If stifling humidity in summer makes your thick, coarse, curly, fine or straight hair explode in frizz, and you can bear to allow a hot hairbrush within 20 feet of it, then I have the solution. Two years after GHD’s Glide heated brush sold out within days of launching, it’s now back – and for good. Personally, I use the Glide when I’ve been wearing my hair in a ponytail (frequently in summer) and don’t want to rewash it just to get out the dents and kinks when it comes down; or I use it to extend the life of a blow-dry that should be past its best.
There will be those who opt to use it for a more natural looking, bouncy smoothness than classic straightening irons will impart. And there may well be others of the opinion that their hair suffered enough at high temperatures (the Glide heats to the optimal 185C to prevent damage) during the Jennifer Aniston/Cat Deeley-worshipping early 2000s.
But the Glide is most transformative, and most worthy of the considerable £139 investment, when turning a frizzy mess – even from a curly starting point – into a manageable, sleek and shiny swish, in a relatively short amount of time. I timed myself: under four minutes to look more than passable.
Those with thicker hair will need to spend longer, of course, and may need to section their hair with clips (I long for hair that requires sectioning), but the Glide accepts much bigger clumps than any straightening iron so, no matter what kind of hair you have, you’ll save time.
Whatever the type, hair must be bone-dry before starting. You can brush downwards if taming and smoothing is your objective but, personally, I prefer to brush upwards, stretching up the hair from root to tip, to straighten evenly and give it a bit of lift – although it should be said that this is emphatically not the tool for creating volume, but more an indispensable one for those with a far more voluminous and unruly thatch than they’d like.
I curve the Glide at the end of the movement to give the ends shape, then spray in a little dry shampoo, but do as you wish. Even the unskilled will find it easy.
If your hair demons visit only during the summer, so that the substantial cost of GHD Glide hardly seems worth it, then take shade in your local Aldi or Lidl. They sell pretty passable dupes for £4.99 to £12.99 (2), but you’ll need to be nimble – they’re in-store only and stocks quickly evaporate in the season’s bad-hair weather.
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