10 best hair straighteners for every hair type, budget and style
Now an essential part of our everyday routines, the mighty hair straightener has come a long way since the early Noughties when the heat-styling tool went mainstream. So much so that brands have started to rename them as “stylers”, as gone are the days when hair straighteners just smoothed out our strands. Today’s best straighteners won’t give you just Y2K poker-straight strands but beachy s-waves and tight curls, too.
While their versatility isn’t the only thing that’s evolved, so is the sheer number of hair straighteners on the market. With a constant stream of new launches, it can be a minefield if you’re looking for an upgrade. But, you’ll need to invest in a new tool if there’s any damage to the plates or you’re finding you’re going over hair too much to get results, as both can cause irreversible damage to your strands.
One of the first things you may want to consider when looking for your perfect pair of hair straighteners is budget. Cordless tools are the latest innovation on the market but therefore also the priciest. The cable-free irons make styling travel-friendly and are easy to manoeuvre but they’ll also cost you considerably more than the corded options.
Next, you need to think about your hair type. Heat can be damaging to your locks, so if you have fine, dry or damaged strands, a hair straightener with adjustable temperatures will allow you to turn down the heat. In reverse, if you have particularly thick or coarse hair, you may need to turn up the heat to get the best results. Just remember to never skip the trusty heat-protection spray to keep your hair from frazzling.
It’s also worth noting that longer or thicker tresses may love the ease of a wider straightener but it may not give you the desired curl – the thicker the plate, the looser the wave. And then there’s the material of the plate to consider, too. Ceramic is what most brands use for even heat distribution, but titanium is a top choice for harder-to-style, thick, curly or coarse hair types, as they generally use a higher harder-working heat.
With so much to weigh up, there’s no one-size-fits-all hair straightener, so we’ve done the hard work for you. We rounded up the best straighteners on the market and tried them out on our very own tresses to find you the best tool for every hair type and budget.
How we tested
Testing our way through the latest tools, we marked each one on design, ease and speed of use, and the all-important result of both straightening and curling our tresses.
The best hair straighteners for 2022 are:
Best overall – Dyson corrale cord-free hair straighteners: £399.99, Johnlewis.com
Best for everyday styling – ghd platinum+ limited edition hair straightener: £229,â¯Lookfantastic.com
Best for personalised styling – Remington proluxe you adaptive straightener: £149.99, Boots.com
Best value straighteners – Flower ceramic styling iron: £46.66, Boots.com
Best lightweight hair straightener – Nicky Clarke frizz control premium ceramic straightener: £59.99, â¯Nickyclarke.com
Best for every hair type and texture – T3 lucea straightening and styling iron: £104.95, Beautybay.com
Best straighteners for travel – Babyliss 9000 cordless straightener: £200, Boots.com
Best for styling on the go – ghd unplugged cordless hair straighteners: £299, Johnlewis.com
Best for fine and fragile hair – Beauty Works x Molly-Mae hair straightener kit: £74.95,â¯Beautybay.com
Best for thick, coarse or curly hair⯖ Drybar the tress press digital styling iron: £139,â¯Cultbeauty.co.uk
Dyson corrale cord-free hair straighteners
The age-old question beauty editors get asked is whether the Dyson hair tools are worth their hefty price tags. The answer is a big, fat yes when it comes to the corrale. The state-of-the-art design you expect from the brand makes waving, curling and straightening super quick and easy, thanks to the flexible copper plates, which grip and gather every strand.
Plus, there’s no cord to get in the way (unless you want there to be, as you can also style with the 360-degree charging cable that comes with it). Cord-free you get 30 minutes of run time on a 70-minute charge, but we found if you place the styler on the charging dock in-between glides, it prolongs the battery life. That gives you plenty of time, even if you have a more difficult to style curly or coarse mane. Plus, with three temperatures to choose from (165C, 185C and 210C), you’ll get smooth, flawless results no matter what your hair type.
Buy now £399.99, Johnlewis.com
ghd platinum+ limited edition hair straightener
Giving us a “good hair day” for more than 20 years now, ghd popularised the use of hair straightening with its innovative irons back in the Noughties – the brand even became a verb, as we all “ghd’d” our hair. It’s no surprise ghd is still at the top of its game, with every styler in the collection a worthy choice, but if you really had to twist our arm, this high-tech platinum+ pair is the winner for easy, everyday styling.
