Corioliss Titanium C2 Straighteners

...review of my shiny Corioliss straighteners, and our story begins...

So when my straighteners broke (the display stopped working, and they wouldn't heat up, or heated up too much) I got my Dad, a qualified electrician, to have a look. He replaced the plug and tested the current. No difference. He concluded that the problem lied in the body of the straighteners, which canny manufacturers make impossible to get into, so when they break, ...
...pair of red, leopard print Corioliss C2 Titanium straighteners from Sally's Beauty Supply. She said the straighteners were brilliant, variable temp, curls and waves too, antibacterial action, smooth design and function. I had never heard of Corioliss before (it seems they retail more for pros) but these sounded like a good buy, and I had a personal recommendation from someone who had great hair.

They retail for approx £120, but if ... more

I don't like buying new electronics, as I try to repair and reuse as much as possible, as I try to live more ethically, but this is my review of my shiny Corioliss straighteners, and our story begins...

So when my straighteners broke (the display stopped working, and they wouldn't heat up, or heated up too much) I got my Dad, a qualified electrician, to have a look. He replaced the plug and tested the current. No difference. He concluded that the problem lied in the body of the straighteners, which canny manufacturers make impossible to get into, so when they break, you have to buy and not repair. And so the throwaway culture of Western society carries on. That and I couldn't find my warranty.

I did consider buying a used pair of straighteners off eBay, or nearly-new, but I had been stung by a refurbished camera that I bought that worked for a day before packing up, leaving me with a £70 repair bill, but that's another story. I was wary of buying electrical items from eBay, so I decided that unfortunately, new was my only option*, but I was going to keep the warranty this time!

*Okay, not my only option, as I could have just gone without, but as anyone who has seen me go to bed with reasonable looking hair and then wake up with a totally different hairstyle that will not co-operate with a brush or even not stick up...my hair is...bendy. It just stays in whatever position I sleep in.

Choices, choices
So...to choose some hair straighteners. I wanted high performance, variable temperature (I don't go for poker straight very often, if I can get my fringe to not stick 90 degrees from my forehead I am happy, and I don't like really high heat) build quality and the ability to curl and wave.

Despite the lack of variable temperature, I coveted the GHD's for the week I was styler-less (the fringe went into sort-of-quiff) and too busy to buy some. I had used my friend's very old model from 2004, and the results were great, but the idea of using temperature THAT high almost daily, even with heat protector, panicked me. I had also heard about faulty GHDs, and didn't fancy catching fire!

I looked into buying Sedu from America, but the postage was too much and if something went wrong i would have to post it back to the US, no thanks. I looked at all the major names in haircare, but couldn't make my mind up.

I spoke to a good pal of my about her GHDs that she had used on me when I did a bit of modelling for one of her projects. Turns out hers had been fake and she ended up buying a pair of red, leopard print Corioliss C2 Titanium straighteners from Sally's Beauty Supply. She said the straighteners were brilliant, variable temp, curls and waves too, antibacterial action, smooth design and function. I had never heard of Corioliss before (it seems they retail more for pros) but these sounded like a good buy, and I had a personal recommendation from someone who had great hair.

They retail for approx £120, but if you have a trade card with Sally's (she did) you can get a hefty amount off plus an extended warranty.

Shiny, shiny
I got my new Corioliss C2's home (red leopard print) and immediately plugged them in. In the box there are the actual straighteners, a little book with howtos, info and 'green Corioliss' initiatives. The red leopard print is a funky and bright, but there are other finishes available.

The actual straighteners are in a slim and sleek plastic body with thin plates and a swivel cord. The cable is very long, which is great, and stops putting strain on the wires that join at the plug, which is a common cause of straightener breakage. The power button and temperature controls are not on the actual straightener, but on a control pad on the cable. I used to change the temperature by accident on my old ones as the change buttons were where you held the hinge.

Plug them in, hit the power button. It flashes blue with the default temperature of 180 degrees. The numbers then very quickly count from 0 to 180 when the blue light flashes indicating correct temperature.
You can change the temperature any time by using the plus and minus buttons, from 50-210 degrees in ten degree increments. There is temperature for every type of hair or styling requirement.

Hot, hot, hot
On my old stylers, I used about 140-160 degrees, but it would require a few goes over each section of hair to get it poker straight, one to calm my hair down.
On the Corioliss, at 140 degrees, the performance is much better. A straighter, sleeker finished can be achieved with one motion. Perhaps the heat is conducted better but they feel much, much hotter, even at the lower temperatures.

Using them did take practice, as you have to squeeze them quite tightly shut, or ensure no hair is either end of the plates, or you can snag it. However, it only took a few tries before this stopped happening.

Curling and waving is dependant on the angle and speed with which they are used. Videos on youtube helped me figure out a technique.Sometimes they are not perfect curls/waves first time round, but it is easy to do them again. When my hair is freshly washed it has a natural wave, which obviously turns into a haystack upon sleep. Not having perfect wave/curls each time looks more natural to me.

I don't know whether this is because I wear heat protection spray, but the plates can quickly become coated in residue, which due to the high shine of the plates is quite obvious. A damp cloth used when the straighteners are off helps keep them clean, so it is not too much of a problem.

Conclusion
I feel these are really superior straighteners/stylers and I am glad I chose these over GHDs, despite the media and superbranding of GHDs. Corioliss C2s may cost a bit more, but the extra tenner is worth it for the extra features, and in my opinion they perform just as well, but in slimmer, funkier package that offers the user flexibility in terms of heat and style.
Corioliss C2s are not widely available, but they can be found through the internet and beauty stores. If you're looking for a new pair of versatile straighteners then I think you couldn't do much better than a pair of Corioliss C2s. 

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