In a nutshell, the best straighteners for curly hair offer a fuss-free user experience and leave hair looking sleek and glossy – without having to run them over a section of hair dozens of times. If you're in the market for such a tool, our experienced beauty team has tested dozens of pairs of irons over the years to know which ones work best on curly hair specifically, detailing reviews of the top tools in this guide.
Of course, curly hair is a diverse spectrum of various patterns, thicknesses and porosity levels; as with any head of hair, no two heads of curls, coils and waves are the same. And while it's important to use the best hair straighteners with heat protection – and even sparingly if you want to preserve your curl pattern – how you style your hair day to day is your prerogative. However, there are still a few additional things to consider when straightening curly hair.
Curly hair types are also naturally drier than straighter hair, due to more bends in the strands making it more difficult for natural oils to make their way to the ends. Some straighteners may also not seal the hair cuticle properly, meaning frizz develops soon after styling. Knowing which tools best on curly hair before purchasing is therefore very important. Fortunately, we tested lots of tools on a variety of curl types, from type 4 through to type 2, to ensure this guide only includes those that can style curly hair well – and with lasting results.
Best straighteners for curly hair deals
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The best straighteners for curly hair, reviewed by our beauty team
The quick list
RRP: £299
The latest addition to the roster of best ghd straighteners, this is the one we deem the overall best for straightening curly hair. An excellent all-rounder, it's sleek, easy to use and, thanks to ultra-gloss plates, even tighter curls will be left sleek, straight and shiny.
RRP: £399.99
From flexing plates that prevent hair damage to shiny and long-lasting results, this Dyson straightener is on the expensive side, but it's totally worth every dime. Plus, this straightener also comes with cordless functionality, meaning you can smooth out any stray curls and waves or frizz while on the go.
RRP: £80
Falling under the £100 mark, this is a more affordable pair of straighteners but it can still style curly hair super sleek and straight. It has nine heat settings and ceramic conditioning plates, leaving your hair ultra-straight and shiny.
RRP: £229
The Cloud Nine Wide Iron is one of the best straighteners for thick hair; the wide, mineral-infused plates can style and straighten large sections of hair in one go. And if you're someone for whom hair health is the number one priority, you'll be happy to know this styler's temperature can go as low as 100°C.
RRP: £219.99
If there's one thing to know about straightening curly hair, it's that it's very time-consuming, from sectioning out the hair to what feels like endless passes to straighten out every curl and wave. But the T3 SinglePass does exactly what it claims: straightens your hair within one pass with its wide ceramic plates and consistent heat.
RRP: £305
Don't let the steam element of this tool put you off. The dry steam actually helps retain moisture while styling your curly hair. This wide-plated styler is designed with three combs that work with any hair type, giving you a smooth, glossy finish.
The best straightener for curly hair overall
The Chronos max is most recent addition to ghd's straightener portfolio, marrying the larger size of the ghd Max Styler with the ghd Chronos Straightener’s technology. That means you get wider than standard plates, which can style more hair at once, plus “HD motion-responsive™ technology” – a faster and more responsive version of the tech that adapts to your styling speed and the hair's thickness and section size to ensure even heat distribution. And we found its styling experience pretty sleek in almost every way.
The Chronos Max also has an even sleeker design than predecessors and improves ghd’s automatic shut-off time from 30 minutes down to just 10 minutes of activity. As for the actual results? Contributing beauty editor Lucy Abbersteen says the Chronos Max leaves her hair the "swishiest" it can be after straightening. "It's pretty much unheard of for straighteners to leave my hair with fluid movement, but I did notice my hair was surprisingly swishy and sleek after using these, so I was very impressed on that front."
If, however, you want to spend a bit less than the Chronos Max’s near-£300 price tag, the ghd Platinum+ was previously our go-to for curly hair and is still a worthwhile buy. It has advanced technology that adapts to your styling and, we find, gets nice sleek results in curly hair – though the Max size makes for the best straighteners for thick hair that's also curly.
