Pretty GHooD (GHD Hair Straighteners Salon Styler)

Member Name: 87degrees

Product:	GHD Hair Straighteners Salon Styler
Date:	24/01/08 (305 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: They work quickly, the style holds

Disadvantages: The price

I'm not normally one for fussing with my hair but, with job interviews looming, my mum persuaded me to go and get a new haircut. There was clearly some conspiring going on because my Christmas present from my sister was a pair of ghd stylers.

My previous experience with straighteners was the pair that my sister gave me because they were rubbish and she was buying a new set. So, don't expect this to be an in-depth comparison between this make and other leading brands.
~~~ What's in the box ~~~

The straighteners.
A little booklet of safety warnings. These are mostly the really obvious things like "don't plug in and use next to a load of water" and "watch out, they get hot." They don't quite use those words, but you get the point.

A somewhat larger booklet of other products.
A DVD of instructions.


~~~ The Instruction DVD ~~~
I'd expected to find a little booklet with information on how to use the stylers, instead there was a DVD. In principle, I don't object to this, as seeing someone using stylers on themselves is easier than trying to work out written instructions. What annoyed me slightly was that the DVD seemed to be a long advert for all their other products.

The DVD has a choice of languages and you can choose to be shown instructions for using it as a straightener, or to give curls and so on. The straightening instructions were four minutes long. I think this could have done with being shorter, but they show clearly how best to straighten long hair using the stylers. The only information they didn't provide was how long it takes for the stylers to heat up, but we'll get onto that later.
On the whole, I thought the instructions were good. They would have been great if the video had only been two or three minutes long and they hadn't name-dropped quite so many of their other products.


~~~ The Stylers ~~~
The stylers have a decent length power cord, which I find very useful because my mirror is attached to my wardrobe and therefore not easily moved to be nearly a power socket. They are black and slightly rounded in shape, making them comfortable to hold. There normal position is slightly open, with between just over an inch and two inches between the plates. They close easily and then open again smoothly.

The plates are ceramic. I'm told ceramic plates are better than metal ones. It makes sense but, as I said earlier, I don't have a great deal of experience.
On the inside of one of the stylers is an off-on switch. Mine was initially set to on. It's a small thing to be irritated by, but irritated I was. There's also an LED next to the switch. When first turned on, this goes red. When the plates are hot enough, the light flashes and there's a slight beeping. It only takes a few seconds for the plates to heat up.

The handles are well insulated. If I hold the stylers near the power cord, my hand doesn't get hold at all. If I hold them on the outside, next to the plates, my hand would get a little warm, but not too hot. So they're safe to use providing you don't touch the plates themselves.

~~~ Do they Work? ~~~

When I tried them out, it took only one stroke down a section of hair for it to become straight. Admittedly, my hair is fairly straight anyway. If you have very frizzy hair, I imagine you may need more than one stroke, but they worked very quickly for me.

The style continues to hold, even after only a few minutes taken to straighten. This is a vast improvement on my previous pair of straighteners, which would take several attempts to straighten a section of hair and then lose the style as soon as I stepped outside.

As well as straightening, you can use them to do glamour curls. I attempted these and came to the conclusion that my hair is not meant to be curly. Still, it was the work of mere minutes to undo the damage I'd done and have a sleek, straight style again. I imagine this style works a lot better if your hair has a natural wave.


~~~ Overall ~~~
I mentioned that I got these as a Christmas present, so I don't know how much they cost. They seem to be expensive compared to other stylers, but they work. It's better to spend a bit more money for something good than waste a smaller amount of money on something rubbish.

If you want a pair of stylers, you will probably be very pleased with the quality of this pair.

Summary: An excellent product, but costly.