This overpriced iron is good if you have naturally fine, soft or wavy hair. If you have coarse, thick hair it will not do the job, or it will take you several passes. This is not unique to the GHD, this applies to ALL CERAMIC straighteners. The Auto shut off and dual voltage is awesome, but it is not worth it if the iron does not provide sleek, durable straight hair. If you have kinky, unruly, poofy hair go with TItanium, hand down!!

I'm absolutely in love with my GHD. I've been wanting to buy one for a few years now but was a bit hesitant paying $240 (Australian) so when i seen them on sale i thought i would bite the bullet! I will never buy another brand again (I've used remington and babyliss) it heats up super quick, glides through the hair like butter and takes much less time as with previous straightners i've had to go over the same strand a few times and it left my hair frizzy and needing heaps of product to smooth it down! Definetly worth the money, has 2 years warranty and barely need to use any products except hot iron spray and a tiny amount of moroccan oil. The product curls my hair perfectly and would have got the one with wider plates for my thick long hair but wanted to be able to use it to curl. A must buy for those that use a straightener often.

If you have wavy, fine, or thin hair, I do believe this iron would be a waste of money. Many people are perfectly happy with a $20 iron from Wal-mart, and more power to you. I, however, am not one of those people.
This flat iron changed my life. My hair is naturally super curly and thick. With this iron, it is stick straight and stays that way for days with only minor touch-ups. If your hair is ethnic, coarse, or just plain difficult, make the investment and get a GHD. It heats up super quickly and doesn't burn your hair.
My ONE "complaint" about this iron is that it turns off after 30 minutes. I have a ton of hair and it takes me longer than that to flat iron it all. But turning it back on is just a quick thumb motion and it's back to business. This is actually a good thing, considering how many women forget to turn their styling tools off in the morning. =)
Love it. Will never purchase another brand. The 10 year warranty is great, too.

Best GHDs ever.
Gold MAX Styler (the bigger plates size)
is perfect for anybody with thick hair.

I'm a bit torn on the GHD Gold Flat iron. After a few bad experiences with other irons, I decided to go for "the best," despite the price tag. Although I did buy this one Folica on a great promo, and it only cost me about $125, which I think is a steal (note that I'm in Canada, but I had it shipped to my brother in the US. Folica ships with UPS, which means you will get hit with duties AND brokerage fees, without question). First impressions - the design of the iron is really nice. It's very light, but doesn't feel cheap at all. The plastic is high quality and very well made. The on-off button is on the inside, so you can't accidentally turn it off while in use. It's a slider with the GHD logo lit up. It flashes while warming up, and stays lit when hot. It heats up super super fast - even before I'm done sectioning my hair, and then it beeps to let you know it's ready. Styling with it is easy, and it makes nice curls. However, the plates aren't "floating" and they do snag my hair a bit, which is my biggest pet peeve. It doesn't snag as bad as my Babyliss Argan Heat, or the cheapo Conair I used once, but I can still "hear" my hair passing though, if you know what I mean. It's just not completely smooth. As everyone else has mentioned, it does NOT have temperature control. At this price, GHD should just suck it up and give us what we want, instead of smugly insisting that they know what the best temperature is. I have the Scarlet edition, which comes with a case and heat mat too. Personally, I don't like these - they are both too tacky and bulky, which defeats the purpose for travel. The satin is not exactly the best thing to have facing down on your counter in the bathroom. I would've preferred a really thin, flexible, sleek case or mat. It also comes with a guard that slides onto the end of the iron, to keep the plates together for travel or storage. Again, it's way too bulky, and not well designed. As you pick up the iron to move it, you squeeze the plates together, which causes the guard to fall off. My previous iron, a Toni & Guy, had an awesome feature, a little slider that would lock the plates together. Why don't all irons have this? At the time I took it for granted. Overall, I'm happy with the high quality and the performance of the GHD, but I think it could use improvement in the fit of the plates, the accessories, and temperature control. continued >>

This GHD is TERRIBLE.
When straightening my hair, it takes ages to get a "Straight" hair (Not even pin straight), and i don't even have curly hair, i have wavy hair.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS TERRIBLE STRAIGHTENER!

I also bought it from their official website, so it's the realy GHD.

A total loss of the hardly earned $270.

Gold Professional styler 1" (Scarlet Limited Edition)

I have thick, wavy, dry, frizzy and color-treated Asian hair that is 23 inches from the nape. I am always looking for the best flat iron and, ladies and gentlemen, I think I've found it!

