For our GHD Platinum Plus review, we tested the straighteners’ performance, styling versatility and compare it to its rivals in our GHD vs Dyson head-to-head
UPDATE: GHD is selling a range of limited-edition Platinum Plus straighteners to honour Breast Cancer Awareness Month, as well as get you in the festive spirit.
For October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, GHD is selling the Platinum +, as well as the Helios, GHD Gold, GHD Glide and the Unplugged straighteners in a soft pink peach colour. They
Each one features the Take Control Now slogan which is designed to encourage women to make regular self-examinations. As part of this initiative, GHD is donating £10 to Breast Cancer Now or €10 to the Irish Cancer Society for each item sold from this collection.
Elsewhere, GHD’s Christmas collection features redesigned straighteners and Hair dryers in the shade “alluring jade” as part of its Dreamland range.
You can get the Platinum Plus, Glide, Helios, and Gold in the Tiffany-green colour. There are also gift sets that let you get multiple stylers for slightly less. Each one comes with a soft pink carry case worth £60.
The stylers that have had a makeover include:
- GHD Platinum Plus: Pink Peach | Alluring Jade
- GHD Glide in Pink Peach: Pink peach | Alluring Jade
- GHD Helios in Pink Peach: Pink peach | Alluring Jade
- GHD Gold in Pink Peach: Pink peach | Alluring Jade
- GHD Unplugged in Pink Peach: Pink peach | Alluring Jade
Original article continues below
Forget everything you know about hair straighteners. The Ghd Platinum Plus Styler changes the game, mixing style and technology in ways not seen before from GHD or any heat styling brand.
Touted as the world’s first “smart” straighteners, the Platinum Plus uses sensors with “ultra-zone” and “predictive” technology.
These determine your hair type, thickness, and speed of use – at 250 times a second – and deliver the optimum amount of heat. This makes styling your hair faster without causing excessive damage.
But, at £229, does the reality live up to the claims to justify its high price?
GHD Platinum Plus styler review
Due to the fact GHD straighteners really do lead the pack, the main rivals for the GHD Platinum Plus Styler’s crown are its own siblings.
There are now four GHD straighteners to compare the Platinum Plus to:
- The GHD Original
- GHD Max – ideal for longer, thicker blow-dried hair
- GHD Gold – a model that sits performance and price-wise between the Original and Plus
- GHD Unplugged – GHD’s first cordless straighteners
GHD used to sell a straightener with small plates, called the GHD Mini, which was great for short blow-dried hair. However, this has since been discontinued likely because the GHD Unplugged is a similar size with similar performance.
There is also the recently launched wet-to-dry Duet Style
We should also give a shout-out to Cloud Nine straighteners. It’s no surprise they’re so good, considering the founder of Cloud Nine is Robert Powls, who also founded GHD. His range has won a number of awards and they’re similar to GHD’s range in terms of features and design. The Touch Iron costs £129, and the Original Iron is £149.
Buy now from GHD
GHD Platinum Plus vs GHD Gold vs GHD Original vs GHD Unplugged
Click the image above to make the file larger
Before we continue with our GHD Platinum Plus review, we should explain the differences between this flagship model and the straighteners that have come before it – namely the GHD Original IV and the GHD Gold.
All stylers in the GHD straighteners range have a single heat setting, and this tops out at 185°C. Based on the brand’s research, this is said to be the optimum styling temperature for achieving long-lasting, professional-looking results without excessive heat damage.
They all come with one-inch plates, they all have an automatic shut-off feature that means if they’re not used for 30 minutes, they’ll shut off power (and thus heat) to the plates, and they each come with a 2.7m cable. The GHD Original IV and the GHD Gold come with a two-year warranty, but the GHD Platinum Plus is covered for three years.
In our opinion, the Platinum Plus stands out from the crowd but the only appliance that has the power to sway this opinion is the GHD Unplugged.
Not only do they perform near-on identically to the Platinum Plus, but we also love being able to keep the Unplugged on us at all times, in case we get caught out in the rain or when we want to switch up our look from day to night. We recently went to a wedding and were able to smooth out our look after getting a bit sweaty in the hot church just in time for the reception. No need to hunt down a plug!
