Hair care is serious business, from serums and lotions to the tools you use every morning to get ready and face the world. One such tool is the hair straightener, built for people who are often plagued by unruly frizz and the most stubborn of curls. 

These days, we’re overloaded and paralysed with too many choices out there to even know the first thing about choosing the best hair straightener for ourselves. From Philips to Dyson, it seems every choice is a good choice – but that’s not entirely true.

To help you in your search, we’ve compiled a list of worthy stylers for different hair straightening needs and also compare them against our own products so you have all the information you need to make the best possible choice for your hair.

Engineered by manufacturers with decades of experience in hairstyling, the stryv ProStraightener boasts wide plates and fast heating for a smooth hair-straightening experience for users of all proficiency levels. What’s more, this straightener is designed to emit negative ions* with every use, ensuring a shiny, healthy finish to your hair every time.

This might be a better entry-level straightener than the Philips StraightCare Essential simply because of its added features, making it perfect even for those of us who have never straightened our hair before.

Think of the ProStyler as the ProStraightener’s younger, more ambitious sibling, featuring smaller plates that are something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you can straighten and curl your hair because the plates’ size allow for more freedom of movement and flexibility as you go, but on the other hand smaller plates mean that you won’t straighten things out as well as the ProStraightener can.

If you’re on a budget but fairly experienced in straightening and styling your hair and want a tool that is functional enough for you but not so expensive that you’ll have to resort to the classic grass diet for a few months, then the ProStyler might be the best hair straightener for you.

The AirFlex is our most versatile offering as the only multi-styler in our catalogue. With six styling tools to choose from, the most seasoned of us will be able to freely switch things up and flaunt any hair look they want, whenever they want.

This multi-styler uses Coanda airflow instead of direct heat at a lower temperature of only 95°C in order to preserve hair health and prevent unnecessary breakage over a long period of use. It’s even more versatile than the ProStyler, with the ability to let you straighten, curl, and style your hair however you want, making it a solid choice for those who don’t just want to straighten their hair and nothing else.

Stylish, cutting-edge, and a household name everyone knows, the Dyson Airstrait is the most well-known hair straightener on the market. Notably, as the name suggests, the Airstrait uses airflow instead of hot plates to straighten hair and smooth out flyaways, claiming to simplify one’s hair routine by reducing time spent by 25%. 

Dyson tech enables the Airstrait to project airflow at a 45° angle in order to align hair with enough tension, promising less damage and breakage. Because of its impressive stats, the Airstrait does carry the heaviest price tag at a whopping $749. For something that does nothing but straighten hair, this might not be the most economical choice out there.

Perhaps the most affordable entry-level hair straightener out there, the StraightCare Essential is a beginner’s best bet if they want to learn how to straighten and style their hair for the first time. 

However, its simplicity is also its greatest weakness, featuring only one heat setting at 210°C. For beginners, this might make the straightening process much easier, but for more seasoned folks, this might limit their ability to get creative with the hair straightener (which explains why other straighteners have multiple heat settings).