I have a wonderful friend, Gillan (we call her Tilly though – no real reason but it suits!), and she is a hairdresser. She’s self employed and because of this l am in an amazingly unique position in that l get my hair done for free – how cool!

Now l have shoulder length, dark, straightish hair. When its blow dried correctly (that is by someone who knows what they are doing ie not me!) my hair sits poker straight.

Recently, l was off on a trip to New York and my wonderful friend loaned me her GHD ceramic hair straightening irons. Usually, if you were to purchase a pair from your salon or via the net you would find your wallet anything up to £100 lighter – with the cheapest l have seen them being £80. A goggle search on the net will bring you thousands of suppliers of the GHD products on line. I cannot get my hair to sit straight by blow drying – even if l do take my time use the proper brushes and potions, there’s always one wee bit that likes to do its own thing! So, knowing l was off on a special valentine’s trip to NYC, Tilly loaned me her straightening irons. I’ve only just returned them (we live around 80 miles apart!) on Saturday past and it’s now Tuesday – my hair is in mourning! I’m using my bog standard straighteners again and l can really tell the difference!

GHD don’t simply produce straightening irons they do have a range of products –

GHD Wet products – oils, waxes, sprays and serums
GHD Hair Brushes – paddle, anti static and ceramic brushes
GHD Ceramic Hair Irons – ceramic iron, salon styler & mini styler

Check out www.ghdhairstraighteners.com for a full range of their available products and prices. This site is the official GHD site and so probably not the lowest priced, but they do offer online ordering and next day delivery.

GHD recently sponsored the Channel 4 show the salon – where before the show started and during commercial breaks random people in the street were asked – do you believe in GHD? Usually the random people and wild and whacky hair dos also! It usually took a few seconds for them to realize GHD stands for Good Hair Days!

So what’s all the hype about? Well according to the manufacturers the revolutionary new product relies on ceramic, antic static negative ion technology. Apparently because they include a ceramic heating element, this in turn creates a negative ion charge and this helps seal in natural oils and goodness into your hair. The antic static bit; well that reduces frizz and fly away hair. The ceramic plate – it helps create the glossy straight just stepped out of a salon look we want everyday!

The irons heat to a whopping 210º in apparently 7 seconds – now l can’t specifically vouch for this time frame but l do know they heat very quickly. Simply plug them in and when the sensor light starts to flicker you are ready to rock and roll! I can also vouch for the fact that they get dam hot – my ear lives to tell the tale and l stupidly left them sitting for no more that 10 mins (on l hasten to say!) on top of my bedroom telly. Whoops! I now have custom made designs on top of my telly. Be warned this was only 10 minutes l dread to think what could happen if you forgot about them all day.

The straighteners are compact. Slim and dark grayish black with the goldy ceramic plates. They also have a salon length cable which l always find a bonus. They come in a rectangular sliding box which is great for storage – not one of these packages you get where the product comes out but for some strange reason will never go back in! I also found they were light and easy to use, which is great when you are trying to get to those hard to reach places!

So, each morning, simply wash hair, blow dry – until completely dry. I then usually fire on the slap for the day, and commence straightening. I section off each part l need to straighten and glide the ceramic plates over that section of hair. Hey presto, silky smooth straight hair all from a flick of the wrist. The product is also useful if you want to do flicks and other styles with your hair also.

Overall this product is great – it is price and other manufacturers do make ceramic straightening irons now – shop around on the net – there are a set by Remington which l have heard good reports on and you get change out of £50! The GHD people would lead you to believe in their marketing bumpf that these straighteners will not damage your hair, personally l don’t believe that for a second – with the temperature that the irons reach there has got to be damage. I would not recommend using them on your hair for every day use, but for that special somewhere or evening out they are a definite plus, but are they worth spending almost 100 quid? I would have to think long and hard about it or perhaps a minor win on the lottery! Although if you shop around on ebay perhaps you can bag yourself a bargain.

An excellent luxury product - but because of the price l have to give only 4 stars instead of the full 5.

Thanks for reading

Heather