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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Lifestyle
Sam Yarwood-MEN

I ditched my £130 GHDs for a much cheaper pair of Boots straighteners - here's my verdict

Boots has slashed the price of one of its most popular straighteners by a whopping £80. The Remington straighteners, which would usually set you back £160, are said to rival luxury hair care giants like GHD and Dyson.

Remington's PROluxe You Adaptive Straighteners usually cost £159.99, but for a limited time, have been slashed to £79.99. The straighteners have a near-perfect five-star rating on the Boots website, with beauty lovers claiming they don't 'damage hair', and work 'amazing on curly, frizzy hair'.

I tried the heavily discounted Remington PROluxe You Adaptive straighteners for myself, to see if they can really compare to my trusty GHDs. Here's my verdict:

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Growing up in the 90s and early 00s, my first experience of hair straightening was watching my friends do it with an iron and a towel on an ironing board. Truth be told I found the entire thing utterly bizarre (not to mention dangerous), but then again I was blessed with almost poker straight hair.

At the time, this was the only way to give my friends - one of which has the tightest curls you'll ever see - their desired hair straightness, which was the in thing back then.

That was of course until the arrival of GHD's ceramic hair straighter in 2001. Now we all know GHDs can be pricey, so it wasn't a surprise when other beauty brands like Remington and BaByliss jumped on board with more affordable versions.

Remington's PROluxe You Adaptive Straighteners (MEN)

In today's world, affordability remains high on the agenda - particularly with a cost of living crisis. A pair of basic GHDs (my usual go-to) will set you back around £129 (the brand actually has a sale on right now which drops the price of their GHD Original Styler to £116). Their Platinum+ Hair Straightener range are priced at £230.

As I mentioned earlier, my hair is pretty straight already, but having recently had my long locks chopped to a shoulder length bob it now requires a lot more styling. I've previously used GHDs to tame the flicky out bits (and also curl my hair) and had no issue, but with a hefty price tag and a house deposit to save for, I've been hesitant to fork out for my own.

My unwashed hair before I tried the straighteners (MEN)

So, loving a sale bargain, I decided to give Remington's PROluxe You Adaptive Straighteners and I must say I was impressed. I've never been one to wash my hair daily, I find it goes greasy and oily that way, so I tend to do every 2-3 days. I'll always give it a full straighten after drying, but those flicky out bits need doing daily.

So how did the straighteners do on non freshly cleaned hair? Well, these pictures speak for themselves. Remington's PROluxe You Adaptive Straighteners got rid of the annoying flicky bits with no issue at all.

The end result (MEN)

The tool itself is pretty clever. There are nine digital temperature settings from 150-230c, and you can actually store you preferences in one of two user profiles so you don't have to flick through them each time. They're already ready to go in 15 seconds (I think it's actually more like five), and have a safety shut off after 60 minutes - which will definitely help with that 'did I turn the straighteners off' anxiety we've all had at some point in our lives.

On freshly washed hair the results were just as good - I even let it dry naturally to make it that bit more of a challenge. I think I maybe went over my hair a few more times than I did with the GHDs, but not noticeably so. Overall they passed the test and I think it's a pretty decent budget alternative to the high end products currently on the market.

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