Ghd’s launched its first new straightener in six years – but does it live up to the hype?

Any new hair tool from Ghd is sure to garner a lot of attention. After all, it’s been the go-to hair styling brand for many, for more than 20 years. But extravagant marketing claims and stats sometimes make me suspicious, so I couldn’t wait to give the Ghd chronos a go for myself to truly see whether it held up.

On first impressions, it’s pretty sleek and stylish. Having only one button, it’s incredibly easy to use so even beginners can’t go too far wrong, and I love the fact that you can’t adjust the temperature yourself, so there’s little risk of scorching your strands. It also heats up within 30 seconds, so no time is wasted when you want to get ready in a flash.

To prep my hair for the heat, I used the Ghd bodyguard heat protecting spray (£17.88, Amazon.co.uk) and grabbed the Ghd all-rounder paddle hairbrush (£21.25, Amazon.co.uk) to help guide the chronos over my strands and got to work with straightening. To my surprise, it was almost effortless. The tool is lightweight, gently glides with no pulling or tugging, and my hair did look sleek and shiny after just one stroke.

While I can’t confirm it made my hair look exactly 85 per cent shinier or worked three times as fast as my normal hot tool, it was incredibly quick. I only needed to use one stroke per section and I loved the smooth, healthy looking final result, which lasted all day with no kinks coming through whatsoever. So, if you’re searching for a new styler, I would definitely encourage you to give this one a go, although at close to £300 it is quite the investment.

I’m pretty selective when it comes to the hair styling tools I use on my 4C hair. It’s taken me years to get comfortable styling my natural hair, although there is the odd occasion when I’ll straighten it myself, so for those times I like to have a good pair of straighteners on hand. I was excited to try out Ghd’s latest innovation, the chronos, which claims to offer three times faster styling for one-stroke results that last 24 hours.

Right off the bat, I love that the straighteners heat up in 30 seconds, which is one of the fastest heat-up times I’ve seen from a hair tool. The straightener in itself is super lightweight, which meant I didn’t have to take any breaks due to arm aches – something I’ve had with other tools in the past. I separated my hair into two and made my way through small sections. I found that each piece straightened nicely in just one stroke, however, I did need to pass through the hair more than once to get it sleeker.

Interestingly, the straightener is at a constant temperature of 185 degrees in comparison to other stylers which often have several temperature settings to choose from. Typically I tend to opt for a temperature of 200 degrees, which leaves each section much straighter and usually without much leftover frizz. Due to the plate size, I wasn’t able to straighten the roots of my hair, which left quite a noticeable frizz. So, next time I’ll use the chronos alongside a mini styler so that I can get a better precision on the roots and stop any frizzing.

Overall, the Ghd chronos wasn’t a one-stroke wonder for me, but it glided easily through my hair, left it with a noticeable shine and left me with the desire to pick it up more frequently and become a pro at straightening my hair.

Because my hair is fine, fragile and prone to breakage, I try to limit my use of heat styling tools. But on the rare occasion when I do decide to switch up my look, I like to reach for a tool that promises minimal damage with the latest tech. Enter: the Ghd chronos professional styler.

The brand’s latest styler, the chronos, uses clever ‘predictive HD motion-responsive technology’ to provide a personalised experience – adjusting to both hair type and styling motion for superior results. What this means is that damage is minimised and hair is styled in record-time, without the need to go over the same section again, and again.

Truly a godsend for my delicate hair, I fell in love with the chronos from first use. Easy to handle with its lightweight design, I got to grips with using the tool in a matter of seconds. And as the brand claims, the styler – which features a rounded barrel-shape – can create straight, smooth looks as well as bouncy curls and beachy waves. Opting for the latter, I twisted a section of hair around the tool before rotating it a full turn and gliding it down the length of my hair. Alternating directions (the pro’s top tip for achieving a beachy look), it took just five minutes to style my whole head.

The results? Voluminous waves that looked seriously shiny. And, while I’ve tried and been impressed by the ghd platinum+ (£239, ghdhair.com) and ghd gold (£189, ghdhair.com), it’s the chronos I’ll be turning to for the foreseeable. Eight hours after styling, my waves were still intact with heaps of volume – I’m impressed!