My daughter has gorgeous s-wave curly hair. It's long, thick and voluminous. When she lets it dry without brushing, the S-waves start at her crown and tumble down, giving her a sassy, curly look. Growing up, she didn't spend much time modifying her hair's natural curl. Until, her last haircut, when her hairdresser blow dried it straight. She loved having straight hair! Even though it takes at last half an hour to blow dry her curls straight, I performed this beauty parlor treatment for her once or twice each week. So, for Hanukkah I surprised her with this Remington Wet 2 Straight flat iron. I wanted to save time by drying and straightening her hair simultaneously, without missing the noise and round brushing associated with blow-drying. Meanwhile, after using it to straighten her curls, I have also straightened my own wavy hair with even better success.

You can buy Remington Wet 2 Straight models in several styles and widths. This model is 2 inches wide, but the plates are slightly narrower, about 1 3/4 inches wide. This model offers a good range of temperatures, from 300 degrees F to 420 degrees F. It heats up quickly and is ready to use in about a minute. Wet 2 Straight is unique because its vents allow steam to escape while it dries your hair. If you used a regular flat iron on wet hair, it wouldn't work because the steam can't escape. According to Remington, the steam vents seal the hair's cuticle, which creates "salon straight, shiny hair in less time, with less damage."

Other useful features include:
-- tourmaline coated plates, to help seal the cuticle
-- smooth glide, to keep  your hair from sticking to the plates
-- ceramic plates, which heat more evenly than other materials
-- ionic conditioning, which is supposed to reduce frizz by creating negative ions

After using this on my daughter's hair several times, I realized it requires a certain technique to straighten wet hair effectively. Make sure to activate the wet setting. You can see the steam icon on the temperature monitor. Always apply heat proofing or styling spray before beginning. I got best results when her hair was fairly damp (not dripping wet, but not close to dry).  I begin by clipping up the top portion of her hair all the way around her head. This lets me straighten the bottom portion, keeping the top strands out of the way. Then, I use a comb to part small sections of hair and pull them straight, following with the flat iron. I found the iron worked best at the higher heat setting, but be careful, the iron gets very hot and could easily burn the scalp or fingers if you're not very careful.

I passed the styler several times over a section of her hair before it straightened out. Of course, I was careful to keep it moving.  I noticed her hair dries pretty quickly with Wet 2 Straight. However, it doesn't straighten her wavy hair quite as well as the round brush/dryer technique. Once I mastered the comb/plates technique, her hair became fairly straight, but she doesn't like the resulting texture quite as much as with a blow-dry. A few strands remained wavy, or stuck out, and the volume isn't as tamed with Wet 2 Straight. Also, the ends don't curl under quite as well with Wet 2 Straight. Never-the-less, using this tool is less work, and definitely quieter than using a blow dryer.

I used this styler several times on my own hair after the shower, instead of a blow dryer and flat iron. I got pretty good results, and I find it requires less effort than blow drying. It's somewhat awkward until you master the comb/iron technique. Also, each time I get slightly different results, which suggests I haven't mastered the technique yet. But, overall it does a nice job, and I really like using it on wet hair. You need to remember to turn the steam icon off and reduce the temperature as your hair dries. That minimizes damage to your hair. Luckily, I haven't gotten many split ends from this iron.

Overall, this is a great product, but takes some practice to use effectively. I notice our hair doesn't stick to the plates and goes through pretty smoothly. However, this straightener doesn't have floating plates, which means it might not pull your hair as taut as other flat irons. Also, it doesn't have a lock mechanism to keep the plates together for travel. I like some elements the design ~ the temperature and power button are on the side, so I don't press them accidentally while straightening. I'm not sure I like its ergonomic design. You need to press the plates together by holding the iron near the middle. This puts my fingers closer to the hot plates that I would prefer.

Conclusion: If your hair is very curly or wavy, this might not work quite as well as a blow dryer and round brush technique. But if your hair is slightly to medium wavy, this might be the tool you've been looking for!

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Recommended: Yes