Flat Iron vs Hot Brush – Which is Better for Your Hair?

Who doesn’t love shiny smooth flowing hair? Thanks to the invention of heat hair styling tools, those of us born with textured, thick, wavy, or curly hair can achieve this look too. But flat irons are so 2000s. Right now the hottest trend is heat brushes. But in the battle between flat iron vs hot brush – which is best for your type of hair?

Here’s my take. Your mileage may vary.

Flat irons are so 2000s. Right now the hottest trend is heat brushes. But in the battle between flat iron vs hot brush - which is best for your type of hair? Here's my take. Share on X

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The Bigger the Hair, the Closer to God? 

Geezus… If that’s true, then we were all angels in the 80s.

Back then, crimping irons were all the rage. The goal was to get our hair as big and fluffy as possible. Hell, Gen X is partially responsible for destroying the ozone layer with how much Aqua Net we were using.

When smooth sleek hair made its appearance in the early 90s, flat irons weren’t really a thing yet. If you wanted flat hair, you either had to use a chemical relaxer or blowdry on high with a round brush (assuming you were coordinated enough).

Also at that time, many of us L.A. white girls wanted to look like Kelly Bundy, so platinum bleach blonde was super popular. Pair that with heat styling and you had a recipe for disaster.

My hair looked and felt like straw and broke off just from washing it.

Now 30 years later (holy shit), my hair has still never fully recovered. But that’s my own fault.

While I no longer bleach, I do still color. And instead of a blow dryer to straighten my fried-out frizzy hair, I now use a flat iron several times a week.

But this process makes it more damaged and to make it look better I have to flat iron it some more. It’s a vicious cycle.

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An Alternative to Flat Irons?

One day I saw an ad on Facebook of this girl with frizzy, fried hair. She brushed her hair with an electric hair brush and it was instantly transformed into shiny, glossy smooth hair.

What was this sorcery?

Then I nearly choked when I saw the price. They wanted $300 for this thing!

Pfft!! It’s made in china just like everything else, so I’m sure I could find one similar online. This is my current mantra btw. 

So I went over to Amazon and looked up electric hairbrushes and of course they had them for like only $40.

But are hot brushes really a better alternative to flat irons? And which is best for your type of hair?

I will show you how the straightening brush worked on my damaged frizzy fried hair and then we’ll decide if it’s time to ditch the flat iron for good.

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A Tale of Two Brushes…

As a product reviewer, I often get to try free products to test. So when I had the chance to try out not one, but two different electric hair straightening brushes. I figured what the hell – I’ll film a video comparison of both at the same time!

Here is a video of me trying the Electric Hair Straightening Brushes side by side. I used one brush on one half of my hair and the other on the other half.

Here are my recommendations for best results with the Heat Straightening Brush-

1. Works best on thinner fine hair. I do not recommend this product if your hair is already damaged.
2. Thicker hair needs a higher temperature setting to achieve better results. But higher temperature means an increased risk of damage to your hair.
3. Use a heat protectant and a hair serum or oil before using the product.
4. Make sure hair is completely dry before using the brush.
5. Use the brush on small sections at a time.
6. Finish with a smoothing cream.

Both of these hairbrushes were practically identical and produced the same results. Cuz you know. They’re both from China.

They both made my hair straight and if I had applied the tips mentioned above, I would have probably had better results with my first use.

Unfortunately, it took longer and more passes to flatten my hair, the results were very temporary, and my hair frizzed up again the following day.

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Flat Iron vs Hot Brush – Which is Best?

It really comes down to the type of hair you have.

If you have fairly healthy, fine hair, a straightening brush could be your new best friend.

But for thick, frizzy processed damaged hair like mine, the flat iron still wins hands down. 

Will I continue using the Electric Hair Brush Straightener? Occasionally and probably only for quick touch-ups.

I don’t recommend a hot brush for thick or damaged hair.

Why? Because if you have to run the brush through sections of hair several times, it is much more damaging than the flat iron. I also felt like it took more time to achieve the desired results.

I get longer-lasting frizz-free hair from the flat iron. I also miss the “pulling action” of the straightening iron and the sleeker finish it creates. Plus you can also create curls with a flat iron!

Bottom line – the electric hair brush definitely works is fairly affordable compared to a good $100 flat iron. But in the battle between the Flat Iron vs Hot Brush – the flat iron wins.

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Have you ever tried an electric hair straightening brush? Do you prefer straight, wavy, or curly hair?

Leave me a comment and let me know!

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Disclosure: Some products in this post were received complimentary in exchange for my honest review, but all opinions are my own. I was not compensated for writing this post, but it does contain affiliate links which means I may be compensated a small amount if you click through and purchase. Full disclosure policy here.**