You can achieve sleek, shiny locks at home – whatever your hair type – by using a professional-quality hair straightener. Our selection of the best hair straighteners in South Africa, from leading international manufacturers, will help you look salon perfect every day.
Hair straighteners are more versatile than their names suggest. As well as silky straight tresses, most hair straighteners can be used to create beachy waves or bouncy curls.
It’s important to invest in a pair of hair straighteners that won’t tear or burn your hair, so variable heat settings are essential. If your hair is fine or damaged, use a lower temperature. Thick, coarse or curly hair will require a higher temperature for optimal straightening.
Consider these features when deciding which of the best hair straighteners in South Africa is best for your hair type. Higher priced straighteners often come with accessories such as a heat mat, gloves and a travel case. Remember to always use a heat protection product before applying a hair straightener.
Variable heat setting: this is essential because the best temperature for straightening hair depends on your hair type.
Ionic technology: ionic technology smooths down strands by neutralising the positive charges that cause static and fly-away tresses.
Ceramic plates: they’re slower to warm up but distribute heat evenly and are usually more affordable.
Titanium/metal plates: they heat up quickly and are most popular with professional stylists but can damage hair if used incorrectly.
Ceramic-coated plates: a ceramic layer coats a metal base to combine the qualities of both materials.
Best hair straightener overall
If you’re looking for the best hair straightener on the market in South Africa, this is it. It has an unrivalled ability to make coarse, thick, unruly hair shiny, smooth and soft with just one pass. And your silky, luscious locks will stay straight and silky for days.
The Brasil Cacau Accelerator Titanium Iron is ideal for all hair types and takes half the time to straighten your hair. Unlike many irons, it’s suitable for damp-to-dry styling.
Brasil Cacau is famous for its hair smoothing and straightening keratin treatments. This is the best hair straightening iron to use following a salon treatment or at home with the Brasil Cacau Gradual Smooth Serum.
The iron has 32 mm titanium plates and variable heat settings up to 230°C. It has rapid heat-up and recovery with consistent heat across the entire plate. A swivel cord makes the iron easy to manoeuvre.
It’s easy to see why it’s one of the most popular irons with professional stylists. It’s great value for the salon-quality hair you can achieve at home.
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Runner-up best hair straightener
Once you’ve had your hair straightened at a salon with the Lightning Titanium iron, you’ll definitely want to buy your own. This iron really makes hair silkier, shinier, glossier and healthier than other straighteners.
It uses the latest metal ceramic heater technology to supply consistent heat across the plates and limit heat damage.
The 25mm titanium floating plates have variable heat up to 230˚C and there’s super-fast heat-up and recovery.
This straightener is suitable for all hair types and the three-metre 360Ëš swivel cord makes it really easy to use.
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Best hair straightener for frizzy hair
This professional straightening iron features ceramic and ionic 3D floating plates that are longer and wider than most, so styling is easy and fast. Dual-function technology and a rounded body edge make it easy to straighten, create flips, curls, twists and spirals.
The ceramic heat is gentle but has instant heat up to 235°C and temperature recovery. Even the frizziest hair is left straight, shiny and smooth with just one pass.
Added extras include a gold mat/pouch, a long swivel cord, cool tips and a thumb rest that makes it easy to apply pressure.
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Best hair straightener for thick hair
This professional hair straightener is excellent value for the quality. It combines ion technology with titanium plates so you can achieve smooth, shiny hair without heat damage – even if you have the thickest hair.
The iron heats quickly (up to 230°C) and has temperature recovery to ensure your hair is straightened quickly and effortlessly. This hair straightener really brings life and shine back to the thickest, dullest, matted hair.
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Best hair straightener for thick, frizzy hair
The Silver Bullet Glide Ceramic Iron glides through even the thickest, frizziest hair to leave smooth, silky locks. It heats up quickly, is lightweight and doesn’t snag.
The sleek matte black design has an LED display across the body. Like a runway of lights, as the iron heats up, more lights are illuminated, making it easy to see when the iron has reached its set temperature. The heat settings range from 180 to 230°C to suit all hair types.
The Silver Bullet ion generator smooths cuticles and enhances shine with just one pass. A three-metre swivel cord makes it really easy to manouevre and create waves, as well as straight, smooth, silky tresses.
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Best hair straightener for fly-away hair
This iron from Italian brand Gamma Più is ideal for hair that’s prone to static and fly-aways. The anti-static rainbow finish eliminates the fly-away effect and significantly reduces frizz. Even the dullest hair is left shiny, smooth and static-free.
Floating plates deliver the most efficient method of hair contact, limiting the number of passes and protecting hair from additional heat. Hair doesn’t get snagged or pulled in the silky plates. The temperature ranges up to 230°C for all hair types.
The larger plate size of 25.5 mm by 110 mm means hair is straightened quickly and easily. The iron weighs only 230 g and is super easy to handle. It comes in four bright and fun colours.
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Best hair straightener for fine hair
The Silver Bullet Smoothe Me Soft Touch Ceramic Iron is an all-rounder that’s ideal for all hair types but is especially suited for fine hair.
The iron has intuitive touch temperature controls ranging from 80 to 230°C, so it’s ideal for thin, fine or delicate hair that requires a lower temperature. Ultra-fast heat recovery and a temperature lock keep plates at a constant temperature while straightening.
The iron is effortless to handle and the 25 mm ceramic plates glides across hair without snagging. Your smooth, shiny locks will last much longer than with other irons.
An automatic shut-off maximises safety. The Silver Bullet is excellent value for a professional iron that gives you salon-perfect straight locks every time.
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Best 2-in-1 straightening brush
Smooth, sleek hair – or beautiful beachy curls – are easy to achieve with this hot brush from Silver Bullet.
The two-in-one styling brush incorporates the latest technology to straighten even the thickest, coarsest hair with its easy brushing action. Also, it can be used to create and set luscious curls.
The Bounce & Shine Hair Curler is ideal if you don’t want to subject your hair to high temperatures from straightener plates but want to achieve sleek, smooth salon-quality styling at home.
The brush heats up to a maximum of 200°C. Temperature control ensures maximum heat control during use.
Grooves on the back of the brush remain cool for effortless control when brushing. This also prevents skin contact with the hot bristles. It’s easy and fast straightening.
Pros:
Best hair straightening brush
For some, a brush is easier to manipulate than irons because you simply brush the hair. This is an excellent heated brush that delivers sleek, shiny hair quickly and easily.
No achy arms; no struggling to reach the hair at the back. That said, the results are better when the hair is sectioned first.
The negative-ion ceramic technology of the Sutra brush gives brilliant straightening capabilities. It can tame and straighten very thick and curly hair, including coils, to give all-over smoothness.
The heat-resistant silicon bristles don’t change shape over time, don’t break and they don’t snag. This really is easy, smooth-gliding straightening.
Pros:
Best wide-plate hair straightener
This high-quality styling iron is perfect for anyone wanting to decrease styling time or who has thick, curly or coarse hair.
A standard-sized iron often can’t tackle thick, coarse or unruly hair. The 38 mm wide plates make unbelievably fast and light work of straightening tresses.
Digital variable temperature control from a warm 130°C to super-hot 230°C makes this straightener suitable for all hair types and different hairstyles.
The titanium plates generate high levels of negative ions to limit heat damage. Bevelled edges enable a range of added styling options from waves to flicks.
A great investment straightener.
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