BABYLISS DIAMOND STRAIGHTENER

I cannot quite believe I'm saying this, but I've found straighteners that are better than GHDs.

BaByliss Diamond Straightener* - £40

One of the perks of blogging is that nice companies, like BaByliss, occasionally offer you things to review (which is brilliant, as there are so many things out there to write about, and definitely not enough pounds in my purse to afford them all!).

BaByliss have a new-ish range of products - the Diamond Radiance Shine Collection (made up of a hairdryer, curling tong and straighteners), and asked me to try one out, boasting that the straighteners were possibly the best out there. Pssssssh, I thought. Of course they'll say that. But I'm a sucker for playing with hair stylers so I was intrigued to see how they'd match up with my super trusty GHDs (and, I'll be honest, I was quite keen to get a spare pair of straighteners to keep at my boyfriend's house).

The straighteners boast a Diamond Radiance Shine System, which combines diamond-infused ceramic plates (so fancy) with active ionic conditioners (which essentially reduces the frizz of static electricity when straightening your hair). The plates are longer than those on most other straighteners which means you can style larger sections of hair at one time, and the sides are curved, meaning if you are one of those wizards that can curl hair with straighteners, it's even easier.

They also heat up to a top temperature of 235ºC (with two lower heat settings) and are ready to use in 15 seconds. Aaaand they've got universal voltage (handy) and automatic shut-off (which is SO useful, because I spend far too much time in my life freaking out about leaving my straighteners on).

Left: Scowly, curly hair
Right: Sleek, straight, happy hair!

It all sounded very impressive, but I thought it was just enthusiastic marketing chat, until I used them!

I first tested them on super annoying hair (illustrated in my mega unflattering, scowly photo above) - I'd left my hair to dry naturally so it was all kinky and wavy, and my hair's pretty thick so it takes a while to straighten (which makes me worry about the damage I'm doing to it).

These straighteners just glided through it SO quickly, leaving the shiniest, nicest, straight hair in their path! I had them on the hottest setting at first, which was super hot (it almost scalded my hand when I touched a just-straightened strand), but I reckon my hair was exposed to less heat overall, as it was just so quick to style all of it.

Afterwards, my hair was super soft (shown in the happy photo above), and it stayed straight for the whole day - no annoying waves creeping in, just super lovely hair. They've now replaced my GHDs for good, and I've been getting comments on how shiny my hair is.

Love love love love love. The Diamond 235 straightener is only £40 and it is my new favourite thing. Can I rave about it even more? LOVE.