Remington S9500 Pearl Hair Straightener

The first thing you notice about the Remington S9500 Pearl Hair Straigteners is the product's sleek and stylish design. The floral motif on the lower-main body adds a nice little feminine touch, furthering the overall elegance of the product.

Alas, no instruction manual was included with our particular set of straighteners, but looking at the product description, I can see that there should indeed have been a manual, so I presume that this is simply a mistake with this particular order (annoying but not the end of the world).

In order to open the straighteners up, you need to flick the locking device to `unlock'. The simple plastic design of this locking-device is slightly flawed due to the stiffness of the sliding lock that is used. However, after a few go's at locking and unlocking the straighteners, you should get an idea of the pressure that is required and as such find this a little easier.

The twin ceramic plates are surprisingly thin, which for those with thicker hair, equates to a slower straightening time. As for the `Advanced Ceramic Ultimate coating with real pearl shimmer' (bit of a mouthful it must be said) that we are told increases the ceramic content by an impressive 42%, to be totally honest with you, we couldn't really notice that much of a difference between it and say a set of standard GHD's. I certainly wouldn't say that the ceramics delivered any noticeably better straightening surface.

The adjustable temperature feature, which allows the user to adjust the temperature between 150 and 235 degrees Celsius, in increments of 10 degrees (except the last increment of 5 degrees to 235) is a very handy addition, allowing for the flexibility that is needed for different straightening requirements. An example of this would be when straightening a whole head of hair from scratch, whereby one of the hotter settings would be most suitable. However, when simply `going over' your hair after already having styled it, it may be sufficient to use a much lower heat, therefore reducing possible heat damage to your hair (and saving a couple of pennies on your electricity bill).

The heating-up process is incredibly fast; going from stone-cold to fully heated (as announced by a little `beep') in around ten seconds flat! When turning the temperature down, the staighteners also `beep' when the temperature drops to the desired setting.

The compact design, with its thin and light body, allows the staighteners to be an easy accessory to travel with. The accompanying heat-proof silver bag for storing away the straighteners, folds out to form a handy heat-proof mat which the heated straighteners can be placed upon during use and whilst cooling down afterwards.

All in all, these sleek and stylish straighteners offer a few handy additional features to the overall high quality and lightweight product. The 3 metre cord and worldwide voltage compatibility show further thought to the actual usage of the product.

These are undoubtedly the best hair straighteners I have ever used.

They have a feel of superior quality with their attractive smooth, sleek black design with a pearlised cherry blossom pattern and they are easy to use and grip. Heat up time is as rapid as promised on the box reaching 235 degrees in just 10 seconds with the temperature indicated by a clear display.

As for performance in use, I have very thick, very heavy, wavy and slightly coarse red hair with a mind of its own - a challenge for any straighteners so a weekend of high humidity and associated frizz was the perfect time to put them to the test. I was surprised by just how smoothly they slid through and tamed my untidy tresses and their performance was nothing short of outstanding - even without having to use the maximum temperature. With the variable temperature control via + and - buttons, I was able to test throughout the range and then press the button to lock the temperature at a constant 190 for best results - straight, shiny hair for the first time ever! In between layers, there was no cooling so no time wasted for them to re-heat - unlike cheaper models.

With 11cm plates, it would be very quick and easy to straighten much longer hair than mine (just below shoulder length) so these would be ideally suited to anyone looking for straighteners for regular use, particularly if you have little time and want them to heat up quickly, do the job and then be left at home on the included heat-resistant mat while you head out - and, if you forget to switch them off, there's an automatic shut-down after an hour for safety. Also, if you're in a rush then you can pop them straight into their heat-proof carry case with no need to allow them to cool down (which takes a good 20 minutes as they retain their heat - so can still be used while switched off!).

These straighteners are a joy to use and offer a touch of luxurious extravagance matching their high-performance. Being so well-made, you feel that they're going to last for a long time - and so does the manufacturer whose product confidence is reassuringly backed by a full 5 year warranty.

Highly recommended as a product that's going to offer long-lasting performance.

I am not one for writing reviews unless something is really good or really awful so I felt compelled to write about these straighteners. I hummed and ha'd for ages about getting new ones - I have always had GHDs, they're good at what they do but I was fed up of replacing them every couple of years. I read the reviews for these Remington ones and still was not sure what to do. Then I saw them on offer and thought I might as well get them. They are AMAZING!

I have short-ish bobbed hair that needs daily styling. Since using these, people have commented that my hair seems so much sleeker and I have fewer wispy, broken strands. Because you can choose the temperature setting, I can control how much damage I am doing. I only heat them right up for an event or a long day. For weekends, I just use a low setting to avoid scorching my hair unnecessarily. Like everything, they take a bit of getting used to - I have burned my hands a couple of times but I remember doing that when I first got GHDs! Their shape means that you can get right up close to the roots and the 11cm plates are great for getting the job done quickly!

In summary, if like me you have short, bobbed hair, I would strongly recommend. I can't comment on their performance on longer hair but from my experience of them so far, I believe they would be great.

I would gladly give them more stars, I am one very happy GHD-convert :O)