Long Lasting! (GHD Mk4 Straighteners)

Member Name: sarahjane87

Product:	GHD Mk4 Straighteners
Date:	13/08/08 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: They work, whatever your hair type

Disadvantages: Pricey, but this is outweighed by their durability

One of the most-spoken questions I hear is "what did we do without GHD's?". They've become and remained the market leaders in hair straighteners - despite the large number of competitors, GHD is the most recognised brand. This has survived through the creation of far cheaper ceramic straighteners, and this says something about the quality of the product. They remain the most expensive on the market, still retailing at around £100, but they're definitely worth the money if its a product you'll use on a regular basis. They're stocked by, I believe, most major stockists of electrical hair and beauty items, and it's worth shopping around as there are slight discrepencies in the price.

They're simple to use - no fancy controls, just a simple on switch. They take just fifteen seconds to heat up, which means it's a speedy process. A major added bonus in my opinion is that they're small enough to be able to slip in your bag or suitcase when you go away.

Turning now to what you can DO with the straighteners, I can confirm that it's not confined to straightening - which, obviously, is relatively self-explanatory - taking a small section of hair you grip this between the straighteners and draw them slowly down to the tips before releasing. If your hair is particularly thick or curly, then you may have to repeat this, but it will work eventually! I have thick hair myself, and whilst it takes longer to straighten than thin hair, the result is almost identical.

I have a lot of friends with different hair types, and as such have had experience of using GHD's with these different hair types. They work in thin hair, thick hair, relatively straight hair and even curly hair - I have a friend whose hair falls into natural ringlets, and even though straightening took hours, it did eventually work and last!

More than just straightening however, GHD's can also be used to curl hair - in order to do this, you need to again secure a small section of hair (normally a couple of centimetres wide) between the straighteners, however this time as you draw them down the hair, you have to twist them and wrap the hair around the straighteners. Once the hair is released, it should fall into curls. Increasing the pressure and decreasing the speed will lead to tighter curls (which can always be loosened by running fingers through the hair afterwards). These will need to be secured with hairspray once complete, as the curls do fall out quickly, but I've managed to secure curls successfully for an entire evening. It takes a bit of patience to achieve (and often a friend to curl the hard to see back of your head) but it does work eventually!

As an aside, my personal tip for checking whether you have straightened or curled the back of your hair successfully is to stand in front of a mirror and hold another mirror at the back of your head -you can then look in this mirror through the mirror in front of you, and voila, you can see the back of your head! Perfect for when you don't have a friend around to check for you!

There is the downside that regular use can damage your hair, but if you use many of the protective sprays on the market (both by GHD themselves and by other haircare companies) then this gives extra protection against these side effects.

I purchased mine just over six years ago now, use them almost every day (even if it's just a quick straighten of my fringe) and, aside from a little fading of the logos which is to be expected after six years, they're as good as the day I bought them.

They're well, well worth the investment in my opinion, and I wouldn't be without mine. Durability, for me, definitely prevails over price and if I ever needed to replace mine, I would only replace them with exactly the same.

Summary: Perfect. There's not a lot more to say!