If you’ve been using the same flat iron forever, you could well be surprised by the results a new one will give. Hair straightening technology is improving all the time, so you’ll probably find that a newer styling tool will be faster, while causing less damage to your hair.
So, which hair straightener is best? We’ve tested a selection of straighteners from some of the best brands available, including Dyson and GHD, as well as smaller brands.
Straighteners are fairly expensive but you don’t need to get the priciest one: the best straighteners for you will depend on your hair type and which features make a difference to your hair.
Do you want variable heat settings? Cordless styling? Floating plates? Smoothing ionic technology? You can find all of these features in the products we’ve reviewed below. If you need any buying advice, check out the FAQs after the chart.
Why you should trust us
Tech Advisor has been testing hair styling tools since 2019. We don’t rely on manufacturers’ claims. Instead, one of the team takes the straightener home and puts it through its paces. We take the testing as seriously as we do any other piece of tech, and our reviews will give you all the information you need to decide whether or not to buy – both its good and bad qualities.
You can find out about each straightener in detail in our full reviews, which you’ll find linked to below, beneath a summary of each product. Our summaries will give you a quick overview of each product, with pros and cons and buying links.
You might also want to check out our guide to the best hair dryers if you’re upgrading your home styling kit. And if you’re in the market for a multi-styler, have a look at our reviews of the Dyson Airwrap and the Shark FlexStyle – we’ve tested them side by side in our Airwrap vs Flexstyle: Which to buy? article.
The best hair straighteners
1. GHD Platinum+ Professional Styler – Best overall
Pros
- Effective
- Good for minimising damage
Price When Reviewed:
$279
GHD’s gorgeous Platinum+ offers snag-free styling that adapts to your individual technique and lessens the damage that can be caused to hair by excessive heat styling and straightening.
The Platinum+ straightener’s ‘ultra-zone’ predictive tech intelligently adapts to your styling technique, adjusting the power to ensure an optimum temperature at all times for healthier hair and faster, better results. This is single-stroke styling at its best, suitable for all hair types.
You’ll find improved styling in a shorter space of time, and results that last much longer. The Platinum+ is still relatively expensive, given its feature set, but worth every penny.
Read our full
GHD Platinum+ Professional Styler review
2. Dyson Corrale – Best cordless straightener
Pros
- Corded or cordless styling
- 3 heat settings
- Comes with charging stand
Cons
- Expensive
- Heavy and chunky
- Short battery life
Price When Reviewed:
$499.99
The Dyson Corrale’s claim is that its technology reduces heat damage. But the real reason to buy it is its incredible build quality. It’s a beautifully made styling tool, with loads of great features.
It can be used corded or cordless (where it has up to half an hour of charge), it has three temperature settings and its flexible plates also have ionic smoothing technology. It works quickly and effectively.
However, the brilliant engineering comes at a cost beyond the actual (and very high) price of this straightener. The Corrale is heavy and chunky and for some people, that will – very literally – outweigh the advantages of cordless straightening. This also makes it slightly less travel-friendly, in spite of the attractive travel pouch it comes with and the flight tag it’s equipped with.
Read our full
Dyson Corrale review
3. MDLondon Strait – Most temperature settings
Pros
- 11 temperature settings
- Attractive colour options
- Well priced
- Comes with heatproof mat
Price When Reviewed:
Not yet available in the US
The Strait isn’t cheap but this is one of the best-priced hair straighteners in this round-up. It comes in blue or olive green (to match MDLondon’s Blow hair dryer), with gold detailing, and its colour options alone set it apart from the majority of rivals.
It’s quick to heat up and you can choose from one of 11 temperature settings, between 130 and 230°C. This is a big plus for day two styling, where you might just want to run a straightener through your hair at a low temperature to revive a silky style.
It’s light and slim, so it makes a good travel companion. Still, although the 3m long cable means you’ll have plenty of space to manoeuvre, it does make it bulkier and heavier to pack. It comes with a heatproof mat that you can wrap around the straightener for storage and packing.
On the minus side, its narrower plates may make it harder to achieve one-pass styling for some hair types and we wish that the tongs locked for travel.
Read our full
MDLondon Strait hair straightener review
4. Dyson Airstrait – Best wet to dry straightener
Pros
- Luxurious design
- Speedy straight styling
- Adds shine to hair
- Less damaging than classic flat irons
Cons
- Very pricey
- Big and heavy
- Limited styling options
Price When Reviewed:
$499.99
If you’re after poker-straight hair, quick results and less hair damage, the Dyson Airstrait could be the one for you. It’s beautifully made and high quality but, like most Dyson styling tools, it’s bulky, heavy and pricey.