Read our full ghd Chronos Max review for a more detailed guide
The best luxury straightener for curly hair
While hair tools have made strides in recent years, giving us the ability to style our own hair at home (thank you, ghd!), frizz can still develop within hours of styling curly hair. But, unlike any other straightener on the market, the Dyson Corrale boasts flexing plates that gather around the hair as it styles, putting less pressure on the hair shaft, which inflicts less damage. This was evident in the finish of some of our testers' hair, which felt shinier and straighter than with other hot tools. A small quibble we had with the user experience is that the styler feels as though it's snagging when it glides across the hair (it isn't, this is the "corrale" effect gathering the strands), but you can easily tolerate this for the results.
While we did notice that it's fairly weighty compared to competitors, the Corrale's limited battery life makes this cordless design great for on-the-go touch-ups – but with its long-lasting results (especially if you prep with the brand's Dyson Chitosan pre-style cream), you may find that you can make it to your next hair wash without needing to reach for the irons. Unusually wide plates for a non-curl-specific device means this styler can capture larger sections at once, resulting in reduced styling time even in very thick and/or coarser hair.
See our full Dyson Corrale Hair Straightener review for a more in-depth guide
The best budget straightener for curly hair
The Remington Shine Therapy Advanced Ceramic Hair Straighteners - S8500
Unlike some others on this list, we can say from our firsthand testing experience of this tool that Remington is proof that you don't have to spend hundreds to get a good pair of hair straighteners. The Shine Therapy styler boasts a wide temperature range (far more than most competitors) with nine settings, something that allowed us to really tailor the styling experience to our hair types.
Obviously in the case of curly hair, the higher the heat settings, the quicker the styling process – leaving lengths super straight and sleek – but with the downside of a higher potential for damage. The "shine therapy" feature here attempts to counter this through Moroccan argan oil-infused plates – an ingredient that's rich in nourishing vitamin E to help keep hair moisturised with every pass.
All that said, we did feel this tool's bargain price shows is reflected in its ability to curl when we wanted to add a uniform wave or loose curl into smoothed-out hair. Here, we noticed this tool was slightly difficult to manoeuvre and left some unwanted kinks – and, as smoothly as it glides through when straightening, at times it felt like it snagged more than competitors when styling shorter and finer hairline strands. But for its price, it does a decent enough job overall.
The best wide straightener for curly hair
Cloud Nine The Wide Iron Hair Straighteners
After trialling many pairs of straighteners over the years, we can wholeheartedly say this Cloud Nine model never disappoints. When your hair is both curly and thick, or curly and long (or all of the above), straightening it tends to be a lengthy, arm-ache-inducing process. But not with this tool. Aside from its fairly chunky design, the heat-up time is a speedy 20 seconds, while the wide plates capture large sections of hair for faster styling; we straightened an entire head of very thick hair in just three sections, which is pretty uncommon for the tester.
As mentioned, curly hair's structure makes it more prone to damage than straighter hair types, so it’s important that any hair tool has been designed with this in mind. This styler’s heat settings have a low of 100°C, a major plus point for its versatility; we like to use a higher heat on our freshly-washed hair, then a lower one when refreshing our style in the days that follow. These straightener’s plates are both ceramic and mineral-infused, which means heat is distributed evenly across them with no strand-singeing hotspots and they glide through the hair easily without snagging or catching. With continued use, you’ll probably notice that hair feels and looks healthier compared to other straighteners you've tried. (The next level up, Cloud Nine The Wide Iron Pro, also impressed our reviewer.)
The best speedy straightener for curly hair
The T3 SinglePass X Wide Flat Iron
A product promising to cut down on styling time always intrigues us. That was very much the case with this T3 straightener, designed for a quick styling experience – even for those with curly hair.
