Listen up! We have a new giveaway to share.  Here is your chance to win one of two $50 gift certificates to use at the online store My Salon Tools!  Leslie Loves Veggies has partnered up with My Salon Tools to offer this great giveaway opportunity for all of her readers.

Is there a flat iron or hair straightener that you have had your eyes set on but keep putting off buying it?  Maybe you need a new blow dryer to go with your hair straightener? Then this is a giveaway you will not want to miss out on!  First, check out Leslie’s review of the Solano Ultralite Tourmaline Ceramic 1700 Watt Dryer on her blog! Not the right blow dryer for you? There are more to choose from on My Salon Tools which offers a wide range of blow dryer brands like Babyliss, Hot Tools, Solano, Hai, Twin Turbo, and of course Karmin.  If you’re in the market for a new hair straightener, then My Salon Tools offers you a selection of popular flat iron brands such as Karmin, Babyliss, Turbo Power, and Hai.  Prices for flat irons range from $30 on the lower end for mini flat irons such as the Babyliss Mini “Nano-Nano” Flat Iron all the way up to $159 if you’re looking for a more high end professional flat iron similar to the 1″ Solano SleekHeat 450 Tourmaline Ceramic Ionic Flat Iron.  You can choose from range of plates types (tourmaline or ceramic), plate sizes, heat settings, and even fun colors like hot pink, zebra or leopard print.

How do you enter for this fabulous giveaway? Go over to Leslie Loves Veggies  and find out! My Salon Tools has given Leslie not one but two $50 gift certificates to give away to two of her lucky readers! Leslie is also giving you all very simple and several ways to enter.  You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and of course subscribe to and comment on her blog (a MUST in order for your other entries to count!). She’s also offering additional entry opportunities if you follow My Salon Tools through our own Facebook or Twitter pages! I highly recommend you subscribe permanently to Leslie’s blog since she’s always offering up a ton of awesome giveaways.  My Salon Tools was super lucky to partner up with a great giveaway gal like Leslie!

Remember this giveaway ends on March 20th so don’t miss out!

Ever wonder the difference between the tourmaline and ceramic flat irons? Simple breakdown:

Both have plates with a coating material and once heated, produce negative ions. These help keep the shine in your hair and prevent your cuticles from opening which is an effect of your natural hair which sends out positive electrical charges caused by natural flow and friction of dry hair.  Negative ions cancel out the positives which allow your hair to flow, relax and smooth out during the straightening process.

Both flat irons with either tourmaline or ceramic plates will typically give you the same results.  Tourmaline plates send out more negative ions than ceramic which result in sleeker and shinier hair.  Since the ceramic plates don’t give out as many negative ions, it simply results in a little less damage. Using a protectant product on your hair prior to straightening helps prevent damage.

Try a Babyliss flat iron or Karmin flat iron in your favorite color in stores or online such as MySalonTools.com and you’ll have plenty to choose from.  Be prepared to spend a little more money than the basic hair straightener from the typical retail stores, but the investment is well worth the price!

What is a Tourmaline Hair Dryer?

How do you know what is tourmaline and why is it a purchasing factor in a professional hair dryer? There are a lot of people in the hair industry who talk about it and your hair dresser has probably talked about it to you before, but what exactly is tourmaline and why is it something you consider in a hair dryers professional? A blow dryers that is tourmaline means that is emits negative ions which are a purchasing factor because they help to close the cuticle of the hair shaft and lock in the moisture reducing the amount of time it takes to get dry, and giving your hair a more beautiful, shinier look that lasts much longer than cheaper best professional hair dryers.

Tourmaline professional hair dryers emit 6 times more negative ions than ceramic best hair dryers. Conventional ceramic blowdryers heat up air through the use of a metal coil and then just blow it out the nozzle. The problem with this design is the appliances produce positive ions that unlock the cuticles which in turn leads to cracked, dull, frizzy hair making your hair cut look like the ‘just been blow dried’ look.

There are new tech improvements in tourmaline hair dryers professionals, and those are the ionic blow dryerss, which means they emit negative ions, and now there are ceramic hair dryers professionals that help to emit more concentrated negative ions. And finally, the newest breakthroughs in tourmaline blow dryers are the embedded tourmaline jewels that have been blended onto the ceramic parts giving them the ultimate blow drying power.

Of all the hair straighteners I have used (and I have used a lot). The Iso Ceramic is one of the better ones. It reaches very high temperatures, which is great for thick, difficult hair like mine. It always gets a nice slick straighten without having to constantly go over the same spot over and over again. I also like that I have never burned myself with it! The outside doesn’t get so hot that it burns your hand. The one flaw in this straightener is that the temperature knob and on switch are on the inside of the straightener which can be hard to get to and may lead to burning your hand if you’re not careful. I enjoy the swivel cord making the straightener easier to maneuver. Being a ceramic straightener it works a lot better than most other straighteners and will always leave your hair smooth and soft. It’s worth more of an investment to get this better straightener.