ghd Platinum+ Review: One Temperature, Three Weights, £249
The model reviewed here is the ghd Platinum+ Professional Hair Straightener with the 26 mm plate, in black; the white version is the same styler. It has one setting, 185°C, and no dial to change it. Every UK price we could see on 3 October 2026 was £249, and that is now ghd’s own list price too. Nobody who has tested it thinks it straightens badly. The real questions are whether a fixed temperature suits your hair, and whether it is worth £50 more than the ghd Gold.
Where the reviews line up
No Which? result for this styler is public and no UK lab has published figures for it, so the evidence comes from three places. One is a fortnight’s editorial test at Expert Reviews, which compared it with the ghd Gold and a BaByliss Pro. Another is a hands-on comparison by Colored Hair Care, a hair-colour specialist site that ends up preferring the Gold. The third is ghd’s own UK product page, which shows 4.5/5 from 1,226 buyer ratings, with 87% saying they would recommend it.
Three things come up everywhere. It is quick: Expert Reviews’ tester finished her hair in about two minutes, against four with the ghd Original, and buyers on ghd’s page keep saying it heats up fast. The finish is smooth and shiny. Every source says this, and buyers report it lasting for days. A single pass does the job, which is the point of ghd’s plate sensors. T3’s long-term reviewer makes the same observation.
There are two honest caveats. First, 185°C is the only temperature there is. Woman & Home’s beauty editor says that for fine or fragile hair it “can be an overwhelming amount of heat”, and two other reviewers list the missing temperature control as a drawback. Second, it is a straightener first. Colored Hair Care found it harder to curl with than the Gold, and Woman & Home says hair can catch in the floating plates.
If you mainly straighten, and your hair is not fine or fragile, this is the ghd to buy. If you want waves and curls as much as straight hair, the specialist’s pick is the Gold at £199. Whichever you buy, keep the receipt. Registering a ghd does not extend its warranty. The Platinum+ comes with three years from the date of purchase, and ghd needs the proof of purchase to honour it.
The three reviews this summary is built from
- Expert ReviewsA fortnight’s editorial test by Victoria Woollaston, March 2024, set against the ghd Gold and a BaByliss Pro. Rated a Best Buy.
- Colored Hair CareA hands-on Gold-versus-Platinum+ comparison by a colour-care specialist site. The only source that prefers a rival.
- ghd UK buyer ratings4.5/5 from 1,226 ratings, 87% would recommend, checked 3 October 2026. Hosted by the manufacturer, on the page that sells it.
Before the review: the warranty “extension” that is not one
You will often read that you get extra warranty by registering a ghd. ghd’s own UK help centre says otherwise. Registration only confirms that you have a genuine ghd: “this does not act as your warranty”. The warranty is three years on Platinum+ stylers (two years on other ghd stylers), counted from the date of purchase, and you need the original proof of purchase to claim. Registering is still worth doing to check a styler bought from a marketplace seller, but it adds no extra cover.
Specification at a glance
| Spec | Figure | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Model | ghd Platinum+ Professional Hair Straightener, 26 mm plate (black or white) | ghd UK product page |
| Temperature | Fixed at 185°C. There is no other setting | ghd; every source agrees |
| Plate size | 26 mm, floating plates with gloss coating | ghd UK. Some US listings call it a 1-inch (25.4 mm) flat iron |
| Heat-up time | 15 s (T3, timed by its reviewer) · 20 s (Colored Hair Care) · 30 s (Real Homes, given as ghd’s figure) | ghd’s current UK page gives no figure. Three sources, three numbers |
| Auto sleep | Switches off after 30 minutes without use | ghd UK; Expert Reviews, T3 and Lookfantastic agree |
| Cord | 2.7 m, swivel | Lookfantastic, T3, Woman & Home, Real Homes. ghd’s page does not say |
| Weight | 302 g (T3) · 561 g (Woman & Home) · 0.75 kg (Colored Hair Care) | ghd publishes no weight. We think the larger figures may include the cord or the box, but we cannot confirm that |
| Voltage | Universal (dual) voltage | ghd UK, Cult Beauty |
| Sensors | Ultra-zone: three sensors per plate, checking heat 250 times a second | ghd and Lookfantastic. Manufacturer claim |
| Warranty | 3 years from purchase. Registering does not extend it | ghd UK help centre |
| Price | £249 at ghd UK, Lookfantastic and Cult Beauty | Checked 3 October 2026. We could not see the Boots or Argos prices |
Expert Reviews
This is the most structured UK test we found. Woollaston used the styler for a fortnight and put it up against the ghd Gold and a BaByliss Pro. She rates it a Best Buy, “head and shoulders above the competition”. The practical finding is speed: about two minutes to style her hair, against four with the ghd Original. She also says the wishbone hinge stops hair catching and the finish is shiny and smooth.
She is the one source that defends the fixed 185°C rather than listing it as a drawback. She notes that ghd uses the same temperature across its range because its research team found it best for styling and protection. Her two downsides are the price and that it feels very different from older ghds, so long-time owners need time to adjust. The review prices it at £175 to £229. That figure is out of date: the price we saw everywhere on 3 October 2026 was £249.
Watch: IS IT WORTH THE PRICE? GHD PLATINUM PLUS REVIEW
Asks the same value question Expert Reviews ends on. Confirmed from two search listings, not fetched: see the caveat box below.
