I was so, SO incredibly lucky to get my hands on this in the BR Vault. I actually screamed. It arrived the same week and I plugged it in straight away to see if Kellie's article was all that and a bag of chips. Spoiler, it's the whole damn chip factory.
The straightener is gorgeous. It's sleek, and shiny, with buttons and rosy colored hot plates. One button turns the straightener on, and the other two control the temperature, from 150c all the way up to 230c. I have quite fine but thick hair, and I keep the heat at about 170. If you hold the + button, the Pro temperature engages. That temperature is 185c, and it's the temperature salon's use to get silky straight salon hair!
It takes less than a minute to get to temperature. Hair sectioned off, I run the plates through the sections. Oh my god. I'm suddenly a professional and I'm in heaven. I ran the straightener down my hair thrice and it's straight. It's soft. The ends which are usually split and jutting out at all angles are TAMED and lie flat with the rest of my hair. They're not burnt, they're not dry to touch. They're soft and touchable and they look damn good. The claim that after one pass through your hair makes it 47% straighter is very, very accurate. It also works so fast, within 5 minutes my hair is finished. 5 minutes!!!!!
For years I've used a Remington wet to dry wide plated straightener, so to go to plates so thin was quite the change, but they worked SO much better than the wider ones. Granted, the wide straightener is about 10 years old and the plates are worn, but they still work. With these small ones I can get the hair close to my head that never straightens out.
The only thing I don't like is how long the cord is, but that's because it's still all kinked from being boxed up, and so it attacks everything in sight as I swivel the straightener around my head. Otherwise, this straightener is a god send. It's everything Kellie said in her article and more. It works so well, I'm just. In love. Thanks for enabling me Kellie!
Bought this straightener on sale after reading the rave reviews here and it lives up to the hype, have already given away my GHDs a friend because I no longer need them with this iron! Works so well on my thick but fine wavy/curly hair, literally takes 4 minutes to straighten now and only need to pass over twice. Love it.
Tips: Use the Pro setting by holding down the + button