11.03.04 - I just got a diamond for this - thanks everybody. xx

I have nightmare hair. Until I was about 16 it was poker straight hair. I could wash it and leave it to dry and it dried just like I had come out of a timotei advert (only with brown hair not blonde) Suddenly adolescence hit and my hit turned frizzy, wavy and basically was a shadow of its former self (I blame my dad he has wavy hair but being a man has it really short so it not a problem - think I also got my dads nose though which is more of a problem but lets not get off the subject.) I normally end up putting some Vo5 Nourishing Crème in my hair when wet, tie it up and wear it curly when its dry – but sometimes I do want straight hair.

Now I have some Revlon steam assisted Straighteners that cost me £45 and I lent these to my friend. However she did some research and came up with the sensible solution that using straighteners that rely on steam are probably not a good buy. After all steam creates a humid environment and we all know what happens to hair in humid places (just pictures Monica from Friends screaming IT’S THE HUMIDITY in one of their episodes) Anyway my friend did not get on with my straighteners and in fact she looked like a frizzy mess when she had finished.

Anyway to cut a long story short Claire told me she was going to buy some GHD's and I totally encouraged her. However I then found out she was going to pay £100 for them. I called her mad, told her she obviously had more money than sense, told her to pay off her debts first - you know all the usual (don't worry since buying mine I have eaten serious humble pie.)

I recently spent a month in Australia with Claire and her GHD's and decided they were a beauty buy I simply could not live without. I needed these and needed them now.

My friend bought her GHD's from a local hairdresser but I decided to do a scout on the net. I typed GHD into Google and literally 144,000 pages came up on these little beauties. I checked out a few sites and realised how big the range is. All the range relies on the same ceramic technology but the straighteners come in different sizes. A small plated one for men or women with short hair called the GHD Mini Styler. A medium sized plated one that is the normal GHD Professional Ceramic Straightener and the super duper GHD Salon Styler. The prices were all about the same on the web so it’s not worth hunting around to find a bargain - these all retail between £80 and £100 each. I found some for less but they wanted £10 for P & P so it made the cost the same.

So now to the actual product. Its about 8 inches long and this includes the handle. The handle has an on and off switch which I think is an amazing invention. You can leave them plugged in but switch off at the handset. Normally to turn straighteners on you just plug them in but the added bonus of an on and off switch I think is brilliant. The electric lead on these straighteners is really long. At least twice the size of a normal length if cable so no worries about stretching it round corners to find a mirror – the length of the lead is ingenious. The straighteners are a light grey with a orange GHD logo emblazoned on it. The actual ceramic plates are only 1 and a half inches by 3 inches so not really that big and these are suggested for really thick hair or Afro hair. Its hard when looking at this product to see exactly how they can be so effective. They look little, silly and almost a joke for your money. However plug them in, run them through your hair and the results are startling. The electric flex that goes into the straighteners pivots so you won’t end up with the lead strangling you or clinks in the lead. There is a red light on the handle that indicates the appliance is plugged in, which again is good so you won’t go out and leave them plugged in. The red stays on for the 7 seconds that its heating up and then flashes at you to tell you its hot enough. Personally I believe its winking at me to tell me how nice my hair will look.

However - Now a word of warning. This new Ceramic Technology is supposed to protect your hair and leave it conditioned. However I am sure I don’t need to tell you that if you are putting two ceramic plates through your hair at a temperature of 210 degrees then this is not good for your hair. No amount of research can ever convince me I am afraid that this is good for my hair. It quite simply isn’t. Again GHD sell hot oils that claim to protect the hair even more. However a 210 degrees coating of your hair on a daily basis is probably the best way to have knackered looking hair within of a couple of months. Hair straighteners are fine for occasional use but I really don’t believe these are good for the hair and after using these the hair is actually too hot to touch. If you touch your hair you will burn your fingers – it’s as simple as that. A brilliant buy that on a Friday night I would not dare to leave the house without using but lets not kid ourselves that are actually good for our hair.