Farouk CHI Turbo Regular Ceramic Flat Iron Hair Straightener

I was suspect of the need for "ceramic ions" and "far infrared technology", but this iron was highly recommended by salon personnel, so I decided to dish out the money and try it. You don't need to believe the hype to realize that this is a top quality product. This was a case of "you get what you pay for"! It is lightweight and ergonomic, heats up almost immediately, has a slider bar for varying heat from 176-356F (80-180C), and velvety felt that protects you from burns (also allows me to get closer to my ears and scalp without getting burned). The latter feature is worth the money to me alone, and the the ceramic feels much gentler to my hair (I have baby fine hair very prone to breakage). Two other things to keep in mind when choosing a straightener:

1) size matters - smaller size is better - it's more maneuverable, and doing smaller sections at a time will produce better results. for superfine hair, I recommend the 0.7" (mistakenly advertised as 0.07")...Read more

After reading numerous online raves about the CHI Flat Iron I ordered a CHI Turbo Flat Iron. I have no complaints with the product as of yet, I've only had it a few days.

***BUT*** the few complaints I read online dealt with customer service from Farouk the manufacturer of CHI products and warranty problems. Before buying the product, I went to the Farouk website and noted that they had a 1-year warranty, no problem so I thought. I went back to the site today with a nagging thought, why would people who had spent so much money on a hair iron have problems with customer service? Upon reading the fine print I found out. The following was copied and pasted from the Farouk website:

ATTENTION INTERNET SHOPPERS: Any product manufactured by Farouk Systems, Inc. will lose its warranty if purchased from an internet distributor of any sort. Farouk Systems can not guarantee the quality of the products that are sold over the internet. Besides that, It is against...Read more

CHI manufactures this 2" size, and 1" and 0.7" widths in the same line also. My first inclination was to buy the 2" size - that would make the process faster, right? Well, I was advised and found out to be true that bigger is not better in this situation, for reasons stated below. So while I highly recommend the CHI Turbo straightener, I would recommend the smaller widths unless you know for a fact that you prefer the larger plates. The following section is my review for the 0.7" (which is mistakenly advertised as 0.07"), which I think is helpful even if you decide on the 2" model, so forgive my copy-and-paste.

I was suspect of the need for "ceramic ions" and "far infrared technology", but this iron was highly recommended by salon personnel, so I decided to dish out the money and try it. You don't need to believe the hype to realize that this is a top quality product. This was a case of "you get what you pay for"! It is lightweight and ergonomic, heats up almost...Read more