GHD Chronos review: Straight, shiny hair in record time 

Introduction

Having recently impressed me with the Duet Style 2-in-1 styler, which dries your hair while it straightens, GHD is back with its latest offering. The GHD Chronos is a more traditional take on the humble hair straightener, albeit one that promises to straighten your hair three times faster than the GHD Original. Oh, and give up to 85% more shine, make hair half as frizzy, and provide up to three times more breakage protection.

Bold claims indeed. But at $329/£289, the GHD Chronos is a little easier on the wallet than the $399/£379 Duet Style – and considerably more so than the $500/£450 Dyson Airstrait. Luckily I have just the right mop of thick, wild hair (that’s also partial to a bit of frizz) to put them through their paces.

Design & Features

The Chronos’ high-end ergonomic build matches their high-end price. The slim plate-design straightener has a re-engineered wishbone hinge and ultra-gloss floating ceramic plates. It looks great and feels lovely in the hand while in use. I’ve tested these for a full month and there’s not a mark or scratch on them after this time. GHD has also updated the power button with a nice illuminated halo ring.

I love the 2.7m swivel cord; it’s longer than a typical pair of straighteners, and the 360-degree swivel function makes styling a much more comfortable affair – exactly what’s needed while taming your mane in the morning. This was a common point of failure on older GHD models, but the three-year warranty coverage here should provide some peace of mind.

Equally, straightener anxiety is real, so GHD has equipped the Chronos with an automatic sleep mode. They switch off automatically after 10 minutes of inactivity. It’s a simple feature, but an important one.

These straighteners have a very quick heat up time. They’re at temperature and ready to work in twenty seconds. Then the Chronos glides down your hair with ease. My hair didn’t get caught once – they are seriously nice (and easy) to use. The smooth, rounded barrel also makes easy to create curls and waves, which is a real plus point.

How it works

Haircare aficionados will already know that 185°C is the magic number when it comes to styling – hot enough to get the job done well, but without compromising hair condition. A consistent temperature throughout a styling job will deliver better results, no matter what size sections you use, how fast you go, or whether you’re after polka straight locks or creating curls.

The Chronos uses GHD’s HD motion-responsive tech to maintain a 185°C temp at a ‘higher level’ of precision than previous efforts. Algorithms sense how the tool is being used (ie your styling motions) and reacts by constantly adjusting how much power is sent to the plates, optimising heat delivery.

The end result is these straighteners can create high definition styles in a single stroke, rather than having to make multiple passes to get your hair sorted.

Performance

Plug in; press the one and only button; wait twenty seconds. Then pass the straighteners through your hair just once per section, for glossy, super straight hair. There are no gimmicky modes or complicated settings to navigate; the Chronos just does the one job (or two, if you use them for curls) and does it very, very well.

Performance matches up to GHD’s bold claims. Straightening was super-fast, taking just two minutes to do my very thick head of hair. It then stayed straight for a full day, and often more. It was a lot less frizzy and shinier to boot. There’s no way of measuring breakage protection, but I will say I’ve not spotted any (extra) split ends.

The above photos show my hair it its natural state and after straightening. It took me just a few minutes.  

GHD Chronos verdict

The GHD Chronos live up to their own hype, delivering the straight, shiny, frizz-free hair that GHD promises – and very, very fast too. They are well built, easy on the eye and genuinely pleasant to use, too. They’re not exactly a bargain, but I otherwise can’t fault them.