UPDATE: The GHD Chronos – as well almost the full range of GHD straighteners – are on sale ahead of Black Friday.
The Black and White Chronos’ are now £50 cheaper at £239, down from £289 each.
You can additionally get the limited-edition Icy Blue GHD Chronos for £269.99, down from £299.99, which comes with a carry case.
Finally, there is a Festive Gift Set that includes the Icy Blue Chronos and Icy Blue Helios hair dryer with a vanity case for the reduced price of £428. This set usually costs £478.
If you’ve had your eye on a GHD Chronos but didn’t want to pay the full price, this is the cheapest the dryer has been a while.
Amazon is also offering the GHD Chronos and other GHD stylers for a reduced price but the savings aren’t as good as GHD’s.
Elsewhere you can save 25% on a wide range of styling tools, including hair straighteners, hot brushes, curlers, and styling accessories. We’ve put all of the GHD Black Friday deals on our dedicated GHD sale page.
Alternatively, keep reading our GHD Chronos review to discover if it’s even worth the investment in the first place.
Original GHD Chronos review continues below
Compared with the innovations seen in the GHD Duet Style, and even the GHD Unplugged, the GHD Chronos didn’t exactly blow me away.
Yes it’s had a number of upgrades, in terms of its technology, design and performance but that’s what they are: just upgrades. Nothing in the Chronos massively stands out enough to make it a must-buy hair styler. Plus it’s very expensive.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad styler. There’s a lot to love about the Chronos, even if you already have the Platinum Plus. It’s fast, it’s smooth and if you’re used to using a straightener to curl your hair, you’ll get a lot out of this styler.
I hadn’t realised how much the Platinum Plus pulled on my hair until I used the Chronos and it slid through my hair like butter. I also like that it’s more compact without sacrificing plate size. This makes it easier to store and travel with.
The biggest problem I have is that because GHD has continuously led the way with its styling technology, it’s almost become a victim of its own success. Any new product from the brand, especially within its wired straightener line, needs to be different enough to warrant swapping one of its older models for.
I know people who still have, and love, decade-old GHD Original stylers. Trying to get them to spend £200+ on a new model, no matter how much it promises to be faster, better, easier and more efficient, is always going to be a hard sell.
And that’s before you factor in how competitive the straightener market is, and how GHD’s single temperature setting may rule it out for some hair types and textures.
If you already have the Platinum Plus, it might not be worth spending another £289. Especially if you’ve only brought the Plus recently. Similarly, if you prefer versatility or have thicker hair, the Chronos may be yet another GHD styler that misses the mark.
However, if you have an older GHD model, or a rival, then you’ll likely see a big improvement with the GHD Chronos. Especially if you have thinner hair, or wear curly styles more often than not. It’s just whether you can afford to take this gamble.
| GHD | £289 |
| Lookfantastic | £289 |
| Cult Beauty | £289 |
The GHD Chronos UK is now on sale – here’s everything you need to know about the new GHD straighteners in our GHD Chronos review
GHD CHRONOS UK: TL;DR
GHD Chronos UK price: £289
GHD Chronos UK colours: Black, white and limited edition Icy Blue
GHD Chronos UK release date: 1 February
GHD Chronos UK key features:
UPDATE: The GHD Chronos – as well almost the full range of GHD straighteners – are on sale ahead of Black Friday.
The Black and White Chronos’ are now £50 cheaper at £239, down from £289 each.
You can additionally get the limited-edition Icy Blue GHD Chronos for £269.99, down from £299.99, which comes with a carry case.
Finally, there is a Festive Gift Set that includes the Icy Blue Chronos and Icy Blue Helios hair dryer with a vanity case for the reduced price of £428. This set usually costs £478.
If you’ve had your eye on a GHD Chronos but didn’t want to pay the full price, this is the cheapest the dryer has been a while.
Amazon is also offering the GHD Chronos and other GHD stylers for a reduced price but the savings aren’t as good as GHD’s.
Elsewhere you can save 25% on a wide range of styling tools, including hair straighteners, hot brushes, curlers, and styling accessories. We’ve put all of the GHD Black Friday deals on our dedicated GHD sale page.