PROS
-Heats up in 14 seconds BUT it takes at least a minute to get really hot.
-VERY LIGHT! Probably half the weight of my Sedu Revolution flat iron.
-The thin and curved design enables versatility to create a straight or curly or mixed look
-Because it’s thin, the GHD makes it easier to reach and vertically straighten the tight areas like those annoying cowlicks around the forehead and hair above the ears. This GHD feature is something my Sedu and Solia cannot do well.
-My hair stays straight and absolutely frizz free and shiny for a whole 3 days!
-The plates glide sooooo effortlessly, better than any other flat iron I’ve owned: Conair (ugh!), Revlon (worthless), Remington (okay), Babyliss (okay), Chi (ugh!), Solia (really good), Sedu Revolution (comparable to GHD, but heavier and bulkier).
-It claims to adjust the heat according to our hair type (somehow). I don’t believe that at all. I do believe the operating temperature for GHD is between 347-365 F so it does not require as much heat to straighten my hair, whereas I need about 400F for my Solia and Sedu.
-2-3 medium-paced passes are all I need to sufficiently straighten my ridiculously long and thick hair
-GHDs make good curls without dents if done correctly, but curls with any flat irons are not as precise as I want them to be compared to clip or clipless curling irons.
-No snagging at all
-Easy to clean and doesn’t stain
-Plates don’t bleed colors
- Universal adapter that tells you whether it’s safe to use the flat iron without blowing the appliance and your wallet.
-Dropped it once from 4 feet (by accident!) and it still works perfectly (Thank God!)
-Came with iron guard, hot red heat resistant case and 2 clips

CONS
-EXPENSIVE!!!! Even with my discount code + promotion, I eventually paid a little over $200 CAD for the GHD.
-The plates do NOT meet unless additional force and effort is used. I heard that’s part of the design. It’s not really bothersome to me.
-The black side opposite of the plates can be too hot to the touch
-No temperature control!
-The material and design of the GHD, although very chic, makes it difficult to get a good grip on the flat iron. It tends to slip up from my hand so I need to be careful not to get burned.
-Because the widths of plates are only 1 inch, they do require more time to straighten my super thick and long hair.
-Although the GHD can be stowed away while hot, the heat still penetrates the bottom side of the heat resistant case. I always lay the black pouch (that Folica ships for free with other flat irons) underneath the GHD case.
-The GHD heat resistant case has that weird plastic smell.

OVERALL, I am in love with my GHD Scarlet! I can do straight and curly looks, It is the best of both worlds and I will repurchase when its time is due.

FELLOW CANADIANS: I paid $135 USD for the flat iron alone, thanks to a 20% Folica promotion and a 40% discount code. Shipping to Canada was the standard $20 USD from Folica. Inevitable Ontario duties and taxes was $42 CAD. So I paid a little over $200 CAD before it was finally in my hands. This is definitely an investment.

this straightener is pretty good for my thick curly hair but i feel like it doesn't do the job as well as i expected it to do... my hair doesn't always end up smooth and it curls throughout the day and could even frizz. i expected more out of such an expensive straightener but maybe i should start using better hair products

I am one of those people who does not know much about hair styling. I have long, thick and dry hair and I have tried many cheap and middle-priced stylers over the years in order to make curles or achieve any kind of acceptable looking hair style - I never ever had good results until I got this.
This gold styler is incredible!
The other stylers I tried needed ages to get hot - this one gets in just a few seconds!
It is really easy to straighten and curl hair with this.
Even I (a complete hair style dummy and a very clumsy person) manage to get my hair looking beautiful in less than 15 minutes, sometimes even in less than 10 minutes.
I saw some instructional videos - and that helped a lot.
Do not forget to use heat protection.
I like the fact that it does not have the button for regulating the temperature.
I manage not to burn my hair, fingers and forehead.
GHD Gold Styler is really expensive, but I would say that it is definitely worth the money.

Ok so I have extremely thick and frizzy hair, its naturally extremely curly and I always straighten it after I wash it because it is very annoying otherwise. Wet it is pretty but when it dries it gets huge. Anyway so I have been using regular GHD's for years but my mum and I shared them and then for Christmas I got the gold ones. At first I loved them, the packaging was gorgeous, they came with a stunning looking little mirror and a hair dryer. It also came in a pirates chest type box that was so beautiful. I am used to them now and use them all the time but when I started using them at first I was dissappointed because they were so slippy they wouldnt hold my hair enough to straighten it, I had to grip so strongly that my hand was getting sore. I dont know if its product buildup or what but they're not as bad now. I love the zip up heat resistent bag they come in, its beautiful and really handy for storing them. I dont use the hairdryer as I already had a really good one and I didnt find this one powerful enough. As I say though I do have very thick and fairly long hair so I need a fair bit of power in my hiar dryer. The GHD's heat up really quickly which is great for me as I am quite busy and have to straighten my fringe in the mornings in a hurry. They cool fairly quickly as well, a bonus and have a good length of cabel without being too long. Overall I like them alot, but wish they were just a little less slippy.