We found the ultra-wide plates worked extremely well on thick sections of hair, smoothly straightening with each pass. This is largely down to the brand’s signature SinglePass technology, which means that just one swipe leaves hair straight and sleek. Its internal microchip regulates the temperature to ensure the plates are consistently heated, which allows for even styling and fewer damaging hotspots. Not only that, tourmaline-infused ceramic plates also left our hair with an unusually glossy finish on our tester's 3c curls, which can sometimes look a little frazzled after styling.
That said, if you want a multitasking hair hero, this styler is not the one. The straight edges of this tool mean you can't easily create different styles, while the plate width also makes it difficult to catch shorter baby hairs. That said, it's great for anyone with curly hair who simply wants to straighten their hair – fast.
The best steam straightener for curly hair
The L'Oréal Professionnel Steampod 4.0 All-In-One Professional Styler
This innovative hair styler from L’Oréal Professionnel has had a few different iterations over the years, and the Steampod 4.0 is its best yet. The rationale here is that, by combining steam with the heated plates, moisture that would normally be lost during the styling process is retained. It’s an especially great tool for curly hair as it helps to reduce the possibility and appearance of damage and split ends.
So what’s new in the 4.0 edition, compared to the L'Oréal Professionnel Steampod 3.0? The plates are wider, meaning we could straighten larger sections of hair at a time. There’s also now a choice of three different combs (compared to previous versions having just one), which means you can select one that's best suited to your hair type. For curly hair, we’d recommend the one with the teeth set widest apart to avoid any snagging. It may feel counterintuitive to curl or wave your hair when your hair is curly in the first place, but if you do want to create a different type of curl, then the new addition of heated, curved outer plates will make that easy to do with this tool, too.
Our results with the Steampod were smooth, but not ultra straight; one pass got a finish that was more comparable to results from the best hair straightener brushes than a pair of irons. If you want a poker straight hairstyle, we’d recommend slowly passing this tool through each section of hair twice. Unfortunately, we found the 4.0 still has some of the same cons as its predecessors. It can only be filled with demineralised water, which is more hassle than your average pair of irons; it’s quite cumbersome; and makes a noise like a steam train when you style. Is it worth it for the reduction in damage, though? We think it still has its merits – overall it’s a good choice for hair that's curly, thick, coarse or all of the above.
The best versatile straightener for curly hair
The BaByliss Brilliance Rose Gold Straight and Curl Straightener
If you like to flit between curly and straight hairstyles, this could be the styler for you. BaByliss' Brilliance Straight and Curl is versatile and can create seemingly endless looks on all hair types, including curly. As well as straightening, it suits those who want to create other styles, too, like bouncy curls or Hollywood waves.
For straightening, you simply select your preferred heat from the five options and glide the tool down the length of your hair, as you would with any pair of straighteners. Thanks to the combination of even heat distribution, titanium ceramic plates and ionic technology, our hair was frizz-free after styling; we were particularly impressed by the smooth and shiny finish.
Far from a one-trick pony, we also found it easy to use this styler to wave and curl our hair, thanks to its rounded edges and cool tip that gives you extra control. We twisted the iron as we moved it down our hair for a bouncier curl look. While the five temperature settings offered versatility, we did notice that curled styles dropped out fairly quickly when using a lower heat – a common phenomenon – so it's best to stick to the hotter temperatures when styling thicker and curlier hair.
The best long straightener for curly hair
The Revamp Progloss Ultra X Shine Wide Ceramic Hair Straightener
Revamp’s extra wide, extra-long ceramic straighteners make for the perfect tool for curly and long hairstyles, cutting our tester's styling time almost in half without compromising on the results; think smooth and sleek hair that stays straight for hours.
Catering to different hair types, this tool arrives with a variety of temperatures to choose from, varying from 80ºC to 235ºC, whilst the floating plates allowed for snag-free styling - something that can be a big ask for larger plates. What’s more, the plates are infused with the brand’s Progloss super smooth oils (including keratin, argan and coconut oil) to bolster shine and help to smooth hair.
When testing, we did find that this one isn't the best tool for curling hair, but it can create wavy hairstyles when rotated to add some movement. Also, as the design is specifically targeted toward longer hair, a tool with smaller plates, such as the BaByliss option above, may be easier to manoeuvre when styling shorter hair. As well as the tool itself, you also get a heat-resistant mat to protect surfaces here.
