A good hair straightener does far more than flatten frizz: the best glide through the hair in a couple of passes, leave it glossy rather than fried, and hold a sleek finish all day — and the cleverest now dry damp hair as they style it. An extensive test of 45 hair straighteners sorted the best, and these are the top picks, checked against current UK prices.
What to Look For
Plates and coating. The plates do the work, and their surface decides how smoothly the iron glides and how kind it is to your hair. Ceramic is the standard and heats evenly; tourmaline and titanium coatings add extra glide and shine. Look for a genuinely slick, snag-free coating and floating plates that adjust to each strand — the difference between one clean pass and repeated, damaging tugging. Wider plates suit long or thick hair; narrow ones give more control on a fringe or short cut.
Temperature and control. Heat range matters. Most straighteners run from around 150°C for fine or bleached hair up to 220°C for thick, coarse or stubborn hair, with the hottest reaching 230°C or even 235°C. Crucially, look for a proper spread of heat settings via a clear display: the best offer 9, 10 or even 12 temperature settings, so you can match the heat to your hair type instead of blasting everything at the maximum. Lower heat means less damage, so being able to dial in exactly 170°C or 185°C is worth having.
Heat-up and handling. A good iron is ready fast — the quickest reach styling temperature in around 15 seconds — and stays comfortable in the hand. Weight ranges from about 500 grams to 700 grams; lighter is easier for styling the back of your head. Cable length varies more than you would expect — from a frustrating 1.80 metres on some irons to a generous 4.2 metres on others, with most falling between 2.2 metres and 2.70 metres — so a long, 360-degree swivel lead saves awkward stretching at the mirror. A safety auto shut-off, typically after 60 minutes, is reassuring if you dash out of the door.
Extra features. The useful extras separate a good straightener from a great one: a heat-resistant storage pouch that doubles as a mat for setting the hot iron down, a turbo-boost mode for a faster warm-up, an auto-off safety cut-out, and a long guarantee — some run up to six years. The most advanced irons dispense with hot plates altogether and use airflow to straighten and dry damp hair gently.
The Winner: Remington ProLuxe S9100
The Remington ProLuxe S9100 (around £44.89) is the best for most people. It looks elegant, heats up in a flash and glides butter-smooth through the hair, straightening strand by strand in just a few passes for glossy, long-lasting results in no time. Its especially glide-friendly ceramic coating is the highlight, it is pleasingly lightweight, the extra-long cable gives you room to move, and the heat-resistant storage pouch doubles as a mat for the hot plates. There are 9 temperature settings from 150 to 230°C, so you can tune the heat to your hair type, and operation is child's play. The only real niggle is that the light-coloured surface shows marks. At a fair price, it is the clear pick. Check the price on Amazon
Also Great: Remington Pearl S9500
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The Remington Pearl S9500 (around £48.60) packs in the features. It offers ten temperature settings via an LC display, a turbo-boost function, an auto-off safety cut-out and a guarantee that runs up to six years — reassuring for something you use most mornings. It straightens reliably and is a superb travel companion, robust and dependable on the road. It does not quite match the winner's flawless finish, and the styling is a matter of taste, but as a well-equipped everyday iron with a long warranty it is hard to fault. Check the price on Amazon
Best for Wet Hair: Dyson Airstrait
If you want to skip the separate blow-dry, the Dyson Airstrait (around £329) is genuinely different. It has no heating plates at all: instead it uses jets of air to straighten and dry even damp hair at mild temperatures, so it is especially gentle and leaves a little natural volume, rather like a round-brush blow-dry. Hair comes out smooth and dry in one go, without the scorching a hot plate can inflict. The drawbacks are the bulky adapter plug and, of course, the premium price. But for damp-to-styled in a single step with minimal heat damage, nothing here matches it. Check the price on Amazon
Also Tested
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The Golden Curl GL 829 delivers fast, shiny, long-lasting results from its tourmaline-titanium plates and gentle infrared heat, with a big, clear LED display, though hair can tug a little and it is on the expensive side. Two other big names, the ghd Platinum+ and the Dyson Corrale, are strong performers, but note that on Amazon UK the Corrale now appears largely as refurbished stock, and as a cordless iron it needs around 3 hours to recharge, so check availability and condition carefully before buying.
How to Choose
Start with your hair. Fine, fragile or colour-treated hair wants a straightener with plenty of low-to-mid heat settings and a slick coating to avoid damage — the Remington ProLuxe S9100 covers this beautifully and is the best all-rounder for the money. If you want the most features and the longest warranty for frequent or travel use, the Remington Pearl S9500 is the one, with its ten heat settings and turbo boost. And if you would happily pay to protect your hair and cut out the separate blow-dry, the plate-free Dyson Airstrait is in a class of its own. Whichever you choose, favour a model with a proper range of temperature settings, a genuinely glide-friendly coating and a safety auto shut-off.
Verdict
The Remington ProLuxe S9100 is the hair straightener to buy for most people at around £44.89: fast, feather-light, wonderfully smooth and sensibly priced, with 9 heat settings and a clever pouch-cum-mat. The feature-packed Remington Pearl S9500 (around £48.60) adds ten settings and a six-year guarantee, while the plate-free Dyson Airstrait (around £329) straightens and dries damp hair in one gentle step. Match the heat range to your hair and any of these will keep it sleek.
