The ghd brand has become so synonymous with sleek, straight, shiny hair that most women I know don't even use the word 'straightener' any more. Like hoovers and sellotape, 'ghds' has become an instantly recognisable brand leader and many of us have eventually caved in and shelled out £90+ on one of the ceramic stylers.
Well, start saving again folks, because the brand is branching out with the ghd Air (£99), their first ever hairdryer.
This couldn't have come at a better time for me, as Steph returned from an appointment with ghd creative director Kenna on the very same day my own cheap Argos jobby finally bit the dust. I was quickly dispatched with the ghd Air to see if I could do as good a job on my own hair as Kenna did on Steph's (above)...
(PS Don't forget to enter our competition to win a pair of ghd's and a signed poster of their ambassador Katy Perry!)
The fact of the matter is I cannot and will never be able to recreate a salon blow-dry at home, even with a £99 piece of beauty industry magic. When I blow dry my hair what I'm essentially looking for is a comfy hairdryer that'll do the job quicky and efficiently without leaving me with a huge halo of frizz.
That I got, and more. I timed it, and this dryer took 7 minutes to take my hair from towel-dried to passably dry. Ten minutes, and I was out the door. This is a bit of a miracle considering my hair sits halfway down my back and is so thick that hairdressers frequently sigh and look at their watch a lot as they're putting foils in.
It was also really shiny. I put this down to a combination of Moroccanoil, using a paddle brush and the 'advanced ionic technology' in the dryer, which reduces static during drying to stop that annoying halo of fluff so many of us suffer from. My hair is quite wiry and never looks perfect after I've dried it, but it looked better after ten mins with this dryer than it did after 15 with my old one.
But my old dryer cost me £30 and this one is almost £100. Is it worth it? Well, let's look at the pros and cons.
Pros:
* It's got a 2,100 Watt AC motor. This makes it one of the most powerful dryers on the commercial market - there are a few 2200W models around, but they're often the ones that start to smell like burning hair after five minutes of use. This felt plenty powerful to me, but never smelt like it was about to explode in my hand.
* It's surprisingly light in the hand, and very sleek in design. It's quite small and compact despite packing a punch power-wise and is the nicest looking dryer I think I've ever seen.
* Despite being powerful, it's not ear-achingly loud.
* The buttons are positioned so the dryer works for both right and left-handed users. That might not sound like much, but it's an added bonus for any leftie!
* It comes with two concentrator nozzles, a regular sized one and a wider one for crazy-thick hair like mine.
* It has a 3m cord - plenty long enough to stretch from the plug socket to the mirror on the other side of the room.
* It benefits from ionic technology, which helps to reduce static and frizz when drying.
* It has the usual adjustable power and temperature controls to suit different hair types and styles.
* It has a cool shot button, which is vital for setting your style, especially if you're talented enough to attempt a wavy blow-dry like Kenna did on Steph.
Cons:
* There's no swivel mechanism on the cord, which is something I always look for.
* There's no diffuser attachment for curly hair, however the ionic technology and big, wide design mean you can probably just use the dryer without a nozzle on curvy / wavy hair. I never thought diffusers worked particularly well anyway, but for devotees it's worth noting this dryer doesn't have one.
* It costs £99. Seriously.
There's no denying this is a really great hairdryer, but my worry is that it's not as much of a trailblazer as the ghd stylers are. I feel like there are probably other dryers on the market at a more competitive price that will do a very similar job, so justifying the extra cost is tough. I don't feel this is the case with the stylers - I've tried dozens of hair straighteners and stylers and none come close to ghds, and I really feel like they're worth the investment.
Design-wise, it's lovely - so much nicer than the cheap plasticky ones elsewhere. The finish you get even after a very quick rough-dry is great. I have no doubt that ghd will sell loads based purely on reputation and brand power, and those who do splash out won't be disappointed. But I don't think it's got the same 'must have' feel of the ghd styler just yet. We'll have to see how well Word of Mouth works on this one!