CHI Hair Products Introduction
There are so many different CHI hair products on the market today. If you are a big fan of one CHI product, chances are you will want to know about others so that you can use them too. Depending on where you live, there may not be a very good selection in the stores and hair salons. That's sort of why I decided to make this page. Because online, there are very little limits to what you cannot buy and CHI hair care products are widely available.
CHI products come in two categories. First are the tools, like the CHI flat irons and second are the hair styling and cleaning products like the CHI silk infusion leave in conditioner.
CHI Hair Tools
CHI Hair tools themselves come in 3 separate categories, depending on what they were designed to do. First are the hair straighteners. Second are the curling irons and third are the blow dryers.
CHI Flat Irons
There are quite a lot of choices when it comes to selecting a CHI hair straightener. Depending on your budget, the length of your hair, the type of hair you have and your personal preference, CHI has at least one straightener that you will like. The types of models include:
- the Original CHI (in 2 sizes)
- the newer CHI Turbo (in 3 sizes)
- the mini CHI (aka the weechi)
- the CHI nano (this is a special one. It prevents any bacteria from growing on it, great for shared usage like in a salon)
- the CHI wet to dry (allows you to straighten your hair even if it is damp)
- a variety of special CHI models including the pink, blue, red, stars and stripes, etc.
As you can tell, there are quite a few models. In general, they all produce great results. Except for the Original CHI, all of them come with a variable temperature setting. They each use ceramic plates to produce even heating and have a powerful heater that prevents cold spots. If you have long or thick hair, you might want to use a wider model (1.5" or 2"). If you really want to do a lot of curls or waves, then a smaller model (0.5" or 0.7" or 1") will suite you better. The most popular models by far are the 1" ones.
CHI Curling Irons
There are only a couple of models of CHI curling irons available. The list includes:
- the CHI volumizing iron (this is a cross between a straightener and a curling iron)
- the CHI Turbo spring curling iron
CHI Blow Dryers
There are quite a few models of hair dryers to chose from. There are 4 main model types available:
- the ceramic ionic blow dryer (comes in pink, red and Turbo orange)
- the nano ceramic ionic (in blue and uses the same technology as the nano flat iron to sterilize itself)
- the CHI Pro dryer (produces lower EMF)
- the Rocket Pro hair dryer (very lightweight and quiet)
All the blow dryers use the ceramic technology to dry your hair faster. They produce negative ions which break up the water droplets in your hair into super tiny sizes. That allows the hair to dry much faster. In addition, they all produce far infra red heat which penetrates the hair better to heat from the inside out. The result is faster drying times with less static friction which means softer smoother hair.
CHI Hair Styling and Protecting Products
There are quite a number of CHI styling products for your hair. In fact, the name CHI comes from Cationic Hydration Interlink (tm) which is related to the products that protect your hair more than the tools. In other words, CHI started out making hair protection products and the tools came later. Rather than list them all, I will group them by category.
Cleaning Products
- shampoo's (a couple of choices here)
- conditioners both "leave in" and the "rinse out" varieties (really can help protect and add shine when using a styling tool)
Protecting Products
- color protection (shampoo and conditioners)
- Keratin Mist (leave in strength conditioner used to protect against heat damage)
- Silk Infusion (similar to Keratin Mist but more popular)
- biosilk (used by a wide selection of salons, this is a family of protection and styling products that the pro's often use)
Shopping for CHI Products Online
There are numerous choices for picking up CHI products online. There are a couple of advantages too. First, the prices are very often better online than through a local salon. Second, there are very few salons that carry the CHI products. When a salon decides to carry a line of products, they are often forced into an exclusive agreement to only carry one brand and that severely limits the choices available. Fortunately, online there is no such problem.
But even online, there can be differences in the price from one store to another. I have done a bit of research and compared the prices from such places as Amazon, Ebay, Walmart and other big volume stores. They actually had higher prices than Folica.com (the place where I bought my first ceramic flat iron). Folica has an excellent and safe ordering system. Soon after you place your order you receive a confirmation email. The shipping is very fast. I think I had my straightener in less than 5 days. And last but not least, in addition to the better prices, they often give good specials and free gifts. For example, on most hair straighteners you can get a free $20 heat mat to protect and store your flat iron. They often give away free shipping on orders over $80. And during the holiday shopping season then give away even more free goodies.
One last thing about Folica that I really like. They encourage their customers to comment on the products they buy. For example, take the CHI Silk Infusion. There have been 137 reviews of this product at Folica and the rating is 4.5 stars out of 5. That means you can shop with more confidence after reading the comments from women just like you who have bought the same item. And if you read the comments carefully you can pick up styling and hair care tips.
Sources:
I have used the following sites as references for this page.
1. http://www.squidoo.com/chi-flat-irons/
2. http://www.folica.com
3. http://www.farouk.com/