Rather than being traditional metal or ceramic plates that heat up, the Airstrait’s plates feature vents that blow hot air to dry and straighten your hair. There is a choice of temperatures: 80°C (175°F), 110°C (230°F), or 140°C (285°F) in Wet mode, and 120°C (250°F), 140°C (285°F), or a top-up “boost” in Dry mode.
To use the Airstrait, you’ll first need to towel dry and detangle your hair, then blast your roots with hot air and straighten the length of your hair as usual. We found that it gave fast, shiny results – although the styling didn’t last quite as long as with traditional flat irons.
It has a self-cleaning mode for the plates themselves and you’ll get an alert when it’s time to clean the filter. The key thing to be aware of is that this is not the ideal travel styler, given its size and the fact that the plug is optimised for whichever country you buy it in, so if you’re planning to upgrade to the Airstrait, hang on to your existing straightener to chuck in your bag when you’re away.
Read our full
Dyson Airstrait review
5. GHD Unplugged – Best travel straightener
Pros
- Size makes it perfect for travelling
- Powerful
- Attractive design and travel case
- USB charging
Cons
- Battery life will only give you one styling session
- Small plate surface area for styling
- Hairs can get snagged at the edge of the plate
Price When Reviewed:
$299
This compact straightener is lightweight at just 304g but it packs a punch in terms of power, giving you one-pass straightening. It’s incredibly impressive for its size. It also looks good, and comes in a choice of black or white, with nice details like chrome accents and white LED indicators.
In the box is a heatproof, zip-up travel case, USB-C lead and plug adaptor, so you can charge it via or USB or at a standard plug point. The tiny lead can fit into the travel case with the straightener, so if you’re travelling with a plug adaptor with USB slots to charge other tech, you won’t need to pack the dedicated plug adapter at all, making it a great option for travelling light.
It’ll give you 20 minutes of full-power styling time and it charges in under two hours. All in all, it’s the best travel straightener we’ve tested.
Read our full
GHD Unplugged review
6. Nicky Clarke Infrared Pro – Infrared hair protection
Pros
- Classic design
- Less damaging to hair
- Decent results
Cons
- Higher heat needed for thicker hair
- Buttons in awkward places
- Some rivals offer longer-lasting performance
Price When Reviewed:
Not available in the US
This straightener is part of Nicky Clarke’s line of infrared tools designed to minimise styling damage. It’s hard to know how well this technology works, but we found that it did leave hair shiny and not dried-out. It’s a very effective straightener, although we used a high heat setting to get results.
Design-wise, there’s little to criticise, although we did take issue with the button placement. And there’s quite a lot to like.
It’s a lightweight styler with a long cord with a swivel setting and it comes with a heatproof mat. The titanium plates are a little wider than average at 1.5 inches and the straightener has a choice of ten heat settings, ranging from 120-230°C. It heats up quickly as well: it just takes 50 seconds to get to the highest setting, and the temperature is clearly shown on the LED display.
Read our full
Nicky Clarke Infrared Pro hair straightener review
7. Glamoriser Bluetooth – Best smart straightener
Pros
- App-controlled
- Temperature options
- Auto shut-off
Cons
- Pairing issues with app during our test
Price When Reviewed:
155.99
The Glamoriser Blue is a Bluetooth-enabled hair straightener, and the world’s first. Yet even without the smart features, the Glamoriser is an impressive tool. It has a salon-quality look and the results to go with it. The tongs don’t need to pass over the same section of hair multiple times to be effective and the entire motion is smooth, and won’t snag your locks.
The Glamoriser Blue has a wide temperature range: from 80°C to 235°C. You can, however, set the upper and lower limits through the Glamoriser app (free, for iOS and Android) so that the tool never gets hotter than you need it to.
The app also lets you set up a profile for your hair type. You indicate your hair thickness and the types of treatments you’ve had (for example, if your hair is coloured, highlighted or relaxed) and it’ll suggest a straightening temperature.
Best of all, the smart functionality means you need never again worry about whether or not you’ve switched off your straighteners.
Read our full
Glamoriser Bluetooth Smart Straightener review
8. NuMe Megastar flat iron – Best ionizing flat iron
Pros
- Powerful, one-pass styling
- Easy to read temperature display
- Choice of temperatures
Cons
- No lock
- High heat
- No travel case
Price When Reviewed:
$199
The NuMe Megastar is one of the most effective hair straighteners around. It’s a good option if you’re looking for perfectly straight hair. It’ll allow you to personalise your heat setting, with options from 190°F to 450°F (88-232°C), in increments of 20 degrees. It heats up quickly and it’s got some great features, as well, including a large, LED temperature display and floating, tourmaline ceramic plates with genuine give.
