ghd - are they worth the money or are there good cheaper alternatives

Well my hair is quite thick and unruly and when I bought my GHD's (as opposed to the cheaper ones I had before) they changed my life....................sad but true!

I have some babylis which I like, I have used my sisters GHD and not found them any better. At the end of the day i cant justify buying GHD.

I have really thick, curly hair and got on well with Kodos, which are also ceramic plated. My hair was a bit longer then, but you can probably get ones with narrower plates than I had.

I bought some cheaper ones which were allegedly as good as GHDs - they weren't at all.

I would definitely say GHDs are worth the money. My hair is VERY long and VERY thick and I can straigten my hair with them. Any others i have used have been crap

I'm another GHD fan - wouldn't be without mine. Definitely worth every penny for me. However, I think that it depends on your hair: mine is very thick with a very stubborn wave. If you have finer hair that just needs a bit of perfecting - you may find that cheaper ones do the job.

Thanks everyone.

My last ones werent strong enough to properly straighten my hair, which is fine, but there is tonnes of it and it is wavy/frizzy and has a mind of its own, so it needs taming.

Hmm, so maybe GHD is the way to go. Where is best to get them? (best = cheapest ?)

My hair is fine, but I still need GHDs to hold the striaghtness, Other straightners don't keep my hair straight. I'd be lost without mine ?

Another vote for GHD's, mine are now about 5 years old and still going strong even though I have long hair that is extremely thick and curly.

My ghds broke about 2 months ago - I had them for 5 years so can't complain and I used them every other day. I decided that I could not afford new ones so got some in Tesco for £7!! Bargain, I thought!!! They were hopeless!

I have really thick hair and chest length. I borrowed some Toni and Guy ones from a girl at work - also rubbish! Another girl lent me her Babyliss ones - they were ok but still not up to scratch. In the end, I splashed out on some new ghds - mark 4 - thick plate ones from the ghd website - they came with various products and imo it was £120 well spent - my hair looks great again and people have commented that they can tell I have some new ghds! So I really believe it is ghds or nothing!!

Really depends on your hair. I tried everythign going before GHD's and again when I moved here I tried everything and all I can say is thank god they launched in the US.

I have friends who can get great resultswith cheap alternatives but they all have fine hair.

I really wish it were not the case, but only GHDs do anything decent for my shoulder length, extremely thick hair. I've tried all sorts of brands over the years, plus borrowed others from friends and nothing else has come close to the GHDs. Which is a pain to admit re: the cost ?

I think I need GHDs. ?

I have a kink at the front of my hair, and it never sits straight. Cheaper straighteners do nothing for it. Do GHDs really keep hair that straight? I can straighten my hair, and the minute I go out the house, the frizz bomb returns ?. If GHDs sort that, I am buying some right now! ?

I've had my ghd's for over 5 years and they are as good as the day i bought them so I've defintely got my money's worth

Im gonna be the exception to everyone else ? I have always had Remington ones from the days where you filled them up with water, I love mine. I have used GHD's and my hair has looked no different. I too have naturally curly, thick hair that I keep short and can only do this with my Straightening Irons. I love the fact I can control the temperature on mine which is great too as sometimes my hair gets a bit frazzled with the heat all the time.

I have a weird kink too. Caused me problems for years until I got my ghd's. I also always used to have to take bobbles on a night out with me for when the frizz hit! I don't need them anymore. I can straighten my hair, go out in a bit of rain, end up in a hot pub/club and still have straight hair by the time I'm heading home! They are most definately worth the money. I love mine.

GHD's are the best, my hair is not particularly wavy, in fact it's pretty straight but it is very thick. I find the GHD's will turn my mushroom hair into a sleek bob, none of the other brands, cheap or expensive have managed this.

By the way you can buy them from approved stockists online from £97.50 which is way cheaper than £120 if you buy them direct from GHD.

Thanks for your help everyone.

You have convinced me. I have just bought some online ?

Right, so is there a knack to using them? ?

There's no particular knack but it does get easier once you're familiar with them. I think it's better to run them through you hair slowly for maximum effect as opposed to going over the same bit of hair many times.

How much did you get them for and which site did you use? Mine are broken and need replacing.

I got them for £94.99 with a free thermal protector for normal/fine hair from lookfantastic.com (there was a link to it from ghd price comparison site)

I had huge babyliss ones and then bought the ghds they are so much better !!!

I had Nicky Clarke ones which were just as good. I have GHDs now, but I didn't buy them, they were a gift. I wouldn't have paid that much for straighteners and, if they broke, I wouldn't pay that much to replace them. Even my GHDs won't do anything for my cowlick (which is right at the front). In fact, they make it worse! There's something I never said about the Nicky Clarke ones...

? well seeing there is a negative view after I have parted with my dosh ?

Oh well, if they dont cure my cows lick, I can maybe use them to make toast (our toaster broke today) ?

I have had my GHD's for nearlly 6 years and they are fab!

I have very thick long curly hair, and when I straighten it, it lasts for 2-3 days. I have the wide plate ones.

I have tried cheaper ones (my nieces have them) and they just don't work as well on my hair as the GHD's.

For me, they are well worth the money, I know the initial outlay is a lot, but for the length of time I have had them, I would have probably got through 3-4 pairs of cheaper ones, so in my mind, they are good value.

I have been wondering this re GHDs as well. Looks like I may need to invest in some!

Yay, I've just bought 2 pairs, one for me and one for my sister!