The freedom their cordless nature gives when curling hair is great and is perfect for someone who typically struggles to do anything even slightly adventurous with our locks. You can read more about this in our GHD Unplugged review.
The latest entry to the list is the GHD Duet Style – a 2-in-1 tool that looks like a large pair of straighteners – in fact, it reminds us of the GHD Max. Yet instead of just two ceramic plates, the Duet Style combines hot plates with air vents.
These vents use what the brand calls “groundbreaking Air-fusion technology” to channel the airflow through a drying chamber and as you pass the straightener over each section of your hair, this hot air flow slowly removes moisture from the hair.
Switching to Shine Shot mode turns off the vents and turns on four low-temperature styling plates that straighten and smooth the finished look. GHD CTO Dr Rob Milner told mamabella that the heaters on the plates in the Duet Style use the GHD ceramic technology found in the Platinum Plus.
This includes a ceramic heater element inside each of the plates and a non-stick, heat-resistant ceramic coating.
You can read more in our GHD Duet Style review. We’ve also put the GHD Duet Style against Dyson’s new wet-to-dry styler, the Dyson Airstrait in our GHD Duet vs Dyson Airstrait head-to-head.
Shop the range at GHD
Design
The physical switch and flashing red LED of the Original have been ditched in favour of a flat LED button embossed with an On symbol
The biggest, immediate change to the Platinum Plus compared to the Original is its sheer grey, floating plates. These have replaced the yellow/orange plates on older models. It’s immediately obvious, when seen from a distance, that you’re using a Platinum Plus and given its price, we all know that it’s a status symbol.
Similarly, the two-piece hinge seen on older GHD straighteners has been replaced on the Platinum Plus styler. It now features what the company calls a “wishbone” hinge with a single curve. This wishbone hinge creates a smooth line and connection between the two plates and is said to improve handling.
It also prevents blow-dried hair from getting caught, which was a particular pain point – both figuratively and literally – with the Original model because we’d often pinch and pull strands or entire chunks out accidentally.
READ NEXT: Best conditioner for silky and shiny hair
The physical switch and flashing red LED of the Original have been ditched in favour of a flat LED button embossed with an On symbol. The straighteners still beep to let you know when they’re ready to use, but this new audio alert is softer.
The size of the Platinum Plus, in terms of length and weight, is almost identical to the GHD Original, yet the smoother lines and curves make it feel less bulky. The Platinum Plus additionally comes with a 30-minute timer, which only later models of the GHD Original have.
This means that if you accidentally leave your straighteners on, built-in sensors know if you’re still using them or not and will turn them off after 30 minutes of inactivity. This has been a huge relief on many occasions when we’ve left the house but can’t remember if we’ve left them on or not!
In terms of colour options, the Platinum Plus usually comes in black and white. However, GHD often launches limited-edition models and the most recent of these include its Alluring Jade version, as part of its Holiday collection, as well as a Pink Peach model.
The latter is sold with the words Take Control Now printed on them which is a motto used to encourage women to check their breasts for signs of lumps. Proceeds from the sales of the Orchid Pink range will go to breast cancer charities. You can read more about this in our Breast Cancer Awareness Month guide.
As of October, you can now get the GHD Platinum Plus in five colours. These include:
- Pink Peach | Buy now
- Alluring Jade | Buy now
- Black | Buy now
- White | Buy now
Alongside the Platinum Plus, there is also an alluring jade, and pink peach version of the GHD Helios, GHD Gold styler and a GHD Glide in the wider GHD Christmas, all of which come with limited-edition storage bags.
Performance
The Platinum Plus Styler is such a break away from the design and feel of the Original IV model that if the latter is the only GHD straighteners you’re familiar with, you’ll find the Platinum Plus tricky to get used to – at the start, at least.
Firstly, its wishbone hinge makes the opening and closing of the straighteners feel smoother and they don’t snap open as abruptly as on the Original. This is a positive thing, but takes a bit of getting used to!
READ NEXT: GHD Helios review
With the Original styler, you could physically feel your hair being pulled as you dragged the straighteners through the hair. The plates on the Platinum Plus glide much more smoothly over your tresses.
