Tutorial: How to fix a CHI Flat Iron

In the past week I managed to give the touch of death (or partial death, really) to two very important electronics in my life: my laptop and my Chi Ultra flat iron.

The laptop is in for repair - I tried mashing every button on that thing to see if I could help breathe some life into it (almost like CPR, really) - so I'm still waiting on the verdict with that one. However, I was bound and determined to attempt to fix my flat iron myself as spending another $99 for a new one (or $35 to mail it in for repair) seemed a bit ridiculous to me.

Here's what happened to mine: in an attempt to keep this very hot necessity away from my toddlers, I hung it (by the cord) over my brother's shower rod while we were visiting him in Brooklyn last week. I also kept the cord tightly wrapped around the iron while traveling all week. Both of these acts are apparent death sentences for the weak cord system that Farouk Systems has designed. Mine would turn on but you had to hold the cord a certain way for it to remain on, so I knew my issue was in the cord, not in the power supply.

I searched around on the web and found a lot of tutorials and boards of people with similar issues. But none seemed to show a step-by-step that I desperately needed for my own security in tampering with all of this.

I reasoned that even if I failed at fixing it I wouldn't be out any money. And honestly, I bought it in June 2009 so it had led a good life with me and at $25 a year, I could hardly complain.

So here is my tutorial. (I promised my hairdresser sister that I'd post lots of pics even if some of them seemed a bit repetitive. She's owned more CHI flat irons than I can imagine.):

My obvious Darwin disclaimers:
1. UNPLUG your iron before working on it.
2. This may/may not work for YOUR broken flat iron.

First, you will have to pop the disc off of each side. I used my fingernail but if it is tight, you may have to use a flat screwdriver.

My flat iron hinge was held together by a screw and a pin. I used a screwdriver to unscrew it and pliers to hold the pin still. Some of yours may have a pin with a screw head on it so use two screwdrivers instead.

Once the hinge screw is out, manually take the two pieces of the flat iron apart. Do this carefully so you don't loosen any electrical connections.

I had two very small screws holding the cover over my cord. Using very small screwdrivers, unscrew these. One of mine came out easily. I had to drill out the other as I had stripped it so badly. It is very helpful to use a clamp at this point to hold your flat iron still while you are working on it.

The cover is on the bottom near my thumb.

Remove this cover to gain access to your awfully designed swivel cord. All I had to do was play around with mine a bit to get my flat iron working again. Literally, I took the cord thing out of the iron, separated the two connection pieces of the cord, cleaned some oil or whatnot off of the male piece, and put it back together and into the flat iron body again.

The black and white part of the cord slides into the clear plastic cord assembly.

Note - I went ahead and plugged mine in at this point to see if I had magically made it work again (I did! I felt like a genius!) but this could be dangerous with the wires exposed so I don't recommend that you do this. (Yes, my Darwin disclaimer again.)

Since mine worked, I screwed the little cord cover back on and reassembled the hinge.

Lessons I learned:
1. Never wrap the cord around my flat iron.
2. Never hang my flat iron by its cord.
3. Never pay for a brand new flat iron without trying to fix my broken one first.

St. Patty's Day Fun

Gorgeous weather this past weekend meant a few things for our family. I'll start with the good stuff.

1. Much time was spent outside as E prepped the garden
E worked long and hard all day Saturday with the help of Oakes (who really spent more time in the sandbox and with a water squirter, but it's the thought that counts). I love this weather as it leads to the neighbors crawling out of our stuffy homes and conversing with each other again. We ended up having an impromptu playdate in our front yard this evening with a little boy from 2 doors down that we hadn't really seen since they moved in last July.

2. I had some extra time to organize stuff in the basement
Our furniture in the basement is no longer covered in sheets and the room is actually gaining some semblance of a room again. I was purging stuff from boxes (do I really still need that JV Volleyball Sportsmanship Award from ninth grade?) and came across a box my parents brought up to me when we first moved into the house. Inside were my old Barbie dolls as well as a separate cardboard box taped shut. 

You can imagine how happy I was to find our way old school Fisher-Price Little People. I was giddy. And Oakes and Wren were tickled to play with them once I'd cleaned them up.


3.The house was opened up
Perfect weather for this! The dogs loved barking at everything and the rest of us all loved watching the birds and listening to the noises of Spring.

4. Oakes' asthma was triggered again...
You know how we opened up the house? Yeah, I guess we can't do that anymore. Oakes spent all day Sunday short of breath and ended up vomiting in a coughing fit just after he fell asleep Sunday night. Nothing like this and the thought of reliving his asthma attack from last April to make a Mom feel worried, huh?

5. But it isn't just asthma!
Turns out the allergist was incorrect on Monday - our pediatrician ordered chest x-rays and blood work today and we've discovered our poor guy has mycoplasma, better known as walking pneumonia. He's on a plethora of meds right now and is totally jacked up from them. 

road trip!

Spring break is in a week and while it falls a bit earlier than I'd like, I'll still take it. 

We are normally a lay-low family with few actual plans over breaks like these, but this year we will be taking our first looooooong road trip.

E's Memere was diagnosed with cancer about 2 months ago so we are packing the car for a long drive to Massachusetts to see her and introduce her to our two kids. 

We figured since we are making the long drive and have a the time off, we will stop by my brother's place in Brooklyn and stay a few nights there. The kids have never been farther north or south than our great Carolinas and now that Tree is interested in maps and times and distances, this should make for many a "How much longer?" and "Are we there yet?" conversations. (I'll probably be wishing to have his "Why?" questions back by the time the trip is over...)

I was initially dreading the drive as Bird's rear-facing car seat makes the front passenger do contortionist moves and basically sniff their knees the whole time, but then my Mama generously offered us her van to borrow for the trip. Can I get a Hallelujah? 

So now I'm getting excited to take this little adventure with my family. I'm scheming all the things that I need to make this 12 hour car ride fly by so if any of you have hints for entertaining a 3.5 year old and a 15 month old on long car trips, I'll take em! So far I'm thinking:

• BOOKS!
• Short DVD shows (Mickey Mouse clubhouse is a hit and only about 25 minutes)
• Pencil and paper for the Tree to draw maps and write (still debating this one...)
• A cooler full of easy, fun snacks that aren't messy
• Training potty for emergency restroom situations with Tree
• Magna Doodle thingy for the kids to play with
• Soccer ball to kick around whenever we stop for breaks