Looking At Lee Stafford's "The Academy Straightener"

Not that you'd know it to look at me today - or most days actually - with my desperate-for-a-wash, straggly, scraped into a Mum-Bun, complete with wild, loose "baby hairs" tufting out around my ears, hair do (such an attractive picture I paint, eh), but in fact, I am no stranger to the world of hair care, in particular hair straightening - an area I have seen a whole lot of changes and advancements in over the years let me tell you.

I have always craved straight hair you see and the hated for my naturally wavy hair, whilst it isn't present so much these days, when I was younger, oh it was strong and I tried everything to achieve the sleek, straight hair do I wanted so much.

I've gone from owning a pair of those good-for-nothing, metal plated, yellow plastic handled straighteners that did nothing but pull hair from my scalp to having a set of steam straighteners - the ones that had a little clear plastic water top-up compartment on the end to steam my hair straight...

..."steam my hair straight" ??...

There was always going to be issues being able to use a statement like this and rather than straighten, all they actually did was steam my hair massive (you've seen the "Friends" episode with Monica's Barbados hair I'm sure...exactly this, only every day...)

I then went on to have my hair chemically straightened at the hairdressers, I've used keratin and once upon a time (years and years ago so please forgive me) I've been known to use an actual clothes iron in an attempt to flatten those waves.

Tragic I know.

But then I discovered ceramic plated straighteners and for the past 13 years (yes really!) I've owned, used and loved the same trusty old pair and there really has been no turning back.

They've been brilliant and made such a difference to my hair styling routine, but after all of those years of very heavy straightening action I think my OAPs in hair taming were just about ready for an upgrade, and, luckily for me, very recently an upgrade they did get...

These fabulous, very sleek looking Lee Stafford "The Academy Straighter" straighteners landed at my door, and whilst I was very (very!) pleased about this I was also a little dubious when I first opened the box as to how on earth the thinner sized plates would manage with my hair...

...because let's be honest, it is fairly wild, fairly long and really fairly thick.

But the only way to know for sure was to give them a try and so I got stuck in and test them out I did.

I was really impressed with how fast the straighteners heated up - time is of the essence in my house and if I want to try and make myself look remotely presentable it usually has to be done in the time it takes for two Peppa Pig episodes to finish so waiting around for straighteners to get hot is never going to work - this pair and their ten second heating up time gets a huge tick from me.

I really didn't need to worry about the thinner (23mm) plates either because as they are made from nano silver titanium they glide over hair really easily, straightening each section quickly, so yes, whilst I could fit less hair between the plates at any one time, it didn't really matter because they worked so efficiently it actually made overall straightening time faster.

~ Bonus ~

Temperature wise, I initially set the heat to a mid range temperature - I really like how the digital display counts up to the desired temperature, showing how hot the plates are all of the time - but once I began on my hair I realised the maximum heat setting of 230 degrees would definitely be needed to tackle it properly.

And whilst this does sound very hot - it is actually the recommended setting for thick hair (temperature ranges from 80 to 230 degrees) and it will now be the setting I use all of the time - my hair didn't burn or feel in poor condition afterwards at all so I know I'm good to go with this.

But what about results?

Well, a picture speaks a thousand words doesn't it?

Yes I know my efforts aren't perfect and I know my hair is in desperate need of a trim, but the difference is very clear to see - I was blooming amazed anyway and I really am a little in love these little beauties right now.