Watch on YouTube ↗Colored Hair Care
This is a specialist blog rather than a magazine. Freeman describes herself as having more than twenty years’ experience of dyeing her own hair, not as a professional stylist. We include it because it is the one source that tried both stylers and chose the cheaper one. She found the Platinum+ heated up faster, giving 20 seconds against 25 for the Gold. She also sees the fixed 185°C as a benefit for coloured hair, because you cannot accidentally run it too hot.
Her verdict still goes to the Gold, which “beats its newer Platinum+ sister by a hair for being more versatile”. In her hands the Platinum+ made curling more difficult. She says it is best if you “mostly use straighteners to… straighten your hair”. Her weight figures (0.75 kg for the Platinum+, 1.1 kg for the Gold) are much higher than T3’s 302 g and Woman & Home’s 561 g. We print all three in the table and do not choose between them.
Watch: GHD Platinum Plus Flat Iron Review: The Healthiest Choice for Your Hair
A review built around the same hair-health argument the colour-care specialist makes for the fixed 185°C. Confirmed from the search listing, not fetched.
Watch on YouTube ↗ghd UK buyer ratings
This is the largest pool of ratings we could find, but it has a clear limit: ghd hosts it on the page where it sells the styler. Use the numbers, not the tone. We could not see the star breakdown, and Boots and Argos would not show us their own rating blocks (see the caveat box).
The recent reviews match the editorial tests. Buyers say it is fast to heat, “quick to heat up and smooth to use”, and leaves hair “soft and silky”. One says a straightened finish lasts “for up to 3 days”. Another, writing in February 2026, liked that it does the job “with no excessive heat”. The only complaint in the recent reviews we saw was a small one: a buyer expected it to beep when it reached temperature, and theirs did not. We found no buyer reviews of plate faults or failures among the recent reviews, though 1,226 ratings is far more than we could read.
Watch: Fast + Frizz-Free Hair Straightening: A Review of The ghd Platinum+ Flat Iron
Covers the two things buyers praise most, speed and a frizz-free finish. A US upload, hence “flat iron”. Confirmed from several search listings, not fetched.
Watch on YouTube ↗Strengths and weak points
What holds up
- Fast to style: about two minutes against four with the ghd Original, in Expert Reviews’ test.
- Quick to heat. Every published figure is 30 seconds or less, and T3 timed 15.
- A smooth, shiny finish that buyers say lasts for days.
- One pass is usually enough, so you do less re-heating of the same section.
- The fixed 185°C means you cannot accidentally run it hotter, which suits coloured hair.
- A three-year warranty, a year longer than ghd’s other stylers.
- A 2.7 m swivel cord and a 30-minute auto sleep.
What people complain about
- No temperature control. Three sources list this as a drawback, and Woman & Home says 185°C can be too much for fine or fragile hair.
- Harder to curl or wave with than the ghd Gold, according to the specialist who tried both.
- Hair can catch in the floating plates (Woman & Home).
- £249 is £50 more than the Gold and £100 more than the Original at Lookfantastic’s prices.
- A big change from older ghds, so long-term owners need time to adjust (Expert Reviews).
- ghd publishes no weight, and reviewers’ figures range from 302 g to 750 g.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you straighten most days, your hair is normal to thick, and you want the quickest ghd that gives a smooth, lasting finish. It also suits coloured hair if you like that the temperature cannot be turned up by accident. The extra year of warranty helps justify the cost on a tool you use every day.
Look elsewhere if your hair is fine, fragile or heavily processed and you want to style it cooler than 185°C, because this styler cannot do that. Look elsewhere too if you curl and wave as often as you straighten. The specialist who tried both stylers preferred the £199 ghd Gold for that.
What we could not check
- The three videos were confirmed from search listings, not fetched. We did not open YouTube watch pages for this review. Each video ID and its exact title appeared in at least two differently-worded searches on 3 October 2026: g5Q93gg0s-g, xPCXR8yQEfg and 2ALdsO_EcKQ. No listing named the channel for any of them, so we have not given one.
- The Boots and Argos prices. boots.com returned a 403 to us, Argos’s page did not load its prices or ratings for us, and no search listing showed either price. The prices we could confirm were £249 at ghd UK, Lookfantastic and Cult Beauty.
- A manufacturer weight. ghd does not publish one. The reviewers’ figures of 302 g, 561 g and 0.75 kg are printed above, and we do not know what each one includes.
- An official heat-up time. ghd’s current UK page gives none. Real Homes gives 30 seconds as ghd’s figure, T3 timed 15 seconds and Colored Hair Care gives 20. We cannot tell you which is right.
- The star breakdown of ghd’s 1,226 ratings, and how many of them are for this exact model rather than other colours or gift sets on the same page.
- Independent heat-damage testing. ghd’s “70% stronger hair” and “2x colour protection” claims compare the styler with one running at 230°C, and we found no independent test of either.
- A forum or Reddit thread with counts. We looked and found nothing specific to this model that we could cite, so the community source here is a specialist blog.
- The Colored Hair Care article’s date was not shown, so we cannot tell you how recent its comparison is.
Sources last checked 3 October 2026. ghd prices change often, especially around gift-set season, so check the price at the shop before ordering.