Although it has a US plug, it has dual voltage (110-240V), so it can be used internationally with an ordinary adaptor. Our only issues with it relate to the heat it produces: it’s easy to be tempted to put the temperature on max every time for quick results, which could damage your hair. There’s also no lock and it doesn’t come with any heatproof accessories.
Read our full
NuMe Megastar flat iron review
9. Revamp Progloss Steamcare – Best budget steam straightener
Pros
- Steam function
- Long lead
- Temperature options
Cons
- Auto shutdown takes an hour
Price When Reviewed:
$109.99
Revamp’s Progloss Steamcare straightener has an understated design with a matt silicone coating, a 3m lead and swivel setting.
It has a host of features to protect damaged or delicate hair, including a range of temperature options from 150°C-230°C, floating plates, ionising technology and, of course, steam jets.
The straighteners produce only a small amount of steam but it makes a real difference to results, allowing for one-pass styling at a lower temperature.
Read our full
Revamp Progloss Steamcare ST-1600 straightener review
10. GHD Gold Professional Styler – Best classic straightener
Pros
- Fast to heat up
- Simple to use
Cons
- Only one temperature setting
- Slow on thicker hair
Price When Reviewed:
$199
The GHD Gold Professional Styler is a simple but powerful hair straightener that not only styles your hair quickly, but minimises styling damage.
It has a sensor in each of its plates, part of its “dual-zone technology”, to ensure the temperature is always at a constant 185°C or 365°F – which is why you won’t see any dials or displays on this device. The preset temperature takes out the guesswork involved in identifying the ideal heat setting for your hair.
The GHD Gold only takes 25 seconds to heat up and styles hair quickly and efficiently, making it perfect for the morning routine pre-work or school, for nights out or while travelling (it offers universal voltage).
The price point for the GHD Gold is rather high, but it’s justifiable given that it produces sleek, shiny and lasting results while helping to minimise hair damage. The GHD Gold is an investment in comparison to budget straighteners that may damage your hair in the long run.
Read our full
GHD Gold Professional Styler review
11. BaByliss Elegance 235 – Best budget-friendly straightener
Pros
- Budget-friendly
- Travel-friendly
Cons
- Not great at curling hair
Price When Reviewed:
Not available in the US
The Elegance 235 from BaByliss is an affordable straightener that produces a great sleek finish that should last throughout the day. It comes in a striking colour, and is compact enough to be a great styling tool for travelling.
The price saving does come with a few sacrifices. There aren’t as many heat settings as on more expensive straighteners, or a locking mechanism, and if you want to use the device to curl your hair, it isn’t the easiest thing to master.
However, for the price you’re still getting a good straightener that does what it claims. It should last reasonably well over time, and best of all it doesn’t look or feel cheap, despite heavily undercutting rivals.
Read our full
BaByliss Elegance 235 review
FAQ
Which hair straightener causes the least damage?
As you probably know, heat and styling can damage your hair. So, which straightener is the best for hair protection?
It’s hard to give a single answer that’ll be true for everyone because it depends on hair type. But this is what we would advise: the best hair straightener for you will be the one that you need to use least often, for shortest time, at the lowest heat, to get the effect you want.
If your hair is brittle or damaged, a steam hair straightener, like the Revamp Progloss Steamcare, could work best for you. The addition of steam to your styling could well mean you can get better results at a lower temperature.
You could also opt for a straightener with an ionic booster, like the NuMe Megastar. The ionising jet will help to smooth your hair, so the styling is not just reliant on heat. The MegaStar and the Nicky Clarke Infrared Pro also both feature an infrared strip, which should heat your hair evenly from the inside and stop the exterior becoming too dry and damaged.
Which temperature is best for straightening hair?
As you may know, GHD straighteners tend to have one temperature setting: 185°C (365°F). That’s where GHD thinks the sweet spot is: the lowest temperature possible for the best styling results.
But that may not work for everyone. We’ve reviewed a number of straighteners with a choice of temperature settings, including the MDLondon Strait, the Dyson Corrale and the NuMe Megastar. The advantage of models like these is that those with thicker, curlier hair can use a higher temperature if needed, and there are lower temperature options if you need to give your style a quick smoothing down a day later.
Are hair straightening brushes good?
Hair straightening brushes don’t tend to produce perfectly, plumb-line straight hair – for most hair types, at least – but they are good for smoothing and styling. We’ve tested Revamp’s ceramic straightening brush and found it to be a good way for people with straight to wavy hair to achieve smooth styles with some body, without breaking out the straightener and flattening their hair.
If this type of styling is what you’re after, we’d also suggest looking at the Revlon One-Step, which is an affordable way to get a salon blow dry look at home.