Review (5/5): Straightens without flattening hair
I had been wanting a straightening brush for quite a while. Most of them had really mixed reviews, so I was hesitant to buy one. I jumped at the opportunity to buy this one at a discount to review. I decided on this one because it was advertised as professional quality, actually looked like a salon quality product that would last, and because it is purple. When I received the product, I could tell I made a great choice.
The controls are on the side. I was skeptical about that because many other products had reviews which said that the buttons were on the side and it was easy to accidentally turn it off or change the temperature. I did not find this to be true with this brush. To change the temperature or turn off the brush, I had to press and hold the buttons in a way that would be difficult to do inadvertently. I initially set the temperature at 400, and then decided to increase to 450 when I got to a stubborn section of my hair. I kept checking the temperature reading as I used the Envy brush, and it did not budge until I purposely changed the setting.
This brush heated up quickly. It gets really hot, but I thought it was easy to use safely. It seems like it would be difficult to accidentally burn yourself, although not impossible.
My hair is long and somewhat fine in texture, but I have a lot of hair. It usually takes me 20-30 minutes to straighten my hair with a CHI professional flat iron. I initially just started to use the Envy brush right after blow drying my hair. After a few brushes, I realized that I would need to completely comb through my hair to smooth it out before using this brush. I started out by just running the Envy brush through my hair. I found quickly that I needed to section off my hair for the best results. I sectioned off the top 2/3 of my hair, twisted and secured it to the top of my head, and focused on the underside first. When I finished the under layer, I moved on to the middle section, and then the top. The whole process took me about 20-25 minutes. This is close to the same amount of time it takes me to use a flat iron. I think the Envy brush will go much faster the next time I use it. There is a bit of a learning curve, but I felt comfortable with the technique by the time I was done styling my hair.
One difference I noticed was the way my hair felt after styling with the Envy brush. When I use my flat iron, my hair is...flat. The flat iron leaves my hair very smooth but it doesn't seem to have much texture or body left after straightening. When I used the Envy brush, my hair was straight, but still had plenty of volume.
I'm really happy I bought the Envy styling brush. I really like the volume my hair has after using this brush. I highly recommend this styling brush!