Aussies have rated Cloud Nine as the pick of the bunch in Canstar Blue’s hair straightener ratings for the fourth year in a row. Cloud Nine was rated five stars for performance, features and functionality, value for money, design and overall satisfaction.
Our review compares hair straighteners on customer satisfaction, so you can find out what other Aussies think about the compared brands before you go ahead with a purchase. Think of it as like asking hundreds of your closest mates which hair straighteners they think is best!
Canstar Blue surveyed 443 Australians for their feedback on the hair straightener(s) they’ve purchased or been given and used in the last three years.
The winning brand is the one that receives the highest Overall satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included, so not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The brands rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.
Find more detailed information on our Most Satisfied Customer methodology.
Cloud Nine was rated five stars across multiple categories, including performance, features and functionality, value for money, design and overall satisfaction. It was also rated four stars for ease of use.
A recent entry to the haircare industry, Cloud Nine was started in 2009 and today offers a wide variety of straighteners, curlers, dryers and accessories to help ensure you keep on top of your mop. The latest addition to Cloud Nine’s range is the Retro Iron, which features a 2.7m cord, 190-degree max temperature, 250g weight and is available in a number of bright retro colours for those looking for a splash of colour. If you need a bit more work done, the Original Iron Pro includes Revive Mode to minimise friction, variable temperature control, mineral-infused ceramic plates and a 3m swivel cord.
VS Sassoon was the only brand to score a five star rating for ease of use, and was also rated four stars in all other categories, including performance, design and overall satisfaction.
This brand of hair styling tools and products was created by one of the world’s most famous hair stylists, Vidal Sassoon, who is claimed to be the creator of the bob haircut. VS Sassoon promises a variety of hair care benefits with its range of hair straighteners, such as reduced static, thanks to features like ceramic tourmaline plates and ionic conditioning in several of its models. Other common features include frizz control, steam straightening, ultra-fast heat up and wet to dry styling.
Other models include a mini model so that it’s easier to store while travelling, in addition to the Straight & Curl Brilliance model, which features a contoured shaped and outer housing to help you get the curls you’re after.
ghd was rated a consistent four stars across all categories, including performance, features and functionality, ease of use, value for money, design and overall satisfaction.
Standing for ‘good hair day’, ghd is a very popular brand of premium hair care products. For hair straighteners, ghd offers ghd platinum+ which is a premium line known for ultra-zone technology that constantly monitors heat to maintain 185°C temperature from root to tip. It can also detect the thickness of hair, and uses a wishbone hinge and round barrel for snag-free styling.
The popular manufacturer also produces the ghd Max Wide Hair Straightener to help Aussies tame long or thick hair, as well as the ghd Mini Hair Straightener for short hair and fringes. The brand is similarly famous for its limited-edition products, which generally target trending colours or designs.
Despite a four star rating for value for money, Remington was rated three stars in all other remaining categories, including design, ease of use, features and functionality, performance and overall satisfaction.
Expanding its range from hair dryers and electric shavers, Remington’s range of hair straighteners includes a number of price points. The entry level Smooth Finish Ceramic features a variable heat setting between 150-230 degrees with a 15-second instant heat up, auto shut-off, hinge lock and swivel cord for easy use.
The top-of-the-line Proluxe You Adaptive Straightener features the Intelligent StyleAdapt Technology that learns about your hair and adapts the heat to your styling needs, with the hair straightener also allowing you to store up to two profiles so that you can get the results you want without fiddling with the settings.
Dyson was rated three stars in all categories, including value for money, features and functionality and overall satisfaction.
Dyson’s vacuum range has been a cult favourite for years, but what most people don’t know is that Dyson also dabbles in haircare and is the brand behind the popular Airwrap hair styler. The Corrale is Dyson’s first, and currently only, hair straightener, and features a unique hybrid charge mode, which is said to help you get longer cordless runtime by charging the tool whenever the cable is attached but not touching your hair. Other features include flexing plates for supposedly less hair damage, and a sensor system that measures the temperature of the plates to ensure it never goes beyond the chosen setting. The Dyson Corrale is stated to provide up to 30 minutes’ worth of cord-free styling, and can apparently fully recharge within 70 minutes.
