When it's time to pull out jackets in Florida, I go digging under my bathroom sink for the flat iron. Cool and crisp mornings mean one thing for my sometimes curly, always humidity-sensitive hair: Time to go straight.

For the past two weeks, I've been testing out a Redken straightener, Power Tame 16, under a range of weather conditions. It promises to be an "intense straightening balm for coarse hair." According to the back of the bottle, with a flat iron, I can get "pin-straight results."

That's a bit of a stretch. But it's still a better than decent product.

I got the kind of smooth hair that's the stuff of magazine ads only on the days when the humidity levels were low. So that would be thanks to Mother Nature, not Redken, although the product probably helped.

Under the warm, moist conditions more typical of Florida fall, the product could tame my curls, but not the frizzy-ish body that marks the difference between a ho-hum hair day and a great one. Still, just keeping those curls in check is better than many products manage to do.

The verdict: Redken's Power Tame 16 is pretty good, but not good enough to close my mind to other products out there. Anyone have any recommendations?

Deal Diva Letitia

(Photo: Redken)