Digital hair straightener with ceramic-coated plates

You can see the temperature instead of guessing it

Most straighteners mark the setting with three dots and leave you to work out what the middle one means. This one has a digital display, and the plus and minus buttons let you set, step by step, what your hair can take. You move between 130 and 210 degrees, and the display tells you when the plates have reached the number you entered.

Why the number matters

The 130 to 210 degree range is there so you can match the styling to your hair type. If the appliance does not show the temperature you start somewhere different every morning, and you take the same section through two or three times because it did not go smooth the first time.

That is what a readable temperature is worth: you learn your own number and start from it every morning. The first time you use it, begin with the lowest suitable setting.

Plates of 25 by 110 millimetres, ceramic coated

The plates are 25 millimetres wide and 110 millimetres long, with a ceramic coating. That width still reaches the shorter sections at the nape and around the face, while the length means going down long hair does not take all morning. The two ceramic plates float, so they give when a thicker section goes between them.

Floating plate

The plate is not fixed rigidly in the arm but gives a little. Even with a thicker section it lies on the hair across its whole surface rather than only at the edge, which is why the iron snags less often on the way down.

Thirty seconds and you can start

Fast heating decides whether anyone reaches for the thing in the morning. A PTC heater does the work: it heats up in 30 seconds, and heat recovery brings the plates back to 160 degrees within the same 30 seconds. In practice the tenth section goes between plates as hot as the first did.

A cord that follows your hand

The 1.8 metre cord turns a full circle where it enters the handle. When you work at the back of your head and your wrist rolls over, the cord turns with you instead of winding up. That detail is why the cable does not kink at the handle.

A locking arm, and an hour later it switches itself off

Once the plates have cooled after use, the arm locks shut and the iron becomes a flat package in a drawer or a suitcase. The appliance switches itself off an hour after the last use, which is the function that saves you turning back at the gate.

Safety

A morning, section by section

Dry hair, the lower and upper layers separated, and the temperature set on the display. You start at the lower layer, take sections of two or three centimetres, and carry each one down in a single pass. At the nape the swivel cord means you turn your wrist, not the appliance.

The plates style without snagging, and hair can be flipped, curled and straightened with them. Turn the end of the section on the plate and you get an end that curves under or out, in the same movement.

Care

• Switch off, unplug and let it cool completely after use.
• Wipe the cooled plates with a soft, barely damp cloth; styling product residue builds up and insulates the heat.
• The appliance must never be immersed in water or touched with wet hands.
• Always use it on dry hair, and do not apply flammable styling products directly beforehand.
• Lock the arm for storage, but only once it has cooled.
• Do not wind the cord tightly around the appliance.

The closed arm, as it lies in the drawer

Closed, the iron is a flat, straight body with the swivelling cord at its end: it fits along the side of a drawer and catches on nothing. Switched off, the display is just a dark window on the arm, with no lettering beside it. It is part of the Fashion by Berlinger Haus beauty line.

If you straighten more than once a week

From the 180-degree default you can step down or up on the display and see where you are while you do it. For travelling, the locking arm and the 1.8 metre cord are practical, and at 50 watts it draws little wherever you plug it in.

Frequently asked questions

Specifications