What is a Flat Iron?

• Flat irons are hair styling tools typically used to smooth and straighten frizzy, curly or wavy hair cuticles. Heat is distributed through electric flat irons to the plates, which are positioned around hair and pressed closed. The downward motion used helps the hair strands straighten and realign in a smooth, straight style.
  
  

Old Design

• Marcel Grateau is noted as one of the originators of flat irons, although the design he used in the 1820s consisted mostly of heated rods. Grateau used heated tongs to straighten hair and shape it into a wavy hairstyle that became known as the Marcel Wave.
  
  

Modern Design

• The more identifiable design for what we now call a flat iron was developed by Jennifer Bell Schofield, a Scottish heiress, in 1912. This design uses metal tongs with flat metal plates on either side to press hair straight.
  
  

Titanium Plates

• Various designs have been adapted for use as the plates on flat irons including ceramic, aluminum and other metals. Titanium plates are lighter weight and have a higher resistance to heat.