ghd Glide Hot Brush Review: Is it worth the money? A beauty editor's honest thoughts on the sell-out smoothing tool

We hate resorting to a cliché, but the ghd Glide kind of broke the internet when it first launched. Many retailers struggled to keep the hot new tool in stock. But if you didn’t manage to get your hands on one at the time, our ghd Glide Hot Brush review will help you decide if it’s suitable for you and worth investing in. 

Fast forward more than five years and, thankfully, it’s significantly easier to get your hands on the Glide today. Technically, it can’t be counted among the best hair dryer brushes – this is a straightening-only tool, not a 2-in-1 dryer brush – but it has amassed thousands of positive reviews from happy ghd customers and is therefore clearly something of a crowd-pleaser. 

To provide you with an informed analysis of how well it performs, should you be on the fence about hitting "add to basket", our contributing beauty editor has compiled an in-depth review of the ghd Glide Hot Brush and its smoothing, straightening and styling capabilities. Without further ado, here is her full verdict.

Our contributing beauty editor’s full ghd Glide Hot Brush review

Our first impressions of the ghd Glide Hot Brush

Let's talk first impressions, AKA the need-to-knows in terms of design. Upon unboxing the ghd Glide you're met with a pleasingly simple tool that takes the shape of a traditional oval hair brush. The hot plate sits flat at the base of the bristles, which are of multiple lengths and shapes, rigid, rather than flexible, and admittedly slightly chunky as bristles go. That said, they are also sturdy enough to be able to cut through thicker hair. Both ionic and ceramic technology feature here, too, in order to promote the smooth hair finish that's synonymous with this brand. 

The controls on offer are very minimal, consisting only of a round power button that sits just below the brush head. There is also only one temperature setting, 185°C, which loyal ghd fans will know is what the brand says is optimum for styling hair without causing excessive damage. 

A swivel mechanism stops the cable from getting tangled while you style, while the cable itself is a generous 9ft, so you aren't limited to sitting very near to mains power. In ghd’s signature black and silver accented colour scheme (or a limited edition fondant pink, each sale of which donates £10 to Breast Cancer Now), I’d sum up the design as being sleek and chic. 

As for any attachments, there are none; the ghd Glide is a one-and-done styler, so the brush head does not detach to swap with other styling attachments. What you see is very much what you get here, which, along with its single heat setting, keeps the user experience pretty straightforward. 

If you are looking for a more customisable styler, however, dryer brushes including the Hot Tools Blow Dryer Brush, the T3 Airebrush Duo, or the pricier Dyson Airwrap all come with multiple attachments. 

How does the ghd Glide Hot Brush perform?

As for user experience, this tool is extremely easy to manoeuvre. There are no hairdresser-level skill requirements here: if you know how to use a hair brush, you know how to use the ghd Glide. (Ensuring your hair is tangle-free before you start is a good idea if you want a snag-free styling session, however.) That said, it's best to ensure the teeth are all the way through each section of your hair so that it sits against the hot plate before you smooth it through. Giving it a light rake over the surface won’t do much in the way of straightening. 

Depending on how close to straight your hair is when you start, it will probably take more than one pass of the Glide through a section of hair to straighten it completely; my hair is slightly fine and frizz-prone and took a few when styling from natural loose curls. I also found it was easier to style by placing the brush underneath it, but I smoothed from both sides to ensure a section was completely straight. (It makes sense to do this when you consider that straighteners apply heat to both sides of a section of hair when passing through, rather than just one.)

When I used the Glide as a re-styling tool in the days after my initial style, the process was obviously much quicker, and my mid-lengths to ends were smoothed in under 15 minutes. I liked the results in both cases – smooth with a nice amount of body and movement, rather than “poker straight” or flat.

A couple of downsides: because of the size and position of the teeth and the brush head’s rounded shape, it’s a bit harder to get the Glide into the roots of a section of hair compared to the best ghd straighteners, for example. Therefore, if you have any degree of a curl or frizz, focus on smoothing out your roots when drying your hair before styling. The tool's teeth are also very close together, making this brush a little tricky to clean, but this is by no means a dealbreaker. 

How does the ghd Glide Hot Brush compare?

In terms of ghd tools, the Glide features similar tech to the Rise brush, though the latter's shape is more of a barrel and is designed to create more of a voluminous look, as well as styles that feature very undone curls/waves. Alternatively, if you want a tool that can be used on damp hair – which neither the Glide nor the Rise can – the newer Duet Blow Dry hot brush is designed to smooth and volumise while drying.

As for similar tools on the market from other brands? The Beauty Works Speed Styler has a similar design and also features in our guide to the best hair straightener brushes, as well as winning a woman&home beauty award in 2024. However, its price tag is less than 50% of ghd's, making it a good fit for those working with smaller budgets.

Should you buy the ghd Glide Hot Brush review?

Marketed as being able to give you longer in bed in the mornings due to the short styling time, the appeal of this tool for those who would self-describe as being low maintenance – or, dare I say it, a bit lazy – is clear. If you only want to refresh previous styling results, it is a speedy tool for the job; thanks to its large surface area, this brush can tackle fairly sizeable sections of hair at a time. 

While it doesn’t offer the same level of precision styling as a pair of the best hair straighteners, which can get closer to the roots of your hair, it did smooth mine well. I don't think it can truly replace straighteners, but it is incredibly easy to use, requiring less effort than straightening even when styling your hair from scratch. As a fan of the bouncy, blow-dried look, this and the nice movement and shape of the results ticked my boxes. 

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