The “smart” technology gives you a personalised touch, as the plates recognise the thickness of your hair and the styling speed, and adjust the best heat accordingly – it then monitors the heat constantly so that your hair is never compromised. The platinum+ also offers a faultless performance, with a speedy heat-up and a one-stroke straighten that will leave you with a sleek and shiny result. It’s equally as easy to curl with, thanks to the floating plates and well-thought-out design.
Currently, platinum+ is available in this bold pink, as part of the brand’s breast cancer awareness campaign with Breast Cancer Now.
Buy now £229.00, Lookfantastic.com
Remington proluxe you adaptive straightener
Reliable and reasonably priced, Remington is another favourite brand when it comes to at-home hair styling. This latest tool is a little pricier than its usual purse-friendly irons, but we found it’s well justified, as the Remington proluxe you is a little more on the luxe side and much techier than its predecessors.
Taking a more personalised approach to styling, these plates adapt to your hair type with clever built-in sensors that “read” your hair while you style to find the optimum temperatureâ¯for best results. And they do this very well – we were very impressed with how long-lasting our curls were, as well as how poker-straight our strands stayed. If you prefer to stay in control, simply switch to one of the nine temperatures available, from 150C to 230C.
Buy now £149.99, Boots.com
Flower ceramic styling iron
These colourful irons from Drew Barrymore’s haircare range may be the cheapest in our round-up but they do far from lack in performance. The rounded edges are designed to make easy work of creating soft, beachy curls, while the 25mm tourmaline ceramic plates banish frizz and create a smooth and super-shiny finish when straightening.
There are four heat settings, ranging from 14C to 220C, so they’ll glide through both thicker manes and unmanageable strands easily. Another bonus is the brand has been generous with the swivel cord (budget brands are often a bit stingy in this area), which makes them easy to manoeuvre around the bedroom.
In fact, nothing screams budget apart from the price – there’s even that all-important automatic shut-off after an hour for peace of mind.
Buy now £46.66, Boots.com
Nicky Clarke frizz control premium ceramic straightener
The legendary hairdresser has some affordable and very effective stylers in his line, including this new iron. There are two stand-out features for us. The first is how lightweight it is, so there’s no arm ache involved when using it to curl strands. The second is the extra-long plates that are ideal for longer hairstyles.
Suitable for fine as well as thicker manes, because these irons offer a good range of heat from 130C to 230C. You’ll see them heat up in as in as little as 30 seconds, so you can start ironing out your kinks or indeed adding them in if you desire, while banishing frizz and leaving strands beautifully glossy. Plus, the new metallic-black and copper finish is a nice step up for the brand.
Buy now £59.99, Nickyclarke.com
T3 lucea straightening and styling iron
When you consider both price and performance, the T3 lucea is the straightening iron you should turn to. While it doesn’t have the smart-tech of its sister, the T3 lucea ID (where it determines the best heat setting for your hair type), it does have a less-expensive price point and a generous nine heat settings for you to choose from, all at the touch of a button.
From the lowest 127C setting to the highest 210C, this iron can give you the glass-like finish of a Kardashian even if you have a coarser hair type. For the best results, start with a lower setting and work your way up if you need more heat to get your desired look – you might be surprised how little heat you really need. And, like all the T3 hair tool range, the white and rose-gold packaging makes a stylish change to predictable black tools.
Buy now £104.95, Beautybay.com
Babyliss 9000 cordless straightener
With its black glossy finish and rose-gold touches, you’ll find the 9000 a sleeker design from the popular hair tool brand compared to its predecessors. But its real selling point is that it takes just seconds to heat up, with three settings to choose from (160C, 18C and 200C). You’ll then have 30 minutes of styling time on a three-hour charge, which for us was enough to straighten our hair three times before having to recharge.
Straightforward to use, this is a one-button operation. Press to turn on and click to adjust temperature, which is guided by three LED lights – it couldn’t be simpler. The floating ceramic plates with even heat-distribution tech make snag-free curling as easy as straightening.
It’s also ideal for holiday packing, as it already comes with a two-pin interchangeable charging adaptor for Europe, as well as a compact travel case.
