Are you looking to get those curls under control? Read on for our recommendations for the best hair straighteners in 2018 from £25 to £165.
GHD arguably changed the way that women do their hair when they launched the first commercially available hair straighteners in 2001. Now nearly 17 years later, it is estimated that more than a quarter of women in the western world own a set of hair straighteners. With more brands and options available than ever before, and even men beginning to take advantage of this wonderful technology, we have never been more spoilt for choice when it comes to hair straighteners.
Best Hair Straighteners
| Hair Straighteners | Plate Size | Price |
| GHD IV STYLER - Editors Choice | 2.7cm | Check Price |
| BABYLISS 3Q | 2.8cm | Check Price |
| CLOUD NINE ORIGINAL IRON | 4cm | Check Price |
| TONI & GUY STYLE FIX | 2cm | Check Price |
| CORIOLISS C3 | 2.2cm | Check Price |
| T3 X SINGLEPASS | 3.8cm | Check Price |
| HERSHESONS TITANIUM IONIC PROFESSIONAL | 2.3cm | Check Price |
| WAHL PENCIL | 1.5cm | Check Price |
A quick search on Amazon and you’ll come across a huge quantity of customer reviews for hair straighteners and it quickly becomes apparent that not everyone is happy with their purchase. Like most other electrical goods, hair straighteners have a shelf life, so even if you liked your last ones, new advances in technology invariably mean that your old ones are no longer available or are no longer the best available.
So without too much further ado, here’s our guide to the best hair straighteners available today for frizz-free, sleek and glossy locks. Whether you want perfectly straight hair, sensual waves or classy curls, these are our favourites. If you also want help finding out what all the different features mean before deciding to buy, then read on.
How to buy the best hair straighteners to suit your hair
Hair straighteners are relatively simple devices, they tend not to come with a range of buttons or a collection of interchangeable attachments, their goal is a simple one, which is to create smooth and straight hair. As they all do the same thing, it would make sense if there wasn’t much between different between models and that they would all cost roughly the same. However, nothing could be further from the truth.
Does Size Matter?
Everyone knows that wider plates are the best to use as they’ll work their way through your hair in no time at all, right? Wrong! If you happen to have curly, thick or long hair, then large plates are definitely the way to go. The major drawback is that you’ll not be able to do much in the way of curling or styling with thick plates. Plates that are under one inch are much better suited are much better suited to this and are likely to be better for most other types of hair. If you have short hair, you’ll definitely benefit from thinner plates which are less than one inch, this will allow for greater control and afford you the precision you’ll need.
Are hotter hair straighteners better?
I have in the past bought hair straighteners with the highest claimed temperature setting, crank them up to the maximum setting and assume that my hair would straighten faster and stay straighter for longer. However, this can do more harm than good. High heat can break and irrevocably damage fine hair, even if your hair is thick and curly, you’ll only need plates that are slightly hotter. It’s worth noting that keratin, which makes up your hair, starts to melt at around 233 degrees.
One of the more recent advances in hair straightener technology is the introduction of plates that can automatically detect your hair type and adjust the temperature to match. If you have a straightener that requires manual adjusting, you can follow the basic recommendation that fine or treated hair should be set to around 160ºC, else you risk damaging your hair. Medium textured healthy hair can use straighteners set to around 185ºC. And for anyone with thick, tightly curled or coarse hair, you can probably set the temperature to around 210ºC, but only if you straighten our hair infrequently. If you’re straightening your hair on a regular basis then it’s best to keep the temperature at around 185ºC.
What are the must-have features?
It perhaps goes without saying but a long cable is an absolute must-have, you really don’t want to be tethered to the wall socket, especially if it’s in an inconvenient location. Anything less than 2m can be considered unworkable, ideally, you’ll want a cable of around 4m. As an added bonus, if you can get a rotatable cord which can swivel 360 degrees, then this can make your job much easier, allowing you to reach all parts of your head with relative ease.
If you’re someone that travels a lot, then cordless straighteners would be an obvious choice, the downside is they will not heat up as quickly as a mains powered straightener. Safety should also be a consideration when looking for the perfect model, some irons will switch off automatically if they’ve been left idle for a period of time – this can prove a great deal of peace of mind, especially if like me you begin to wonder if you switched everything off when you left the house this morning. A straightener that heats up quickly can shave a decent amount of time off your morning routine, which is especially important if you’re someone that’s frequently in a rush. Lastly, if you plan to do any styling with the straightener, creating curls, flicks or waves, then an iron with curved edges is a must have.
