I don't know about you, but if my hair is looking wild, frizzy, tangled and generally a mess, it can instantly put me in a bad mood which can be unpleasant for all around! I have quite naturally curly hair, well I say curly, its more like a frizzy birds nest. It's brown, about shoulder length with a side fringe. If not smoothed down it has a tendency to bug me all day, whether the frizziness is caused by rain, heat, humidity or simply a bad hair day! So the thought of going 8 days without the access to a proper shower, hair dryer or hair straighteners...Im not ashamed to say that it worries me! The one and only condition (made by my friends) that I had to agree to when booking the trip to Benicassim was that under no circumstance am I to get in a mood because of the way I look, no matter how rough or bedraggled I may be. So call me vain but I've been desperately trolling the Internet for some 'secret weapons' to help me along and keep the bad hair blues at bay!
I recently read an article by a girl who'd been to the festival in 2010 and had taken some rechargeable straighteners with her. Until I read this I didn't actually know that they existed, I think this is because they haven't really taken off. After researching I found only a few available on the market. While there was still the classic gas powered ones (which I've tried before and quite frankly found them to be quite rubbish) you can also get the battery powered variety. There were three in particular that stood out,
Ez Curl - £48.95,
Kodo Cordless Mikado Hair Straighteners - £49.95 and
Freedom 24:7 Straighteners - £71.48. I was quite surprised at how pricey they were (possibly a reason they are yet to take off), but after reading some good reviews I decided that the 24:7 straighteners were the way to go! Luckily I managed to purchase a pair on Ebay (brand new) for a bargain price of £25 and they arrived yesterday!
"This revolutionary, top quality ceramic styler gives you flexibility to style on the go and can be used off the cord for up to an hour! It is perfect for top ups whilst travelling, and comes with a selection of adaptors so you can even recharge them in your car. The top quality, salon standard ceramic and tourmaline plates heat up to 200ºC in 60 seconds and easily and quickly straighten and create curls, flicks, bends and waves."
The straighteners are just a bit smaller than the classic GHD straighteners and are very light weight which is perfect if carrying in your handbag or hand luggage. In the box it also came with two batteries (one is a backup), charging stand, international plugs and an adapter to charge in the car. I was extremely impressed that you are provided with a back up battery, and with 1 hour battery life in each, this should be plenty of charge life for the trip....I hope! The straightener comes with 3 different heat setting's 150, 180 and 200. As I use GHD's everyday I will probably be OK just using the hottest heat setting. Charging is also very simple as all you do is stand it in the charging unit, the straightener flashes when it is fully charged (and it even comes with a small compartment for the extra battery to charge at the same time).
They take only 60 seconds or so to heat up and they are very hot to the touch. Although I have tried them out today, I had already straightened my hair earlier this morning so it was only a bit wavy. However they appeared to do the trick in smoothly straightening my hair, in particular my fringe (which can be the main cause of my annoyance). I'm not sure I can give a proper review until I next have a bad hair day (caused by rain or on a particularly hot day) so I'll do an update soon when this occurs, which will no doubt be soon, hopefully because of the weathers very very hot!!! I am however feeling quite optimistic about these though :).