The best straightener for curly hair prone to damage
The KEEO Genius Smart Glide-Straightener
A couple of things can cause damage when straightening your hair. The first is the most obvious one, heat, and the second is the tension that you create as you pull the straighteners through your hair. This is where KEEO has focused a lot of its attention, creating a straightener with a “precision air gap” between its plates that won’t clamp tightly onto hair. It’s achieved through innovatively shaped plates, which are wavy with grooves that slot (almost) into each other when pushed together.
We found that this makes for a silky glide and our hair was left smooth, but not flat. The only downside is that we found that if you try to curl or wave your hair with the KEEO, the motion of pressing the straighteners can create a crimped effect halfway down your strands.
This tool will best suit curly hair that's fine or prone to breakage as it’s very gentle on strands. That it doesn’t rob hair of all volume will likely appeal to these hair types too, as the shift from curly to poker-straight hair can be quite drastic, particularly in sparser heads of hair. Due to the narrower plates, we found we needed to move the styler more slowly across the hair for the sleekest results, which made the process more time-consuming. However, it's very easy to set up – plug in, press the button, wait 30 seconds and you’re good to go – meaning no time wasted reading detailed instructions.
How we tested the best straighteners for curly hair
A selection of the best straighteners for curly hair that we tested for this feature
To ensure you’re well-informed on each pair of straighteners that made it into this guide before potentially parting with any hard-earned cash, we rigorously tested each contender more than once. Our testers factored in the must-have features and characteristics that are best for curly hair specifically – including ceramic or tourmaline plates, plate size and temperature range. Each tool has been trialled by women with curl types ranging from type 2 to type 4 to ensure that they work well on a range of curly hair. To make this list, they had to excel in the following areas.
- How well they styled: All of the best straighteners for curly hair made this list because they left our hair smooth, silky and most importantly, straight.
- How hair felt and looked after use: Heat styling will always inflict a degree of damage, but we want to see a brand has tried to minimise this. Therefore, certain technologies and innovative features, such as floating plates, adjustable heat settings and smart sensors, all earned points.
- Ease of use: It might be one of the best straighteners for curly hair, but if using it requires reading an instruction manual longer than our arm and a degree in physics to understand its contents, then it doesn't feel worth it. They should be simple and intuitive to use and lightweight enough that you don’t feel sweaty at the end of styling.
- Design: A sleek or chic design is also a plus; if you’re splashing out on a tool you want it to perform well and look great, too.
- Price: Most things have become more expensive in recent years and beauty products are no exception. If a tool is pricey, we need the extra investment to be justified.
How to choose the best straighteners for curly hair
As well as ensuring that a styler is a good match for curly hair specifically based on our testing insights, hair experts note that there are a few other considerations worth bearing in mind before you purchase a new pair of straighteners.
- Temperature range: “When looking for a straightener for curly hair, it’s best to check temperature settings and whether it can style all hair types,” explains celebrity hairstylist and Dyson ambassador Larry King. Between 180ºC and 210°C is the recommended temperature for thicker, coarser and curly hair.
- Plate size: For thick or curly hairstyles, wider plates will usually do the job better as they can straighten a larger section of hair at once, which cuts down the overall styling time.
- Plate materials:FCeramic plates are great for even heat distribution and seamless styling, while tourmaline plates are great for damaged or coloured hair, as they help to reduce frizz and seal the hair cuticle, which retains moisture.
FAQs on the best straighteners for curly hair
What straighteners are best for frizzy hair?
As for what the trained professionals think, unsurprisingly, ghd gets global hairstylist, founder of ARKIVE Headcare and ghd Global Ambassador Adam Reed's vote. “The best straighteners for frizzy hair are the ghd Platinum+,” he says.