The best hair straighteners to buy – 2018
GHD IV Styler Review – The best hair straightener under £150 - Editors Choice
Despite an ever-increasing amount of hair straighteners available in the world, you can invariably rely on the legendary GHD to provide products which are well made and capable of lasting a lifetime of use, and they will also straighten and take care of your hair too. Advertised as a straightener which will only ever need one stroke, the plates have been designed to provide the ideal heat for your hair type, and additionally maintain that temperature consistently, ensuring there are no unforeseen temperature surges or drops. This means there is less chance of damaging your hair as you’ll only need to run the hair straightener through your hair once. The obvious upshot of this is that they are very quick, you can be finished straightening your hair in around half the normal time, and additionally, you’ll have less chance of breakages and shinier locks as well.
In terms of aesthetics, the GHD IV Styler is a good looking piece of kit, it’s available in both a traditional understated black. The colours work well and the shape of the straightener is uncomplicated and sophisticated looking. All round is an excellent piece of kit.
• Key specs – 2.7cm-wide ceramic plates
• Maximum temperature: 185°C
• Universal voltage
• 2.7m swivel cord
• Automatic 30-minute shut-off
• Two-year warranty
BaByliss 3Q Hair Straightener Review
BaByliss is no stranger to making hair tools and accessories, their innovation in the industry dates back to the 60’s. Many of its inventions, which includes the Perfect Curl and Big Hair, have made a huge impact in the industry and have likely changed more than a few lives. These are just a few of BaByliss’s latest straighteners and we absolutely love them, from the way they heat up quickly, through to how well they can transform even the most unruly hair into something glorious, they are fantastic. That’s without even taking the ‘Protect’ feature into consideration, which quickly and accurately adjusts the straightener’s temperature to avoid damage to your hair. The BaByliss 3Q Hair Straightener is no exception, it features several features which are normally only found on professional or very high-end models, for example, the sensors which work out the perfect temperature for your hair type, to the slick plates which consistently maintain an accurate temperature. But, they aren’t without their minor niggles; the straighteners can be quite noisy, producing a sometimes unpleasant buzzing sound. You’ll also need to be careful when manually selecting a temperature to not overheat your hair on the highest temperature setting. Overall they are a very capable set of hair straighteners and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.
• Key specs – Quartz-ceramic 2.8cm plates
• 12 digital heat settings
• Maximum temperature: 235°C
• 3m swivel cable
• Automatic 72-minute shut-off
• Five-year warranty
Cloud Nine Original Iron Hair Straightener Review: The best GHD alternative
What happens when the original founder of GHD leaves in order to make something even better? If you have correctly guessed that the result is the Cloud Nine Original Iron Hair Straightener, pat yourself on the back, because you are of course, correct. It’s perhaps no wonder that these beauties slide through hair with very little effort, leaving behind flawlessly shiny, silky and most importantly, straight locks of hair. The straightener has a choice of six heat settings to choose from, but in our testing, we found that the lower temperatures would normally do the job perfectly well. This can mean less stress placed on your hair and decreased the chance of damage. In terms of ergonomics, they felt great in my moderately sized hands and are lightweight as well, I personally found them very easy to use for curling and flicking. It’s worth noting that there have been reports of the straighteners breaking after a year or two, especially with very heavy users. We’re told measures have been taken to avoid this happening in the future, but only time will tell as to how successful this has been.
• Key specs – 4cm-wide mineral-infused ceramic plates
• Five temperature control options
• Maximum temperature: 200°C
• Universal voltage; 2.6m cord
• Automatic 30-minute shut-off
• One-year warranty
Toni & Guy Style Fix Straightener Review: The best cheap hair straighteners
One of the most striking features of these straighteners is the vivid and cool blue plates, which is a unique selling point and helps them stand out from the normal blacks and whites. Additionally, they’re also perfectly proportioned for the frequent traveller, easily fitting into a handbag and they weigh next to nothing. If alarm bells are now ringing in your head due to the smaller size and diminutive price, then you can rest assured that the straighteners actually work surprisingly well. They are ideal for someone with short to medium length hair. The plates heat up very quickly and are more than capable of giving your hair a nice gloss, but the downside is you’ll need to work on smaller sections of your hair at a time due to the smaller plates. They are less than ideal if you have thick or very long hair, if you do, you’re better off picking a model with thicker plates. There are several other hair tools in the Toni and Guy range if you’re looking to complete the whole range.
