THRILLED!

after what seemed like an eternity (but was actually only 8 days), my Babyliss PRO Nano Titanium 1-1/4" Straightening Iron arrived at my doorstep this afternoon! i have been so insanely excited to get it that when i actually saw the package sitting at my doorstep, i was overcome with a gut-wrenching terror that i had chosen the wrong iron, it would suck and i would really hate it which would then result in me spending even more money to send it back in and wait another decade (or 8 days) for a new iron. but...turns out i was wrong!

i ran upstairs, plugged it in, selected my heat setting of 375 degrees (one great quality about the PRO Nano Titanium is that it has five heat settings ranging from 300-450 degrees, so you choose the one that's hot enough for your hair, and don't have to use a temperature that's too high and potentially damaging to your hair type) and was amazed at how insanely quickly it heated up! now i've had other high-end flat irons, and they also heated up pretty quickly, but it seemed like the moment i pressed the ON/OFF button, the Babyliss was already hot! this is a wonderful thing for those times when you're rushing around like a scalded flea, trying desperately to get out of the house because you're running late. do you remember the days of waiting for 20 minutes for your flat iron to heat up? i used to get so mad at my friend Tara when we were getting ready to go out and she'd sneak into the bathroom and used my iron when it was at the peak of it's hotness! the next time Tara comes to visit me, there'll be no fighting over the flat iron and waiting around for it to heat up, because this Babyliss is white hot in seconds!

after the iron got hot, i took a small section of hair and, mentally crossing my fingers, slid the iron down the locks. what i noticed immediately was how smooooothly the iron glided down my hair, there was no skipping or tugging required, and not ONE hair snagged in the irons plates. this was a huge annoyance to me when using the CHI, because unless you had your hair perfectly centered on the plates, it would snag and rip out strands of your hair. not only was this painful and annoying, but extremely damaging to my hair! after straightening my whole head of hair with the PRO Nano Titanium, there wasn't one strand snagged. so far, so good!

as far as the actual straightening goes, i was majorly impressed with the results i achieved! although i consider myself a hair-straightening guru, i have NEVER gotten my hair straighter than i did using the PNT. even my ends, which are rightfully fried after 6 months without a trim, are pin straight. that is quite a feat at this particular time because my hair is at that weird, in-between short and medium length where it's just skimming my shoulders, and it's impossible to keep it straight when it's constantly being pushed up by my shoulders (does that make sense to anyone?). although it got my hair completely straight, the PNT didn't make it feel dry or fuzzy like some irons can. it left it very smooth and shiny! although some people skip using products altogether when straightening their hair, i think it's extremely important to use something that protects your hair from the heat and also makes it soft and silky. my pick for a straightening styling product is Kiehl's Heat Protective Straightening Cream, $15, which i've reviewed before. it's an amazing product, and currently the only thing i have to use to keep my hair looking great!

so far, the Babyliss PRO Nano Titanium 1-1/4" Straightening Iron gets a 9/10 from the Kitty. the reason for one point being subtracted is the price, which is very expensive! although it is extremely pricey, it is a quality product and it does come with a 4 year warranty, something unheard of for a hair appliance! (the CHI only has a ONE year warranty) if you consider that you'll get atleast 4 years of use out of the Babyliss iron, the $130 pricetag doesn't seem as bad. all in all, it seems that i picked the perfect model for my straightening needs! this Kitty is one very happy cat! meow!