Alternatively, keep reading our GHD Chronos review to discover if it’s even worth the investment in the first place.
BUY NOW
Original GHD Chronos review continues below
At the start of January, GHD launched a new styler in North America called the GHD Chronos and it’s now finally on sale in the UK.
Coming in at £289, the new GHD straighteners are the successor to the Platinum Plus and have several new features to encourage people to upgrade.
These include a redesigned wishbone hinge and a new curved shape which make it easier to curl your hair with straighteners.
It also features what the brand calls “HD motion-responsive technology” which makes the GHD Chronos UK more responsive than previous models.
Keep reading to find out everything else you need to know about the new GHD straighteners including where to buy.
We’ll update this page once we’ve had time to conduct a full GHD Chronos review, or you can click the button below to learn more about the styler from GHD’s website.
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The GHD Chronos is the latest styler from UK-based hair giant, GHD. It joins the Platinum Plus, GHD Gold and Original models, as well as the GHD Max, GHD Duet Style, and GHD Unplugged.
The chart below details how each of these stylers compares to one another.
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
mamabella | mamabella If you can’t see the chart clearly, click the image to open it in a new window and you can zoom in and out
We’ve also written a detailed comparison of each in our best GHD straightener guide, but to summarise:
FURTHER READING: GHD Platinum Plus vs GHD Chronos | GHD Duet Style vs Dyson Airstrait
mamabella | mamabella The GHD Chronos is the latest styler from UK-based hair giant, GHD
GHD The Chronos has a slightly redesigned wishbone and is more curved at the ends to make it easier to curl with. The metal on the Chronos is also brushed rather than shiny
There are only so many ways you can mess with the design of a flat-iron straightener and for that reason, the Chronos looks very similar to the GHD straighteners that have come before. Most notably, the Platinum Plus.
However, when the two stylers are placed next to each other there are several differences that jump out.
Firstly, the Chronos is smaller and more compact but has the same size plates. The Chronos has a slightly redesigned wishbone and is more curved at the ends to make it easier to curl with. The metal on the Chronos is also brushed rather than shiny.
Most of the other design elements remain the same. The Chronos is available in matte black, and matte white (and Icy Blue for a limited time.) The plates are a silvery black colour and the power button is located on the inside of the styler, below the plates.
This has the same white LED light surrounding it as on previous models which lets you know, at a glance, when the straightener is powered on.
When you first press this button, a high-pitched beep rings out to let you know that the straighteners are on. Once the plates have reached the maximum temperature of 185℃, the Chronos beeps again to let you know it’s ready to use. This is common across the GHD range but is always a welcomed touch.
Features-wise, the Chronos has upgraded the ultra-zone technology on previous models to what the brand calls HD motion-responsive technology. Both technologies use sensors fitted along the stylers that make sure heat is evenly distributed along the plates. This not only helps you get the most out of the heat, allowing you to style your hair quicker and more evenly, but it helps reduce damage.
GHD hasn’t gone into great detail about how exactly the HD motion-responsive technology differs from the ultra-zone technology, other than saying that the Chronos “responds to your styling motion with 2x more responsiveness and intelligence” to make straightening your hair faster. The Chronos additionally has GHD’s latest generation ceramic heater which is what “delivers” the heat to the styling plates in the first place.
As a result of these upgrades, and an ultra-gloss coating on the plates. GHD promises “the smoothest glide to deliver one-stroke styling with up to 85% more shine.”
Other features include a 20-second heat-up time, a 2.7m, 360º cord, and a three-year warranty. The Chronos will switch off automatically after 10 minutes if it’s not being used.
FURTHER READING: Best hair straightener: From GHD to Dyson and Remington, here is our guide to the best straightener to buy
The GHD Chronos UK promises to style your hair three times faster than the GHD Platinum Plus, and produce results that last 24 hours.
GHD also claims that the Chronos enhances hair’s natural shine by up to 85% and reduces frizz by half. This is thanks to floating ceramic plates, coated with an ultra-gloss finish.
