How to flat iron your own hair for your wedding

Recently, a company called Misikko sent me a professional flat iron to review on this blog and I was so happy to get the offer! I love flat irons, but I’ve only ever used the cheapo drugstore specials. My hair was professionally flat ironed on my wedding day, and I started wondering if I could have done it myself (after some practice, of course). I called my friend/victim T to help me do a very simple wedding hair how-to. Stay tuned for a chance to win your own professional flat iron!



This is the awesome stuff I got from Misikko! I couldn’t believe it when I opened the box. I knew I would be getting the high-end CHI flat iron from Hana, but I didn’t know it would come with all the extras! I received the flat iron, the storage case for the flat iron, a hot mat to protect my table while using the flat iron, a heat-proof pouch, shine serum hair product, and some extra goodies like a bottle of hand sanitizer, emery boards, and some artificial flowers. Cute!

There are several types of professional flat irons; the most popular are CHI flat irons and the FHI flat irons. The differences are too minute for me, a novice to determine, but I guarantee that if you are going to buy a flat iron, you should invest in a good one and not the cheap $30 drug store special like I’ve always had. The Hana flat iron was incredibly easy to use the first time. I’ve never done anything but mangle my hair with the cheap ones (frizz, crimping, etc). Without any practice AT ALL, I was able to give my friend T smooth, incredibly shiny hair. Visit the Misikko website to find the best flat iron for your needs.



Here is my friend T’s hair. It’s gorgeous, no? Slightly wavy, and with lots of body and volume; wash and go hair works for her. But for a wedding day, it’s important to polish everything up and make it look a bit more special.

We started with dry hair, and I used the 230 degree setting on my flat iron. Maybe you pros can do this with damp hair at the highest setting, but as I said before, I had never used a professional flat iron, and I didn’t want T to scratch my face off if I melted all of her lovely hair.

This was all I needed for T’s hair: the flat iron, the heat safe mat to protect my table, four large hair clips, a brush, a comb, a barrette, 3 hair pins, and some patience.



Using the large clips, I secured the upper sections of the hair to her crown, and started at the nape. I used the comb to spread a 1” section of hair evenly across my hand, then gently closed the flat iron and ran it along the length of her hair. At the end of the hair, I turned my wrist about 45 degrees toward me to make a soft curl. To make sure that the hair was straight and smooth but not limp, I placed the iron about half an inch away from her scalp. I wanted to keep all the volume that I could – I wouldn’t make my friend look like a drowned rat on her wedding day after all! I know that the super flat hair look is popular, but for a wedding, I think it’s better to go with something timeless rather than trendy.



Here is the after – doesn’t her hair look pretty? It’s not drastically different; it’s just very smooth and polished. And it didn’t take long at all!

After using the Hana flat iron for about half an hour, I really began to appreciate that I was using a pro iron. The cord is very long so you never had to worry about accidentally pulling it out of the wall, and the cord rotates at the end of the unit, so you don’t have to interrupt styling by twirling/untwirling the cord. I was also surprised by how quickly the unit heated up, and I liked that it never felt too heavy in my hand. Sometimes when I’m blow-drying my hair, I really start to realize how heavy the dryer is. I didn’t experience any arm fatigue with this flat iron.

Since T is a true romantic, I wanted to do something within my very basic skill set to make it more elegant. Using a barrette and a few hair pins to secure stray hairs, I pulled the hair around her face and crown back into a partial up-do. Using the flat iron, I took a few ends and twisted them into curls. I held the flat iron at an angle instead of holding it perpendicular to the hair. It took a few tries, but here is the result.



I think it looks really nice! I actually still can’t believe that I did this because sincerely I have never been able to do more with my own hair than washing it and pulling it into a pony tail. When T really does get married (in a European castle, I hope), she’ll probably wear a veil, but for the evening, she made do with a single orchid that I cut off my plant (sorry plant!) and threaded into the barrette. Voila!



T doesn’t have bangs or any layering around her face, but if she did, I would have left a few strands down and twirled them into romantic curls too. Fun!

Sounds pretty easy right? I know you can do it – even if you aren’t skilled at styling hair.

Thanks so much to the nice people at Misikko for treating me like a paying customer! Stay tuned because I’m going to announce a way for YOU to win your own professional flat iron!

-Kay Banks