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Ah, the GHD Duet. Cast your mind back to February 2023, when GHD single-handedly broke the internet with none other than a hair tool that dried and straightened in one go. While millennials will have experienced all the nostalgia (and perhaps re-lived some past trauma) relating to early noughties attempts at wet-to-dry stylers, the beauty industry was certainly abuzz with excitement over this one.

The blowdryer-slash-straightener is special for a number of reasons; you can essentially style your hair from wet to dry and straightened/styled in one go (two if needed — it has a shine shot setting that works as a straighteners to add gloss and movement to the dry and pressed hair).

GHD is obviously famed for its line of straighteners which have tamed hairs across the globe and are world-renowned for their expertise in heat and hair technology. Then of course the GHD thin wand had the girlies on the hair corner of TikTok spinning due to how glossy and defined it left their curls.

With this launch the GHD lab had been busy working on a tool that blends both drying and heat tech to simplify and speed up your styling routine. The science behind it focuses on Air-fusion™ technology which channels an ultra-concentrated airflow through a drying chamber, designed to work in combination with four smart and low temperature styling plates to efficiently dry and straighten hair. It looks like a pair of wide straighteners, but in the middle of the plates is a blowdryer. The tool also has infinity sensors that predict your hair's needs to maintain and adjust an optimal low styling temperature from root to tip. The price? A staggering £379 (before discount, that is), but it packs a whole lot of futuristic technology.

So, how does the GHD Duet Style Hot Air Styler actually fair in real life? We asked five GLAMOUR staffers with different hair lengths and textures to spill the real tea.

The Product:

The Verdict:

Ella, Conde Nast Head of Marketing

I wasn't sure what to think when I first got my hands on the GHD Duet Styler. I've never really liked straightening my hair and much prefer to just stick to my natural 3b/3c curls. Plus, I'm a very impatient person and I've always hated the process of having to dry my hair and then straighten it (which takes a long time!) – but this definitely made the Duet Styler more intriguing.

In terms of speed, I can't fault it! To straighten all of my hair it took under 30 minutes which is pretty much unheard of, and if you factor in skipping the usual drying process on top of that, I was really impressed. My only criticism would be the finish of my hair – I really struggled to get it looking as smooth as I have done in the past with regular GHD straighteners, and because the plates are large, I found it tricky to get close to my scalp. With practice though (and more patience), perhaps I'd be able to achieve a sleeker look.

Overall, I think I'd definitely recommend the GHD Duet Styler to anyone who's on a time crunch and wants to skip that drying stage.

Rating: 7/10

Sally, Office Manager and PA to GLAMOUR’s Editorial Director

When it comes to GHD, I know I’m in safe hands. Owning the title as the holy grail of styling products (not that i'm bias), I was desperate to try the new Hot Air Styler as soon as it launched. A hybrid product which promises to dry-and-style my hair, simplify my routine and give a sleek finish with zero heat damage, surely no product can be that perfect?

On first impressions, the tool is stunning; sleek and stylish, classic GHD. It is, however, slightly on the bulky side. Perhaps a bit naive of me as it does have hair drying qualities built in, but I thought it might have been a bit smaller and lighter. Super soft, it glides through hair really well unlike most clamping style products, ideal when you’re prone to matted locks like moi. Styling wise, it's perfect. With the rounded edges it's ideal for an end-flicked, bouncy blow dry look.

There is, however, definitely a technique involved with using this tool that differs slightly to my usual straightening technique, which I definitely learnt the hard way. Slow and steady wins, with more of a focus on drying rather than straightening. While the finish product looks *chefs kiss*, be prepared for a slightly achy thumb if you try to use this product like normal straighteners.

Rating: 7/10

Shei, GLAMOUR’s Beauty Writer

I have 4a-4c type curls, so naturally I use a lot of protective styles to maintain the health of my afro. Every once in a while I like to blow dry and stretch my curls, as it’s a more helpful base for my protective styling, or simply because I want to wear it naturally without it turning into knots. I was excited to give this GHD Duet Style 2-in-1 hot air styler, as it promised reduced blow dry and styling time. Afro hair maintenance is extremely time consuming so this was music to my ears.

I parted my hair into small sections, to work through them one by one. Each one needed a couple of passes for the hot air to really dry my curls root to tip. Sadly I did think it didn’t quite reach my roots all together, which left them puffy and with a lot of volume on the crown of my head. To finish off I went in with the shine shot, which is essentially the part where you straighten your hair, but after a couple of slow and thorough passes, my hair wasn’t fully dry.

Did it blow dry and straighten my hair in one? Yes. Plus, with a clamp blow dry there is always more control. However, I don’t know if it reduced the styling time you’d get out of a blowdryer and while the ends were straight, it didn't quite reach my roots. I’m still very much a GHD stan though, and that thin curl wand will forever have my heart.

Rating: 5/10

Denise, GLAMOUR’s Commerce Writer

Anyone who knows me would be able to confirm that I wear my hair straight 99.9% of the time. As someone who has naturally wavy hair, I've tried tons of hair straighteners and hot air brushes alike, so when I heard about the new GHD wet-to-dry styler, I was almost immediately sold. A hair dryer and a straightener that claims to style and dry your hair with no damage? Yes, to all of the above.

As directed, I tried out the tool on damp hair and noted a few things: a) It was very intuitive and user-friendly (there's literally only one switch and one button for the shine shot mode) b) Similar to other GHD products, it heated up surprisingly quickly, and alerted me with a sound as soon as it was ready to use and c) It actually took a *lot* longer than I thought. Even though I was excited about the aspect of saving time, I found that in order to achieve fully dry, sleek, straight hair it took more than a couple of rounds on each strand (and considering how much hair I have, you can imagine it took a good while).

I appreciated how the device wasn't too noisy (in comparison to a regular hair dryer), however, I found that the plates were a bit too large to allow for precision straightening near the root area. The shine shot did give me the finish that I was looking for and my hair felt super silky afterwards, however, considering the amount of time that it took me to achieve all this, I'm not sure if it's the type of hair tool that I would reach for on an everyday basis, especially when I'm in a rush.

Rating: 7/10

Deborah, GLAMOUR’s European Editorial Director

If I wasn’t a journalist, I’d open a blow dry bar. Doing a bouncy, flicky blow dry is one of the first skills I was taught by my mother, who's the meanest bouncy blow-dryer in the land. So when a new hair tool comes on the market – a GHD hair tool no less – claiming to simultaneously dry and straighten my hair, I’m taking notice.

GHD hair tools, if you haven’t used them before, are the gold standard. The hair dryer, the straighteners and the curling wands, have transformed the lives of many a curly-haired woman, meaning they can get salon-worthy smoothness from their bedroom.

That’s why this new tool is so, well, disappointing. It took me ages to straighten just half my head. It couldn’t get to the roots, which still remained damp and frizzy after 35 mins of me straightening. And every piece I did straighten, I had to go over 5 times to make it truly smooth. It felt like the heat part of the straighteners wasn't powerful enough. And I really hated the iron-straight-with-high-roots conclusion to the whole experience. I will stick with my other GHD products, but this, sadly, is a no from me.

Rating: 5/10

For more from Glamour UK Beauty Writer Shei Mamona, follow her on Instagram @sheimamona

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