Elsewhere, the Chronos’ re-engineered wishbone hinge and rounded barrel have been “designed to craft high-definition curls and waves easily”.
Given that these are the major selling points GHD is pushing, these are the claims I wanted to put to the test first.
In terms of speed, the Chronos took 3 minutes and 15 seconds to straighten my thin, shoulder-length hair. All with added shine and less frizz. As promised.
mamabella | mamabella Curling my hair using the Chronos took longer – 9 minutes 45 seconds
Sadly this straight style only lasted for about an hour. As soon as I stepped outside, due to the fact my hair is naturally curly and gets frizzy easily, my hair quickly lost the smoothness and shine the GHD Chronos had initially created.
Curling my hair using the Chronos took longer – 9 minutes 45 seconds. This isn’t necessarily the Chronos’ fault; curling my hair with straighteners always takes longer than simply straightening it (the Platinum Plus creates curls in a very similar time) but it’s worth noting.
However, not only did the Chronos slide over the hair more easily, and as a result faster, than other straighteners I’ve used, but the redesigned wishbone and barrel made a big difference to how easy it is to create curls and waves with the new styler.
In fact, the Chronos glided through my hair without any friction as I twisted the styler to create the curl. This was a hugely enjoyable experience and the curls and waves it created looked sleek and smooth.
What’s more, they held in place for hours each time, even surviving humid conditions when I took it on holiday with me to Singapore.
In terms of responsiveness, I didn’t notice much difference between the Chronos and other straighteners I’ve used when it came to heat distribution. That said, I also didn’t have to pass the Chronos over my hair multiple times to achieve the desired finish, nor did I notice any hot or cold patches so the best I can say about this is that it works well.
And in terms of temperature, you only get one option with all of the stylers in the GHD range – 185°C/365°F or nothing.
This temperature is known as the glass transition temperature and is, according to GHD, the optimal temperature for hair stylers. At this temperature, the bonds in the hair can be moulded and manipulated without causing damage.
Once hair that has been styled at this glass transition temperature cools down, the style holds until moisture or heat relaxes the bonds again.
For my thin hair, this temperature is more than enough to create the style and hold it in place. However, having spoken to people with different hair types and thickness, especially people with coily and natural hair, this temperature just isn’t enough to style their hair how they would like and this limits the GHD Chronos, and the wider GHD range’s appeal to them.
BUY NOW
Compared with the innovations seen in the GHD Duet Style, and even the GHD Unplugged, the GHD Chronos didn’t exactly blow me away.
Yes it’s had a number of upgrades, in terms of its technology, design and performance but that’s what they are: just upgrades. Nothing in the Chronos massively stands out enough to make it a must-buy hair styler. Plus it’s very expensive.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad styler. There’s a lot to love about the Chronos, even if you already have the Platinum Plus. It’s fast, it’s smooth and if you’re used to using a straightener to curl your hair, you’ll get a lot out of this styler.
I hadn’t realised how much the Platinum Plus pulled on my hair until I used the Chronos and it slid through my hair like butter. I also like that it’s more compact without sacrificing plate size. This makes it easier to store and travel with.
The biggest problem I have is that because GHD has continuously led the way with its styling technology, it’s almost become a victim of its own success.
Any new product from the brand, especially within its wired straightener line, needs to be different enough to warrant swapping one of its older models for.
I know people who still have, and love, decade-old GHD Original stylers. Trying to get them to spend £200+ on a new model, no matter how much it promises to be faster, better, easier and more efficient, is always going to be a hard sell.
And that’s before you factor in how competitive the straightener market is, and how GHD’s single temperature setting may rule it out for some hair types and textures.
If you already have the Platinum Plus, it might not be worth spending another £289. Especially if you’ve only brought the Plus recently. Similarly, if you prefer versatility or have thicker hair, the Chronos may be yet another GHD styler that misses the mark.
However, if you have an older GHD model, or a rival, then you’ll likely see a big improvement with the GHD Chronos. Especially if you have thinner hair, or wear curly styles more often than not. It’s just whether you can afford to take this gamble.
Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
