Hana Flat Iron Review Part 1: An Unexpected but Welcome Gift

  Hello All,

This is my absolute favorite time of year. The decorations are beautiful (and sometimes beautifully gaudy), the food is rich and cheesy and buttery and chocolately (not necessarily the same dish). The presents that you give and receive are over the top expensive and lavish. It’s decadently wonderful.

And we are barely in the middle of Christmas season and already I have received an unexpected gift.  I set up a new email account some months ago (contactme@toprateflatironreviews.com) hoping to get an email from a reader, a hater of me or this blog, ANYONE…I mean I would take spam at this point.

Then one day, I got an email from some guy named John with the subject Product Review. My ears perked up and  my eyes got wide.  I’m telling you. If you are only going to get one email, this is the one to get.  I was super excited.
He introduced himself as John from the flat iron website Misikko.com and asked me if I was interested in reviewing one of their flat irons (hmmm, let me think??).  Needless to say, I readily agreed as I was always a big fan of Misikko.com anyway. Their website has a look and feel to it that I’ve always loved.
We exchanged a few more emails and before long I was notified that my flat iron was on its way. The flat iron that he sent was the  Hana flat iron, which is their site’s biggest seller. And it got to my house VERY quickly. It was mailed on the 14th and it was delivered on the 17th  of November.
When I got it, I didn’t open it for a few days because I was busy.  So when I opened it on a Saturday just to see what the flat iron looked like I got a bit of a surprise.
OMG!
I was not expecting everything that I saw when I opened that box. The way it was arranged was so adorable. And the freebies…there were tons. I felt like I had gotten a swag bag backstage at the Grammys or something.
I had to take pictures so ya’ll could see it. I only had my iphone at the time to take a pictures of the box. Trust me, it doesn’t do it justice but you’ll get the idea.

This is a breakdown of everything that I got:
1) a Hana  VIP Card 2) A Ionic round brush 3)Lip gloss 4) Mascara 5) Sleep Eye Mask 6) Silicone mat 7) Leather Storage Case 8) Bottle of Hana Shine Serum/Heat Protectant 9) Hana flat iron storage tin. 10) 2 carrying cases
And a Hana Professional flat iron, of course.
Can you say “Dang Gina”? That is a whole lot of free stuff. And the packaging came in my favorite color too (purple). I emailed John to thank him for everything and asked him if they usually package everything like that and he said they did so be prepared to get your own swag when you order a Hana flat iron from Misikko.
But as nice as all that is, it means nothing if the actual flat iron isn’t good. I still hadn’t even used it but I was already in love. I had to calm myself down and actually try the product and soon.
Then, one day later that week,  I came up with a brilliant idea. A devilishly wickedly brilliant idea (as wicked and devilish an idea about flat irons can be).
But ya’ll have to come back tomorrow to see what my idea was b/c this post is already quite long. So I shall see you on the morrow when I will reveal this brilliant idea with all of you.
Prepare for possible amazement,

Hana Flat Iron Review Part 2: My Brilliant Flat Ironing Idea

So,
If you haven’t already, go ahead and read this post first. Then you will understand the idea that I”m about to share with you.

I have been reading flat iron reviews for years. I have seen a million flat iron review videos.  A lot of the time, these videos don’t even show the reviewer using the flat iron. Or that reviewers’ hair is already straight or just barely “wavy” and supposedly very “thick”. Then they show you how that  flat iron magically transforms their “wavy” and “thick” hair to sleek and straight in about 3 or 4 passes.
I’m sorry, that’s not very impressive to me. How hard is it for a flat iron to straighten nearly straight hair when you pass over each section 10 times. Forget that.
This is not really challenging these flat irons. That’s not showing me how well they work. The $10 Conair from Walmart can straighten that type of hair.
But, what if we really put a flat iron to the test? What if we actually made them sing for their supper. It’s time for a flat iron review that really shows you how effective it is.
In other words, its fine to see how well a flat iron does when you do everything right.
But wouldn’t you like to know how well a flat iron does if you do EVERY thing wrong?
So, I decided I was going to do just that. Instead of…
1) Using a straightening shampoo 2) Using a straightening conditioner 3) Blow drying my hair with a straightening serum and… 4) Flat ironing each section of my hair 3 or 4 times
I was going to throw all of the rules out the window. I was going to flat iron my hair in its current condition, no blow drying, no washing or conditioning, no leave-ins, no rollersets…nothing.
It’s just me, my hair, round brush, two sided brush, shine serum/heat protectant, and the flat iron. Nothing else.
Now, let’s see what this flat iron can really do.
Oh and let me explain about my hair. I don’t have “wavy” and “thick” hair. No love. I have THICK, coarse, curly and coily 4a/4b hair (find out what that means here).
It is not easy to get my hair straight at all. In fact, I have claimed the sole title of having the “hardest hair to straighten in the world”. My hair has laughed at many a flat iron and hair relaxer. Has my hair finally met its flat iron match?
To fully appreciate this transformation, you have to see just how coily and thick my hair was before I flat ironed it. Now I only did a few sections because I didn’t want to flat iron all of my hair like that in case it was damaging but you will be able to see the difference:
Before pics

You’ve seen my hair, so let me explain to you the steps I took. There’s not many. This is what i did:
1) I parted my hair 2) I took a small section of my hair and I brushed it gently with the round ionic brush that was sent with the flat iron. 3) I used the Hana shine serum/heat protectant they sent me. 4) Then I flat ironed that section of the hair very slowly, using a two sided brush for the chase method, 1.5 times. (meaning I did one pass very slowly and then did another quick pass to bump the ends of my hair)
Result?


My hair was straighter and silkier than it had ever gotten with ANY other flat iron. No I am not exaggerating. No I am not being melodramatic. No I am not just saying this because I got a free flat iron. I am under no obligation to say I liked it. Fortunately, I loved it. Now, I could have gone over the sections multiple times and made it even sleeker and smoother but I wanted you to see just how straight it could get my hair in one (point five) passes.  And remember this is without really any of my usual flat ironing preparation.  This is about as straight as it gets in less than two passes.
Let me make a little confession. Even though I am a flat iron reviewer extraordinaire (as I like to think) I have personally never used a flat iron that cost more than $100. I’ve come close but no cigar.
This flat iron is $119 on misikko.com and it is worth every penny. I thought it made a difference to get a more expensive flat iron vs one from Sally’s. But now I know for sure.
It makes a huge difference.
This is personally the best flat iron I have ever used. And this is not even the best Hana flat iron they have. I can only imagine how well the others work. This one is more than good enough for me.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this flat iron to anyone. If it worked on my hair type then it will most likely work for yours too. You can get the Hana flat iron at Misikko.com or Hanasalon.com
Have you ever tried any of the Hana brand flat irons? What is your experience? Did you like it as much as I did or did you just have a so so experience with it? I would love to hear from you. Let me know about it in the comment section.
And stay tuned for the flat iron battle posts coming soon.
Thanks for reading,

Update: I have since used the Hana flat iron over all of my hair. While my hair did feel great initially, my hair did quickly revert back to its original state. My hair didn’t maintain its silky look for long. I do think this flat iron would work with some hair types but unfortunately, it didn’t work with mine for long. I do have hope that it would work well for someone with less coarse hair than mine because it was able to make my hair straight for a while just not very long.