Buy now £200.00, Boots.com
Ghd unplugged cordless hair straighteners
With such a successful back catalogue of high-performing hair stylers, we couldn’t help but have lofty expectations before we even got our hands on ghd’s first cordless tool, but it did far from disappoint. Tech wise, it uses the same dual-zone technology that keeps the plates at 185C, which the brand says is the optimum styling temperature without compromising the health of the hair. You can, therefore, expect the same snag-free, sleek results you get from the rest of the line-up, even though the plates are slightly smaller in size.
It’s the convivence of the new cable-free design you’re paying extra for, but for those constantly on the go trying to fit in a gym session, meeting and night-out all in one day, these will be a godsend. A two-hour charge will give you 20-minutes of styling time, which was enough for us to straighten our strands with twice. What we really appreciated, though, is that that you can charge them in your car or laptop with a USB-C socket. Lightweight and compact, they’re our new handbag hero!
Buy now £299.00, Johnlewis.com
Beauty Works x Molly-Mae hair straightener kit
Turn to this collaboration with the ex-Love Islander turned social media star if you’re looking for a wide range of adjustable heat settings. This tool is perfect for those with fine or fragile locks where turning down the heat is a must, as they go as low as 80C. They also go as high as 220C if you’re at the other end of the hair scale, with thicker strands.
The slim ceramic plates with infrared make it easier to get from root to tip for that super-straight, sleek and shiny look often spotted on Molly-Mae. We were impressed with how our locks stayed looking so fresh throughout the day, too. Plus, the straightener comes with a vegan paddle brush, faux-leather travel case and glove, making it a real steal at under £75.
Buy now £74.95, Beautybay.com
Drybar the tress press digital styling iron
From the hot brush to the curling wand, this isn’t the first sunshine-yellow hair tool we’ve been super impressed with from the cult US brand Drybar, which is now available in the UK. Master of the blow-dry stateside, the brand also has this speedy-to-use iron in its electrical collection.
Made with 1in titanium plates that go up to 232C, which typically make straightening much easier for thicker or harder to straighten strands, we were really impressed with its quick results and its smooth and shiny zero-frizz finish. And our locks stayed that way, even in humidity. Plus, the rounded edges on the tress press design make it an easy-to-use tool for creating soft waves, too.
Buy now £139.00, Cultbeauty.co.uk
Hair straighteners FAQs
How to prevent damage to your hair when using hair straighteners
Any heated styling tool can damage hair, especially if your tresses are already lacking in moisture and protein. This – combined with external aggressors such as chlorine, chemical treatments and over or under washing – can leave your hair looking and feeling lacklustre.
The best preventative measure you can take is to always use a heat-protectant spray before blow-drying, curling or straightening your hair. This is because they work by adding a protective layer that acts as a shield to absorb the heat and leave your locks undamaged.
How to choose the best hair straighteners for your hair type
Those with fine hair should look for ceramic plates that distribute heat evenly and more gently – it’s also best to use lower temperature settings to minimise heat damage. Thicker hair demands larger plates that both help you save time and reduce heat damage, and metal plates will give you longer-lasting results. For frizzy hair, iconic technology is ideal, as it prevents water and humidity creating more frizz. Those with afro hair are best opting for ceramic-coated plates, which offer effectiveness and protection.
Can you straighten wet hair?
Another step you can take to protect your tresses is to only straighten hair that is completely dry. Hair is at its most fragile state when wet, and if you’ve ever attempted to use a heat styler on damp hair, it’s likely you’ve heard your strands sizzle, which should tell you all you need to know. Doing so can increase breakage, frizz and even make your hair’s natural texture more coarse.
Are titanium straighteners better than ceramic?
While titanium straighteners are best for quick styling – they heat up fast and can straighten tough hair in a few brushes – ceramic plates take more time to heat up, meaning they can be less damaging, but work better on hair that is easy to straighten. Titanium plates, however, are a better choice for thicker, stubborn hair.
The verdict: Hair straighteners
You can’t beat the Dyson corrale when it comes to everyday straightening or curling – it takes the hassle out of hair styling, resulting in beautifully smooth results. But it is a pricey investment, so if the budget won’t stretch, the ghd platinum+ styler is still our favourite corded performer.
Want to make sure your locks are in tip-top condition? We tried Olaplex’s haircare range, and here’s what we thought