“I think the Dyson Corrale (as well as the Dyson Airwrap) are amazing at maintaining your hair’s condition and smoothing frizz,” adds Sam Burnett. “I also think the ghd Duet wet-to-dry Styler is great.”
Is it OK to straighten naturally curly hair?
There is no reason not straighten naturally curly hair, but it does come with a few caveats. “It’s only OK if you care for your hair correctly,” says Burnett. “I would always suggest using a light amount of heat by blow-drying your hair first, then straightening on a low setting.”
Your straighteners should also work hard to style without excessive damage. “I would advise finding a straightener [with] incredible plates with a smooth glide and controllable heat settings, so you don’t completely kill your hair,” says celebrity session stylist and BaByliss Ambassador Syd Hayes.
Carefully chosen products like your best shampoo and conditioner for dry hair and the best hair styling products for curly hair will help to restore any moisture lost through the process. A final thing to consider is that the more you straighten your hair, the more you’ll distort your natural curl pattern. Any level of heat styling is a stress on hair, which can impact the definition and bounce of coils and curls. So, if you’re really trying to protect them, you may find a break every now and then to be beneficial.
Is it better to straighten curly hair wet or dry?
Unless a styler is specifically designed to be used on wet hair (like the ghd Duet Style) you should never straighten your hair when it’s wet. “Never, ever dry your hair with a straightener,” Reed stresses. “Always dry it first.” Not only does doing so risk damaging your tool (not ideal when the best hair straighteners are a big investment), your hair health will be compromised, too.
“Straighteners apply heat directly to the hair at a high temperature,” says Burnett. “When your hair is wet and at its most fragile, it can quickly be heated to scorching temperatures. This results in burnt or even broken hair.” By drying the hair first, you can also stretch and smooth it out somewhat a brush, which will mean your straighteners won’t have to work quite so hard afterwards.
How to protect curly hair when straightening
“One of the best haircare tips, very often ignored, is using a heat protective spray before any heated tools,” says hairstylist Charlotte Mensah, ghd ambassador. “Do this and your hair will really thank you for it.” Bottom line: heat protection is an absolute must before heat styling any head of hair, curly-textured or not.
Mensah also stresses the importance of caring for curls between styling. Seeing split ends? “Trim your hair every six to eight weeks to maintain your style and keep your ends healthy,” she adds. When straightening curly hair, doing this will ensure the edges look sharp and in good condition, too.
What you sleep on plays a role, too. Due to friction, “The rougher texture of cotton and linen pillowcases can cause unnecessary hair damage,” Mensah notes. “Sleeping on cotton pillowcases can also draw moisture out of the hair, which contributes to breakage. Wrap your hair in a silk scarf or sleep on one of the best silk pillowcases to ensure healthier hair.”
Our expert panel
Jess Beech is an experienced fashion and beauty editor with more than 10 years of experience in the publishing industry. She has written for woman&home, GoodtoKnow, Now, Woman, Woman’s Weekly, Woman’s Own and Chat, and was formerly deputy fashion & beauty editor at Future plc. With thick and curly hair, she was the main tester for this guide.
Syd Hayes is a renowned hair stylist and the owner of the Q Cut salon in Kew Gardens, London. He is also an ambassador for BaByliss and has worked on countless photo shoots and fashion week shows during his career.
Larry King is a celebrity hairdresser and the founder of Larry King Salons and haircare brands. He is also an ambassador for Dyson, whose Corrale Straighteners feature in our guide here.
Adam Reed is a leading hairdresser and the founder of the ARKIVE Headcare brand and salon. At the time of writing, he was also an ambassador for ghd, whose straighteners feature in this guide.
Charlotte Mensah is an award-winning hairstylist, founder of the Hair Lounge salon and her eponymous haircare brand and the author of Good Hair: The Essential Guide to Afro, Textured and Curly Hair. When this article was first published, she was also an ambassador for ghd, makers of some of the best straighteners for curly hair.
Sam Burnett is a hairdresser and the founder of the Hare & Bone salon, as well as an ambassador for KAO brands including KMS.