Hi- I am a proffesional cosmetologist, AKA stylist, and i will tell you, no other flat iron works as well as the hot tools flat iron. Forget about what you read about ceramic, blah blah, they do not get hot enough or slide smoothly enough down the hair shaft, for truly straight frixx tangle free hair you need to get the hot tools brand. Also before you try to straighten, hair must be dry, really dry ladies, not just almost, and you need some sort of shine product, i prefer redkens glass, but just about anything will do. With out some sort of silicone shine product you will lose results. The shine serum will seal the hair, and help tp protect it from humidity. When you are using the serum and the iron, hair may smoke, do not worry, its the product, not the hair. When used together you will get beautiful, sleek, straight smooth frizz free hair. Also they dont break, well they do but it takes years of abuse first, great iron.