Make everyday a GHD day (GHD Mk4 Straighteners)

Member Name: Emily_09

Product:	GHD Mk4 Straighteners
Date:	25/09/09 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great results, can curl and straighten easily

Disadvantages: Very pricey

As you may know from some of my other reviews my hair can be a bit crazy sometimes and it takes about a tonne of hair products, not to mention a very patient hair stylist, to tame it and keep it in place. About a year ago I decided that I'd had enough of struggling every single morning and that I would invest in some good quality straighteners to aid in my quest for manageable locks.

I first heard about GHD's from one of my friends who had recently bought a pair and claimed that they were the best thing since sliced bread. I wasn't entirely convinced that they would be right for me as her hair hardly needs any styling but I decided to give them a go and ordered a pair off the internet.

GHDs are a professional brand and so aren't as widely available as more commercial brands such as Remington for example. You can usually purchase a pair from your hair salon if they are a registered stockist or alternatively you can find them on the internet. A word of warning here though, there are a lot (and I mean a lot!) of fake GHD websites that will not only rip you off with fake straighteners that aren't anywhere near as good as the real thing, but may take your payments and then just never even send you your GHDs.

To avoid being ripped off I would be very wary of buying from the internet and only buy from sites that are official GHD stockists. I bought mine from the official GHD website (www.ghdhair.com) so had no problems.

One of the main downsides of these straighteners is their price. Depending on where you buy them from they cost around £100 which is a tad bit pricey for something that isn't really an essential. On the other hand though, these straighteners are so good that I have used them every couple of days since I bought them which I almost definitely wouldn't have been able to do with cheaper appliances that would have wrecked my hair.

GHDs come in three sizes, those with very thin plates for short hair, medium sized plates like those of the MK4 styler and thicker plates for very thick hair. Normally I would have opted for the widest plates possible as my hair is really thick but I chose the medium size straighteners as I wanted to try curling my hair with them as well and thought that the thick plates wouldn't be as good for this.

My straighteners are just plain black and have the GHD logo printed on them but you can buy loads of jazzy styles depending on what colours or patterns that you like. The jazzy ones are a bit more expensive though so if you want to pay the minimum price I would just go for the black ones.

What I love most about these straighteners is how quick and easy they are to use. They heat up really quickly and glide though your hair effortlessly. I have used straighteners before that drag your hair and you can just feel them burning your locks but these glide easily without catching. They leave your hair really smooth and looking really shiny and I can really tell the difference in my hair's condition when I use these as opposed to other straighteners.

When I first bought these I used them everyday thinking that as they were so expensive they wouldn't harm my hair but after a while I had to stop for a while as my hair was looking a bit singed on the ends. They leave your hair in nice condition when used every few days but the normal rules relating to straighteners apply to these, including not overusing them and not straightening when wet. GHDs are good but they aren't miracle workers!

One of the things that I like best about these straighteners is the fact that they have a sleep mode so turn themselves off after about half an hour of not being used. I've lost count of the amount of times that I've gone to work and suddenly panicked when I got there that I'd left my straighteners on. I never have but just in case it's nice to know that they will turn off before they can cause any damage.

Another thing that sets these straighteners apart from others is that they leave your hair really straight for days. If I straighten my hair one day it stays straight until I wash it without any annoying kinks or waves appearing even after sleeping. They are equally as good at curling and their rounded edges make curling really simple. The curls don't last as long as when you straighten however, but if you use a lot of hairspray they will last throughout the duration of your night out.

Overall I love my GHDs and don't know how I coped with my hair before them! They can be a bit pricey but are definitely worth it if your hair is unruly and you want to get it under control.

Summary: 5 stars