
When it comes to ceramic flat irons, they do heat up fast as well. You can expect them to heat up at about anywhere from thirty to sixty seconds.
It’s very rare that it would be longer than that, but again, depending on the company, it could take up to a 2-minute wait, but it is very rare.
Durability
In terms of durability, titanium flat irons are extremely durable. Titanium is not a porous material like ceramic so it does have a tendency to last much longer and to also be just much more durable in general.
Hair Suitability
Titanium flat irons are fantastic for someone with very thick super curly very resistant hair. Basically, coarse hair that just doesn’t straighten like African American hair.
So, if you have very thick hair, you can definitely go in with a titanium flat iron and not have to worry about your hair getting as straight as you would like it to be.
I have the Babyliss Pro Nano Titanium Optima 3000 flat iron and I find that that iron will smooth out anything. Even women with extremely thick resistant puffy crazy curly hair need one or two passes with that and it is bone straight.
This is an excellent iron. However, you can’t just go running out and buying yourself a titanium iron if you don’t have these issues.
If you’re wondering ‘ceramic or titanium flat iron for fine hair’, titanium is not really the best option for people with really smooth soft very fine hair because it can literally scorch your hair so fast. Your safe option is ceramic flat irons.
If you are using a titanium iron and you don’t have extremely thick difficult hair to work with and you’re finding that your hair is just not growing, then you’re getting crazy split ends.
Every single time you go for a cut, your split ends are so big. This really could be because that that straightener is just too intense for your hair type. It’s just creating so much more damage than any benefit at all.
Titanium Ceramic Flat Irons
There are some flat irons that actually have titanium and ceramic plates. I’ve heard that those will give you a phenomenal result.
Metal Flat Irons
There aren’t many of these out in the market anymore, but you could find them for very cheap.
I caution you to stay away from these irons completely. They:
- Have uneven heat distribution
- Get hot spots
- Can kind of spike up real quick
- Can break really easily
But the worst thing about them is that they can cause a tremendous amount of damage and that’s damage that cannot be reversed. Once you scorch your hair, that’s it, it’s over.
Well, this pretty much wraps this titanium vs ceramic flat iron comparison. I hope that you’ve learned something new today.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comment section below and I will get back to you.