Investing in a pair of the best straighteners not only helps with creating impeccable styles, but they’ll also make sure you don’t completely frazzle your hair while styling. But what are the best hair straighteners? To compile our comprehensive guide, an expert beauty editor tested tools to suit a range of hair types and budgets to ensure you find the winning pair to suit you.
Using heat on your locks can put your hair at risk of damage, making heat protection a must, as high heats and harsh plates can cause your hair to feel dry and brittle. But this doesn’t have to be the case. With new technology and innovative designs, the straightener market has come a really long way since the iconic Carmens that all the cool girls had—and we've reviewed the best of the best below.
For instance, the stand out design from hair tool powerhouse ghd has to be their Platinum+ stylers, which feature ultra-zone technology and a consist 185-degree heat setting—key for keeping colour vibrant, and if you have textured hair, your curls intact (along with one of the best hair dryers for curly hair, of course). We also found the L’Oréal Professionnel Steampod to be a bit of a hidden gem—an in-salon secret for the sleekest finish. It uses steam technology to inject moisture into the hair as it smooths, meaning that hair doesn’t feel dry despite the heat used.
So, arm yourself with your favourite heat protector and finishing sprays and take a look at our pick of the best hair straighteners to pick from below…
How we tested the best hair straighteners
To ensure that our edit only includes tools that we can say firsthand are the best straighteners on the market, our expert contributing beauty editor put several models through a rigorous testing process to fully assess their quality and styling capabilities. While testing the models, all of the following factors were taken into account.
- Ease of use
- Cable length
- How hair looks and feels after using
- How long results last
- Any additional extras—e.g. heat mat, case
- Design and color options
- Price
The best hair straighteners, reviewed by a beauty editor
Wondering what are the best hair straighteners? Look no further! Probably the most crowd-pleasing straightener on the market, the Platinum+ works across most hair types and conditions. We found that the biggest sticking point is that you can’t change the heat settings. The brand insists that this is because 365°F/185°C is the perfect temperature for a smooth finish that doesn’t cause irreparable damage. But, it doesn’t take into consideration anyone that might just want to use an even lower heat, such as those with finer or bleached hair.
Having said that, the technology in this styler is a game-changer for anyone that normally has to constantly straighten the same bit of hair to rid it of frizz—you can do this in one pass with the Platinum+, because it continually assesses hair's thickness and the amount of hair you're styling and adjusts settings accordingly. This certainly impressed us, and speaks to ghd's authority as a leading hair brand.
Who doesn’t like getting more bang for your buck? This 3-in-1 styler is a great option for when you’re travelling and want to create a wealth of styles and, considering its versatility, it's very reasonably priced.
When testing we did find that you do need to style hair in quite small sections, especially if you have thick hair, as the hair can splay out the sides of this smaller iron if you try to tackle too much hair at a time. However, the plates are made of NanoIonic™ MX technology, which we found helps to keep hair frizz-free and smooth.
Everything about this straightener feels luxe, from the soft casing, to the touch screen and audio feedback. The ceramic plates offer super smoothing and shine, and the styling is tailored, too! HeatID technology allows you to input your hair texture, length and colour treatments to generate your perfect temperature, meaning there's no one-size-fits-all with his hair straightener.
This is the standout feature, as it makes for a much more unique styling experience, though we would point out that it's not obvious what specific temperature you've been allocated just by looking at the tool. Fortunately a full list of the temperature settings, which range from 260°F/127°C to 410°F/210°C, can be found in the manual.
The special feature on this hair straightener from Panasonic is the Nanoe™ system, which distributes atomized particles to deliver a hit of hydration as you straighten. This, along with the ceramic plates, make hair feel extremely sleek with just one slow pass—clever technology that certainly impressed our testers.
We did come across a few downsides when testing this particular model, though. The casing of this style is on the clunkier side and it can snag in your hair a little bit if you’re not careful. To avoid this, don’t rush when you're styling your hair, and take small detangled sections one at a time. If you're wondering, what are the best hair straighteners for people always in a hurry? We'd advise you go with another option on this list—while the end results are always well worth it, who can spare time in the mornings?
The first thing that struck us when picking up the Remington HYDRAluxe Pro Straighteners is how lightweight they are, and for the most part they're also easy to manoeuvre, which for us set them up to be a winning pair from the beginning.
The Hydramist steam is excellent for adding a hydrated softness to the hair, meaning this is a great pick for curly hairstyles in particular. However, because of where it’s located at the base of the product, you have to remember to always straighten with the mist outlet facing down to reap its benefits. We found that you get used to this eventually, but it does require you to build a bit of muscle memory. These straighteners are still one of the best options if you struggle with mobility, though.
This the third iteration on the L’Oréal Steampod, which has previously had the water tank sitting separately to the styler, and we found that the intergration of the water tank on this model makes the straighteners so much easier to use at home. However, it does mean that this model on the bigger side, compared to other tools. In our opinion, though, this is a small price to pay for the sleek results the Steampod creates on all hair types!
If you have curly or coily hair in particular—and, therefore, you are always on the lookout for more curly hair tips—we found that you need to either detangle your hair thoroughly before you start styling or remove the comb completely, so your locks don’t snag or get caught, because it’s so fine toothed.
If you want to know which models are the best hair straighteners for travel, a pair of cordless straighteners could be a game-changing addition to your styling routine, and these are one of the most reasonably priced wire-free irons we've ever tried. Not only that, these are a good pick for a pair of straighteners that can also wave and curl without any fuss, so this tool ticked our boxes for versatility, too.
The heat setting can easily be adjusted on the dial, and the floating plates smooth out hair without any kinks. While they aren’t the heaviest straighteners we’ve used, the battery makes then heavier than any corded pair. It would be handy if you could use them while charging though, as the 30 minute charge is limiting and a slight drawback—but it is to be expected with cordless appliances and is fairly standard across the board.
Looking for an answer for long hair or thick hair? A pair of wide irons should be in your hair tools kit, and these from Cloud Nine are a perfect pick. While the plates aren’t any longer than standard—so you can’t style a bigger section than you usually would—they are are a lot wider than most standard style models, which we found cuts the styling time down significantly, which is perfect for thicker hair.
The only real problem that we came across during the testing process is that you can’t use these to create waves on all hair lengths, as the plates are so wide—creating looser, tumbling waves will only be possible if you have really long hair.
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