Squat magazine article 3!
(read the article on Squat here)
Let's get things straight...
Lets face it, whatever type of hair you have, us girls are never satisfied. Got curls? We want dead straight locks. Poker straight hair? We want sexy tousled waves... it's the reserve of being a woman right? Even us BBC girls, with our naturally straight hair want more from our barnet! It's just not straight enough! I don't know a single female who doesn't own a pair of straightening irons. But, some are most definitely better than others. Inspired by a recent disastrous (and expensive) impulse purchase, here's my review on the mine field that is... hair straighteners.
GHDs
Let's start with the stars of hair straightening. GHDs are used in salons the country over, sworn-by by tons of girls and have the biggest and glossiest marketing budget out there by the looks of things. But how good ARE their straighteners? They don't come cheap that's for sure! In the interest of fairness, all prices for all the straighteners reviewed are from one website, and GHD's start at around £99. To be fair, build quality is good, they come in varying colours and sizes, and they boast tourmaline ceramic plates, adjustable heat and rounder barrels to make curling easier. But, as with all extreme heat appliances for your hair, excessive use does dry it out and split ends. Good thing you only need to pass them over each section once to achieve the look you want. I guess the majority of the UK can't be wrong right? But are there more affordable alternatives out there?
Babyliss
This is the make of straighteners I've been using for years. Decidedly cheaper than other brands, you'd expect these to be noticeably poorer at doing their job, but they're actually not bad. True, one pass of the straighteners doesn't result in dead straight and glossy hair, but they do the job for the price if you don't want to fork out a lot of money. Prices start at a reasonable £20 upwards. They feature ceramic coated plates, swivel cord and dual voltage so you can use them abroad worry free. However, they're rather bulky so not really suited to creating curls. Ultimately, they're not the best on the market but for those on a budget they get the job done.
T3
A possibly lesser known make of straightener, T3's are just as pricey as their all singing all dancing counter parts GHD. Again, they have a whole host of different features, including infra-red heat and ionic straightening to prevent heat damage. They heat up very quickly and I have to admit that in my opinion my hair felt a lot silkier than using the GHDs. My hair is very stubborn and seems to like to flick out at random angles and the T3 flattened out any unruly kinks with one wave. Prices start at around £80, but are worth the money in my opinion.
Corioliss
Finally, my impulse buy. I'd never heard of this make until I saw them demo-ed in a department store and was impressed. Apparently a salon professional make of straightener, Corioliss irons include the same infra-red technology and ionic features as the T3, and have solid ceramic plates. They also come in a range of wacky prints, including black and white zebra print and red leopard print. When the salesman used them on my hair in the shop they worked well, but when I got them home they just didn't do the job. In fact, my £30 pair of Babyliss straighteners did better at ridding my barnet of those crazy kinks than the Corioliss ones. Build quality wasn't great either, with rough edges and gaps that my hair kept on snagging on as I ran it through the plates, resulting in snaps strands! For £100 I think these were a real let down and I sold them to go back to my cheapies!
So, if you're pinching the pennies I'd suggest a pair of Babyliss babies as they aren't all that bad, but if you have the cash to splash in my opinion a set of T3's is definitely my preference.
Let's get things straight...
Lets face it, whatever type of hair you have, us girls are never satisfied. Got curls? We want dead straight locks. Poker straight hair? We want sexy tousled waves... it's the reserve of being a woman right? Even us BBC girls, with our naturally straight hair want more from our barnet! It's just not straight enough! I don't know a single female who doesn't own a pair of straightening irons. But, some are most definitely better than others. Inspired by a recent disastrous (and expensive) impulse purchase, here's my review on the mine field that is... hair straighteners.
GHDsLet's start with the stars of hair straightening. GHDs are used in salons the country over, sworn-by by tons of girls and have the biggest and glossiest marketing budget out there by the looks of things. But how good ARE their straighteners? They don't come cheap that's for sure! In the interest of fairness, all prices for all the straighteners reviewed are from one website, and GHD's start at around £99. To be fair, build quality is good, they come in varying colours and sizes, and they boast tourmaline ceramic plates, adjustable heat and rounder barrels to make curling easier. But, as with all extreme heat appliances for your hair, excessive use does dry it out and split ends. Good thing you only need to pass them over each section once to achieve the look you want. I guess the majority of the UK can't be wrong right? But are there more affordable alternatives out there?
Babyliss
This is the make of straighteners I've been using for years. Decidedly cheaper than other brands, you'd expect these to be noticeably poorer at doing their job, but they're actually not bad. True, one pass of the straighteners doesn't result in dead straight and glossy hair, but they do the job for the price if you don't want to fork out a lot of money. Prices start at a reasonable £20 upwards. They feature ceramic coated plates, swivel cord and dual voltage so you can use them abroad worry free. However, they're rather bulky so not really suited to creating curls. Ultimately, they're not the best on the market but for those on a budget they get the job done.
A possibly lesser known make of straightener, T3's are just as pricey as their all singing all dancing counter parts GHD. Again, they have a whole host of different features, including infra-red heat and ionic straightening to prevent heat damage. They heat up very quickly and I have to admit that in my opinion my hair felt a lot silkier than using the GHDs. My hair is very stubborn and seems to like to flick out at random angles and the T3 flattened out any unruly kinks with one wave. Prices start at around £80, but are worth the money in my opinion.
Corioliss
Finally, my impulse buy. I'd never heard of this make until I saw them demo-ed in a department store and was impressed. Apparently a salon professional make of straightener, Corioliss irons include the same infra-red technology and ionic features as the T3, and have solid ceramic plates. They also come in a range of wacky prints, including black and white zebra print and red leopard print. When the salesman used them on my hair in the shop they worked well, but when I got them home they just didn't do the job. In fact, my £30 pair of Babyliss straighteners did better at ridding my barnet of those crazy kinks than the Corioliss ones. Build quality wasn't great either, with rough edges and gaps that my hair kept on snagging on as I ran it through the plates, resulting in snaps strands! For £100 I think these were a real let down and I sold them to go back to my cheapies!So, if you're pinching the pennies I'd suggest a pair of Babyliss babies as they aren't all that bad, but if you have the cash to splash in my opinion a set of T3's is definitely my preference.
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