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List Price: $220.00
Sale Price: $27.28
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I've had a Cortex 1" platinum for about 2 years now. I have no complaints with its performance, and my hair is very healthy. No split ends and growing well. I only use it once a week to straighten after air-drying, and only turn the temperature up to halfway (approx 275 degrees). NEVER EVER EVER buy a flat iron without a temperature control, no matter which brand you buy. Irons without a temperature control heat to about 400-450 degrees!!! It's impossible to have healthy hair when you burn it at temperatures hotter than you cook meat. I recently went on a girls' vacation, and one of my friends who forgot her FHI at home asked to use my Cortex. After using it she was just gushing about how good it worked and how her hair felt so soft and smooth, and that her FHI left her hair feeling "crunchy". As soon as we got back home she ordered a Cortex for herself!
The only caveat I would give is that I think the 1" is good for hair up to shoulder length. If your hair is longer, you may want a wider plate, depending on your personal preference. I am considering getting a 1-3/4" or 2", and while I'm tempted to try something new like a Solia or Sedu, I really don't feel like gambling that much money on a flat iron that may not perform as good as this one, so I am pretty sure I will end up getting a 2" Cortex.
Oh and I almost forgot! The red light on the unit goes OFF when it is not actively heating up (i.e., it reaches the set temperature). The red light is only ON while it is initially heating up, or when it cools off a bit and needs to re-heat to get back to the set temperature. At first I thought it was broken, because I was used to irons where the light always stays on, but that is not the case with this one.
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I bought my Cortex flat iron at a mall kiosk over 2 years ago. What I love most about this iron is that it does not give me the burnt hair smell and it leaves my hair shiny without any additives. My scalp is very sensitive and I usually do not put anything in my hair because it will make my scalp itch all day. With this iron I did not need to add anything and my hair would look great for days.
Another thing I like about the iron is that its tempature is adjustable up to 450 degrees and it takes only a minute to get hot. No more waiting for the iron to heat up.
My sisters and girlfriends love how my hair looks after I use the flat iron on it and they are always asking to borrow it that sometimes I cannot remember who borrowed it last. When I bought mine over two years ago at the mall I paid $99.99 and the MSRP is $225. I was able to find them on amazon for $26.50; so this year I gave all my sisters and girlfriends one for Christmas. Everyone was ecstatic over their gift.
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My daughter got this as a gift. She wanted a Chi but they were so expensive that we decided to try this one since it had different temperature settings. It works great. The first two that were shipped to us were damaged in transit somehow and the company quickly sent a new one each time and also paid returned shipping. This company has great customer service! We will buy again.
Honest reviews on Cortex Platinum Collection 1.25" Hair Straightener
March 6:
Save your money, ladies! I should have known better after seeing all of the reviews across the web talking about how they got theirs in Marshalls or at Ross. THE MODELS SOLD IN TJ MAXX, MARSHALLS AND OTHER DISCOUNT STORES ARE KNOWN TO HAVE MANUFACTURING IRREGULARITIES. Most brand name or high-end items sold in those discount stores are there FOR A REASON. Very little of it is actually "overstock" or "end of season". Usually, the items didn't pass quality control for retail sale. That doesn't always mean it's outright defective...but in the case of this iron, that's exactly what it means! Read around the web a little bit and you'll see people mention problems that are OUT OF THE BOX defects. What's worse? The "limited lifetime warranty" is totally void unless you buy it from the manufacturer. Even if you DO buy it from them, they want $24 to ship it in for "repair"...even though it's DEFECTIVE. Considering I paid $34 for it, it's not worth $24 for "repair", I've wasted my money and time.
I saw another person's review where she said her iron came with the plates slightly crooked and it snagged her hair. Well, same here. The "arms" don't close properly, they don't align. (Imagine if you tried to push your teeth together if your jaw and bottom teeth weren't straight with your top teeth.) So while most good irons are supposed to have a minuscule amount of space between the plates when you close them, the plates on mine actually touch all the way (no space in between) on the very tip...and it rips out several strands of hair on EVERY PASS. Maybe this wouldn't be a big deal for certain hair types...oily hair or hair with glossy chemicals. I'm your typical white girl of Swedish descent with average-thickness hair, that is 80% straight. I've owned an FHI, a Chi, and a TIGI Bedhead iron. I'm not a newbie. My hair shouldn't be getting ripped out every time I run the iron through. Speaking of...I wasn't really impressed with the heat on this iron. Despite having straight white girl hair, I still had to turn it up to 400 and I still had to run it through the same strands multiple times. It might have something to do with the crooked plates, but does it even matter at this point? The thing is unusable, don't get RIPPED OFF like me!
March 7: Update -Amazon allowed me to exchange the iron, the replacement is arriving today. I'll update the review after trying it out a few times this week.
March 13:
DO NOT BUY!!!!! The replacement iron is even more messed up than the first one. The ceramic plates weren't bent as much, no, instead ONE HAS A CHIP! Not only that, but it doesn't close straight either. And it doesn't seem to keep heat the way the first one did. THEY BOTH RIP MY HAIR OUT ON EVERY PASS. These were just poorly designed for non-African hair. Which is ridiculous, a good flat iron works on anybody's hair. I'm getting my money back, it was a mistake to think I could get a REALLY good quality flat iron for less than $90.
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When my Hot Tools straightener broke (my fault, not the product's), I had to wheel down to my local Walmart to get a replacement fast. I got a product that shall not be named because it was so useless. I knew that I needed to replace it with something GOOD and I needed to do it fast so I jumped on Amazon to get a duplicate of the straightener I had. Well, after reading the reviews I chose to get the Cortex flat iron instead. Good choice on my part. I LOVE it.
I heats up quickly, it's got a temperature dial in case I ever need it at less than full heat (not likely with my hair), and it leaves my hair super shiny.
I have no negatives to report on this product. It's great!