• Key specs – 2cm-wide tourmaline plates
• Maximum temperature: 210°C
• Universal voltage
• 1.8m swivel cord
• Power on/off indicator
• Five-year warranty
Corioliss C3 Gold Leopard Hair Straightener Review: The best £75 straighteners
The gold leopard c3 hair straighteners are a sight to behold. They are bold, bright and not shy about their looks, whether you think they look gorgeous or garish is a matter of opinion, but regardless of how they look, they definitely do the job. These straighteners will effortlessly glide through most hair types to create ruler straight classy results. You’ll need to spend a bit of time experimenting with the different heat settings in order to identify the optimal temperature for your hair type. Generally speaking, a lower temperature is better for finer hair, while a hotter temperature is better suited for thicker hair. Once you’ve found the golden temperature setting for your hair, the extra-long titanium plates will make short work of your hair, leaving you with soft, smooth, frizz-free perfect locks. Thankfully the straighteners don’t pull on your hair when using them and the swivel cord affords a ton of manoeuvrability, which makes the job of straightening so much easier. The C3 uses infrared technology to heat hair, which should, in theory, result in more uniform heat coverage and increased efficiency, this was difficult to test and we cannot honestly say if this method is more effective compared to traditional heating methods.
• Key specs – 11.5cm extra-long floating titanium plates
• Maximum temperature: 235°C
• Universal voltage; 3m swivel cord
• Automatic two-hour shut-off
• One-year warranty
T3 X SinglePass Straightener Review: The best hair straighteners – if you can afford them
Reassuringly expensive. These glossy white multi award-winning straighteners are universally praised by A-list celebrities and top hair stylists from every corner of the world. The extra wide plates which heat up in a meagre six seconds are capable of straightening, curling and flicking even the coarsest, thick and longest hair in just one pass. Clever engineering has integrated a digital microchip into the design which keenly monitors the performance of the straighteners; making adjustments to the temperature in fractions of a second in order uniformly straighten your hair with the minimal of fuss. As the plates are made from tourmaline and ceramic, they are exceptional when they need to tame frizz and wiry locks; hair will end up looking healthy and full of life. So, if you’re looking to spoil yourself or be spoiled, we can without a moment’s hesitation recommend these hair straighteners to anyone that doesn’t object to spending a little bit more.
• Key specs – 3.8cm-wide ceramic and tourmaline plates
• Maximum temperature: 220°C
• Worldwide voltage
• 2.7m swivel cord
• Automatic one-hour shut-off
• Two-year warranty
Hershesons Titanium Ionic Professional Straighteners: The best straighteners for £100
If you’re looking to create perfectly straight hair with no sign of kinks, then these are probably the perfect hair straighteners for you. The blurb for the straighteners tell us that the straighteners impressive ability is down to the innovative titanium production, the results really do speak for themselves, with shiny, glossy hair which is soft and an almost liquid appearance that easily lasts a full day. No bulky arms required, the straighteners are very lightweight and will never snag, which is largely due to the very flexible rotating cord. The plates heat up in a matter of seconds, which is perfect if you find yourself in a hurry in the mornings, and the temperature panel is conveniently located so it’s dead easy to see. We didn’t find many drawbacks with the plates, but we have seen reports of inaccurate temperatures, which is something we didn’t personally experience.
• Key specs– 2.3cm-wide ionic ceramic plates
• Maximum temperature: 230°C
• 2.5cm rotating cord
• Automatic one-hour shut-off
• 180-day warranty
Wahl Pencil Hair Straightener Review: The best budget hair straighteners for short hair
If you have short hair, then this might be the perfect product for you. The Wahl Pencil straightener has been designed with short haired women in mind and has ultra-thin plates to make the job much easier. So, whether you’re looking to tame a frizzy bob or create a sleek fringe, these are ideal for long lasting straightness. As a testament to their effectiveness at quickly styling short straight hair, they are increasingly popular with men as well. These are a no-frills hair straightener, with limited features and no way to change the heat settings, but they are effective and heat up quickly, the plates are very smooth and the cable length is generous. We used these for every hair type we could find, from thin hair through to thick curls, and they worked on everything, creating sleek straight hair which any professional hair stylist would be proud of. At this price point, these straighteners are an absolute bargain and come highly recommended.
from
https://www.otomo.co.uk/blogs/news/the-best-hair-straighteners-2018
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