We used the Platinum Plus to create this look
The feeling is so different, it can trick you into thinking your hair hasn’t been straightened enough, which causes a tendency to run the Platinum Plus over the same section multiple times. It took at least a week of using the Platinum Plus to realise these extra movements were unnecessary.
Since we tested the Platinum Plus, Dyson has released its Corrale straighteners and this has changed our opinion of the GHD Platinum Plus slightly. Where we thought the Plus glided over our hair, this was relative and in comparison to the Original.
The Dyson uses flexing, rather than floating plates, to create smoother heat styling. As you reach the ends of a section of hair, these flexing plates release the hair gently. You can read more about these flexing plates in our Dyson Corrale review.
WANT TO KNOW MORE? How to curl hair with straighteners
With the Platinum Plus, there’s a tendency to clamp hair all the way to the end and this can cause hair to snap and break. However, the benefits in the way the GHD straighteners grip the hair – and its rounded, smoother edges – do make curling and free styling your hair with the Platinum Plus a doddle.
Our one complaint is that the Platinum Plus does have a tendency to flatten the hair a little too much. We know that sounds like a contradiction in terms but the way it grips the hair means that we often end up removing a lot of the volume from blow-drying while trying to smooth the frizz.
Buy now from GHD
Heat styling results
The cordless Dyson Corrale is pictured above the GHD Platinum Plus
We’ve used the GHD Platinum Plus Styler for years now and we were initially impressed with not only the look of our hair but also the feel of it. We still are, but since we’ve used the Dyson Corrale, our opinion has changed somewhat.
After a month’s use of the Corrale, our hair was noticeably stronger and broke a lot less than it did with the GHD, which itself is an improvement on the Gold and the Original.
When it comes to straightening our hair, the Corrale wins. However, when it comes to curling and waving it, nothing comes close to the GHD.
Plus, once we’d gotten over the idea of having to repeat sections of hair, we found the Platinum Plus Styler made our morning routine much faster. Granted, the Corrale is even faster, but it’s also twice the price.
All that said, we’ve also recently changed our shampoo routine and this has made a significant difference to our hair generally. We’ve ditched shampoo and conditioner for Hairstory’s New Wash – a sulfate-free, paraben-free hair wash that removes all residue and helps your hair feel soft and shiny.
READ NEXT: Hairstory New Wash review
GHD Platinum Plus review: Verdict
There is no denying that £219 is an extortionate amount to spend on a pair of hair straighteners but in the case of the GHD Platinum Plus Styler, we do think it’s worth it. From the design to the performance and how good our hair looked each time, we recommend it very highly. This is even more relevant since the release of the Dyson Corrale.
While the Dyson offers a number of benefits and improvements over the GHD, the differences between the two in terms of hair damage are marginal yet the Dyson costs twice the price.
For the same price as the Dyson, you could buy the GHD Platinum Plus twice over and still have change to buy heat defence spray or hair masks to shrink this margin.
What’s more, GHD products are built to last. Our Original styler is still going strong after seven years and we don’t have any reason to believe the Platinum Plus won’t equally go the distance.
This makes the initial investment – when compared to how much you may spend replacing cheaper straighteners in the same amount of time – slightly less painful. Slightly.
︎ Don’t miss out! Sign up for the mamabella newsletter today ︎
MORE LIKE THIS
- Best moisturisers for oily, dry and mature skin
- Collagen supplements for sagging skin
- Best skincare for acne
- GHD Duet Style vs Dyson Airstrait: Which wet-to-dry straightener is best?
- Dyson Airstrait UK: Hands-on review of the new wet-to-dry Dyson straightener
- Best anti-ageing cream for targeting wrinkles and fine lines
- The truth about the acids in your skincare
- Best eye cream
- The science of moisturiser
- Get brighter, smoother skin and reduce acne scars with the best Vitamin C serum and creams
- How to get rid of dark circles
- Crow’s feet: What causes laughter lines and how to get rid of them
- What does toner actually do?
- Perfect your skincare routine with these must-have facial products
The post GHD Platinum Plus review: Are the £219 straighteners worth the hype? appeared first on mamabella.
