Hi, Palikane. The color of the plates is not important. What is important is that the iron is 100% ceramic and not just ceramic coated. All store brand (cheap) irons are just ceramic coated.

Yes any type of heat styling is going to cause some damage, but cheap, low quality ones will cause major damage, and inferior results. Lets face it, curly hair people are not going to stop using heat appliances. So you need to make sure you get high quality products, and take very good care of your hair. Protein treatments and deep conditioning are a must. I've been heat styling my hair since I was 11 or 12, and I'm now 31. My hair looks anything but damaged. If you want to see  a picture, go to Folica.com, and look at the reviews for Sedu flat iron. It has The name Shary on the review. You can see the difference a good iron makes. And your hair will stay that way, until your next wash. I do however have to say, that my hair has never looked that good when left to air dry. The day I took that picture was the first time in my life, that my curls came out looking smooth and difined. That happened by accident. I had bought a bottle of Salerm Lamilux spray, which I could not use, because it was way to oily, and even a tiny bit would make my hair look like I stuck my head in a can of crisco. But that day I needed something to smooth my hair out, and since I was going to use it on wet hair, I figured it couldn't hurt. After all the spray does cost $26 and I had to find some kind of use for it. So I mixed it with a little Sebatian potion 9 and put it on. Well, I could not believe my eyes, when I took down my pony tail. Instead of my usually, super frizzie, crazy curly, stuck my finger in a socket kind of hair, I had this smooth, frizz free, loose difined curl, head of hair. You do not know how many years, and different products I've tried to get those results, and was never able to. So the picture is not what my curly hair usually looks like. But even when it is the terrible frizz ball, the resulst still come out as the after picture.

I only flat iron my hair twice a week, since I wash my hair every 3 days. My hair is naturally super curly, and curly hair is naturally dry. So you shouldn't wash it every day, or it will look like straw. I only need to flat iron when I wash it, because it will stay straight no matter what. Specially if I blow dry it straigth first and then flat iron. Everybody has to coment how beautiful and shiny my hair is. And they can't believe is not naturally straight.

And no, the only difference is not that the good irons cause a little less damage. They cause alot less damage. Cheap irons open up the hair cuticle, allowing moisture to come in. That is why your hair gets fried and as soon as you go outside, your hair turns into a frizz ball,. Good irons seal the cuticle and smooth it down, and they do not fry your hair like the cheap ones do.

I've tried many irons, and the best ones are the ceramic, tourmaline ones. I own a Sedu, which I love, but the Solia is just as good and much cheaper. Once you try a profesional quality iron, you will never be able to go back to the cheap ones. The difference is from morning to night. The results are stunning.

Do yourselft a favor and invest in a good iron, you will be delighted and your hair will thank you.

Good luck!

Hi Perula, I remember you from my post on the "fight against humidity". If you go back to that post you can see what products I use. But anyway here they are again.

I use Redken Smooth down (I love Redken, it works great for me). I use the shampoo and for conditioner I use the Smooth down butter treat. One thing about the butter treat though, your hair will either love it or hate it. If it does't work for your hair, then use Redken all soft. If there is an Ulta store in your area you can buy the sample sizes. For regular conditioning I leave it on for about 5 minutes. For deep conditioning, I leave it on for 15-20 minutes and I use a heat cap. Since I torture my hair with heat I do a protein treatment once a month. My favorite protein treatments are Nexxus emergencee (expensive but worth it), Redken deep fuel, Joico reconstructor, or Sebastian 2+1. Either one of those will be great. If you get the 2+1, use the flat iron aplication method. You will get the best results that way. But if you prefer something a little less complicated, deft. go with Nexxus emergencee. You can probably find a great price on ebay.

I recently discovered a great clarifying shampoo. Back to Basicks Tangerine Grapefruit shampoo. I used to use Paul Mitchel shampoo two, but this one is much better, and it smells great. I clarify every other week.

Now for leave in products I use a mix of the following. Sebastian potion 9 (great product but go easy on it, very concentrated) mixed with either a pea size drop of Tigi catwalk fashionista heat and iron safe, or Salerm 21 techniques (the one with silk proteins. It comes in the squeeze tube not the bottle). I then Lightly Spray my hair With Redken addictive spray, and a little Redken total recharge (It works great even if you don't color your hair). I divided into sections and blow dry with my beloved Hai dryer, which is great. I then put on 2 drops of Redken Heat glide, divide my hair in sections and then flat iron. With my wonderful iron it takes about 10 minutes. Your hair will stay straight and beautiful no matter what.

You may not need all the products. Experiment and see what works for you. Other products I love are Biolage shine renewal spray, Anything from Alphaparf, back to basics ginger apple conditioner and Matrix iron smoothing spray. The last one will take a few tries to figure out how to use it right, but it is great once you get the hang of it. Hold the bottle several inches away and lightly mist the hair. You will love it.

Well hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions.