I love my GHD straightening irons. Actually, I haven't ever specifically straightened my naturally straight hair with them, but I love the soft or raunchy hippie curls that can be miraculously created with them. With my GHDs, I can create the curls I only dreamed of before but couldn't achieve. The irons are praised by hair professionals and customers alike and I can definitely see why. It only takes a second for the GHDs to warm up, and my hair never gets caught between the smooth plates. Also, the irons do their straightening or curling task always with one sweep, which saves both your time and your hair. There are three different sizes of GHD irons: mini, classic and max. I have the classic size, which has worked great as a curler on my chin to midback level length hair.
Ok, enough with the marketing talk. Yes, the GHDs definitely aren't the cheapest straightening irons out there, but I have never regretted buying them. And considering the many party occasions (including two weddings) to which I've curled my hair myself with the GHDs instead of using the services of hairdressers, I've actually already saved the money I used buying them! But that doesn’t mean I’d recommend anybody to buy their own pair from Finland’s local shops and this is the point where the online shops come to the picture. In Finland (I don’t know about the local prices in other European countries) the classic GHDs cost about 200€. In British online shops, the price is about £85. Yes, you read that one right.
I bought my own GHD IV classic styler from a UK based web shop called Lookfantastic in fall 2009. At that time, the shop didn't have the absolute lowest price available for the GHDs but since it was (and still is) quite pricy, I wanted to use the most trustworthy web shop I knew. And they delivered! After that, they have delivered also to my three friends, who have bought their own GHDs from the same shop after my recommendation. Lookfantastic also proved their trustworthiness when they sent my friend a new styler after the first one disappeared on it’s way from UK to Finland. I call that good service.
Nowadays I would recommend future GHD users to buy their own stylers from Lookfantastic’s special GHD shop Beautysleuth. The basic GHD irons have the same price in both shops but the great set (consisting of the actual irons, very useful and handy heat mat and the necessary thermal protection for your hair) is about £2 cheaper in Beautysleuth. Of course if you don’t buy your irons right after reading this, you should probably check the prices yourself. Both shops are especially good options for GHD purchases now, since they both offer free delivery at the moment.
And lastly, one technical note on the GHDs. If you buy your irons from a UK based webshop like Lookfantastic, the irons will have a power plug suited for use in the UK naturally, and that doesn’t work e.g. in Finland. But do not worry! The UK plug has one screw on it and if you open it and remove the shell parts, below you will find a power plug used in Finland! So all you need for the power plug modification is one screwdriver. I’m not a specialist on power plugs in different countries but in my experience the power plug found inside the UK plug will work also in Italy on top of Finland.
Images: Beautysleuth & GHD