Kmart was rated three stars for the majority of categories, including performance, features and functionality, ease of use, design and overall satisfaction, with four stars for value for money.
For those not keen on investing in a pricier model, Kmart has several affordable options to choose from. The most basic model is currently the Kmart Hair Straightener, with ceramic coated floating plates and heats up to 200-degrees. Other Kmart models include the Wide Plate Straightener, which features an LED touchscreen, has a heat-up time of four minutes, 230-degree heating, auto-off and floating ceramic plates, whereas the Cordless Hair Straightener includes a rechargeable 2600mAh battery, and 30-minute runtime with a max temperature of 180-degrees.
Not all brands in the market qualify for our ratings (based on minimum survey sample size), but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth considering. Here are several more brands to check out before making a purchase decision.
Firstly, your hair should be completely dry, unless you have a hair straightener specifically designed for damp hair. It’s also (highly) recommended to apply a heat protection spray or serum to your hair while wet to both make your straightening more effective and protect your hair from heat damage.
Straighten your hair in sections so it passes smoothly through the straightener and is heated all the way through from both sides. Start from as close to the root as you can get without burning yourself, gently clamp down, and run the straightener down the length of your hair. Don’t hold the straightener in any one place for too long, as this puts you at greater risk of burning your hair or leaving fold marks. You may need to run the straightener over the section multiple times until you get the desired look.
Typically, hair straighteners are categorised by the type of heat plate they use. But there are other differentiating factors, including plate size and overall straightener size, which are also important to consider for different hair types. Below are some of the main types of hair straighteners:
Several brands also produce ‘mini’ hair straighteners, ideal for travel. While you might have to sacrifice on power with one of these, the small size is convenient to help keep your hair tidy when you’re away from home instead of lugging around a full-sized straightener.
There’s no shortage of options available when it comes to buying a hair straightener, but what are the main factors to consider? The main features to consider when buying a hair straightener include:
A hair straightening brush is another hair styling tool that has made its debut in the last few years. It’s quite simple – a heated brush that straightens your hair while you brush. It aims to make hair styling faster and more straightforward as you can brush and straighten your hair at the same time – a two-in-one! While it works faster than a traditional flat iron, it’s not quite as effective as getting that perfectly dead-straight hair.
Hair straighteners usually cost between $20 and $200, or more for high-end brands. Our survey shows Aussie consumers spend an average of $177 on a new hair straightener, suggesting they’re willing to spend more to ensure a good hair day, but considering their previous hair straightener lasted around five years, and that over half (52%) of all respondents stated that they used their hair straightener a few times a week, it might be a small price to pay.
When it came to getting bang for your buck, the results proved it’s not just about finding whichever is cheapest. In fact, a handful of respondents said they wished they spent more on a better hair straightener (15%), with a savvy 27% purchasing a hair straightener when it was on sale.
It is possible to curl your hair with a hair straightener, as many enterprising fashionistas have found out. While it’ll ultimately depend on your hair type, and how tight of a curl you want, curling your hair straightener can be done by essentially very loosing wrapping your hair around a flat-iron straightener (after placing the hair strands in it of course), and then pulling the straightener away from you, just like you normally would if you were going for straight hair. The good news is that there’s plenty of tutorials online to give you some tips and tricks for different styles and hair types, or you could play it safe and opt for a hair curler, which you can learn more about in our hair styler ratings.
Picture credits: Kamil Macniak/shutterstock.com, Tinatin/shutterstock.com.
This report was written by Canstar Blue’s Site Editor, Dean Heckscher. He’s our resident expert on all things automotive, health & fitness, streaming and more. Dean is also one of Canstar Blue’s customer research report producers, helping to turn complicated subjects into easily-digestible information for our readers. He’s passionate about helping consumers make better-informed purchase decisions on all manner of consumer goods and services.
Samantha Howse is Canstar Blue’s Consumer Research Specialist, coordinating the consumer research program behind our customer satisfaction awards across Canstar and Canstar Blue in Australia and New Zealand. Sam has earned a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from Griffith University and, with seven years in market research and 2 years in marketing, she is experienced in survey design, implementation and analysis, coupled with an understanding of marketing principles and best practice.
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