The GHD’s Epic New Curling Tool Review

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I tried GHD’s ‘revolutionary’ new curling tool and I have to say that I was blown away by the results.

In 2001, GHD – the name stands for Good Hair Day – revolutionised the way women styled their hair with the launch of their ceramic hair straighteners, and since then they have gone from strength to strength including a range of must-have curling wands, allowing everyone to enjoy fabulous hair every damn day. They became almost single-handedly responsible for giving every woman between the ages of about 20 and 40 the sleek, swingy curtain of uber-flat hair that dominated the early noughties.

A recent surge in innovation has seen the launch of the Glide hot brush, which creates a smooth blow-dried look in a single sweep, and now the Oracle curlers, which have been six years in the making and require customers to have a lesson in how to use them at a hair salon.

The Product Review

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Curling hair is a popular global trend among most women and one of those beauty rituals that most women either totally love or totally hate. Curling hair is a lot harder than you may think and much more difficult than straightening it. Oracle is not GHD’s first attempt to revolutionise curling and waving in the same way, but it’s the first time they have tried developing an entirely new technology. The Leeds-based brand has long ruled the industry when it comes to innovation, and it looks like their newest launch – GHD Oracle – is set to be just as ground-breaking. So what makes this new gadget so special?

First off, I have to say that the Oracle is like nothing you would have tried before. The brand describes the new styler as a ‘curling revolution’ and after 675,000 hours and 1,300 units tested, the Oracle’s curvy shape really does transform the way you curl your hair.

The gadget looks like a wide pair of straightening irons. However, the plates inside are not flat. The device looks more like a crimper and has a unique U design consisting of four ceramic plates that shape the hair into a curl at the optimum temperature of 185 degrees Celsius, which GHD say creates a style but doesn’t damage hair. The ‘spine’ is the only bit that heats up while the two outer bits that make up the U-section don’t heat up at all. The company say the contrast in temperatures between the different plates is the clever bit that transforms your hair into gorgeous, frizz-free waves with a smooth, shiny finish in one easy glide. Steve Elstein, GHD Vice President of product development and research, explains that this means that the device heats hair to the optimum temperature and then sets the hair by crash-cooling it, with a temperature differential of over 100 degrees Celsius, to ensure the style is set and that the curls last. There is also a cool air inlet and a warm air outlet fan at the back to prevent the exterior of the device getting too hot.

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The curler costs £175, and it’s in line with GHD’s other stylers which range from between £139 and £175. However, currently you can’t just go into a shop, or online, and buy one of these. You have to go to one of the more than 90 Rush (rush.co.uk) hair salons around the country, for a free education session from a professional hair stylist, in order to learn how to make the most of the curling tool before purchasing. ‘When GHD first launched its straighteners, it was totally new to the UK market and you could only get it in salons because the company felt it was important that people were shown how to use them,’ explains hair stylist Adam Reed, who worked on the development of the Oracle.

The idea is that you take a small section of hair — the smaller the section the more curl you get — and hold it up in the air, so that when you open the ‘jaws’ of the styler, you can get them right to the root, then you clamp down, twist 90 degrees, and glide to the end like you would a straightener – and curls come out! Also, because the hair is clamped throughout, you will get shine on a curl that you’ve never seen with any other curling gadget (this is because it smooths the hair cuticle). Also, the variation in curls and waves it creates is a bonus.

You can change the angle and direction of the tool for different types of curls and it all depends on how horizontal or vertical you position the Oracle adjacent to your head, and how you glide your hair out — whether straight perpendicular to your head or at a 45-degree angle out. How much you rotate the Oracle and pull away also determines the tightness of each curl, so you should always try to pull the styler towards the direction the logo is facing. Also, the more horizontal the styler is, the more tightly corkscrew-like your curl becomes, and this becomes the difference between a glam red carpet curl versus a casual, loose natural wave.

Summary

A few months ago, the British hair experts GHD launched a revolutionary hair styling tool – the GHD Oracle, which claims to be the world’s first professional hair tool to create endless curls in one simple stroke. The Oracle really does allow you to curl your hair with a far simpler technique than wrapping and rolling, but this gadget is all about technique and it will take a few tries to get it right. However, once you get it right, the curls were nothing short of total perfection and far easier at creating natural looking curls compared to the tongs and wands of yesteryear.  One more thing worth noting is that GHD says that there’s a variety of different curls you can create with this device by the way that you tilt the device.