Welcome to Capsule Considers, where we try out and review the latest products on the market and offer our honest, unbiased opinions, free from any obligation or expectation because if you’re parting with your hard-earned money based on any of our recommendations, we’re gonna make sure it’s damn well worth it. This week, Kelly Bertrand tries out ghd’s newest offering, their Volumising Hot Brush.
My hair is a blessing and a curse. It’s equally my most-loved and most-hated feature, my bright spot in the morning and the thing that can single-handedly ruin a promising day.
I just don’t have the kind of hair that behaves, you know. Everyone has friends who have envy-inducing hair that just does what it’s supposed to do and stays put all day, whereas I need to be armed with a brush at all times. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you ARE the friend with well-behaved hair.)
I have fine hair, but I have a LOT of it. I also have a lot of tiny baby hairs, and hair that’s growing back after falling out from what I can only assume was stress accumulated at my last job. It’s also naturally wavy/frizzy – so when you add all of this together, it’s a hot mess a lot of the time. Oh, and at the moment it is tres long, because who can afford haircuts rn.
However, I do love a good curl. I don’t like wearing my hair poker straight, mostly because I have it in my head that it makes my face look fuller when I do and who the hell wants that. So I normally sport some kind of curl/wave, which I usually achieve with my flat iron with what I like to call the ribbon technique – you know, like how you curl a ribbon on a present.
However the curls you get from that are never bouncy and bold, due to the very nature of how you’re doing it – literally flattening the hair into becoming a curl. So I was very excited when ghd invited me to a media day to try the rise out, as well as giving me one to take home.
So, the promise on the box is this: A volumising hero (bold to come right out and say it but ok) that creates double the amount of volume than your naturally dried hair, and volume that lasts all day long.
The technical stuff: The tool heats up to 185 degrees and stays there, which is apparently the “latest breakthrough” in heat styling. The barrel measures 3.2cm, the bristles are nylon and it does that thing where it turns itself off after 30 minutes (which honestly is one of the most underrated features on anything that plugs in).
But more importantly, does it work? Well, of course it did when the professional did my hair at the media event. I left feeling like Sandra Bullock walking out of that big airplane hanger in Miss Congeniality – my hair was bouncing, baby, and I was digging myself.
But the true test is, of course, doing it yourself. I washed my hair and let it airdry to the scraggly mess it becomes with no help, and set to work recreating my bombshell Gracie Lou Freebush moment.
For someone with only average skill in the hair tool department, I was impressed. The brush is light, and it swivels around the power cord really easily which allows you to rotate the tool. It was really simple to wrap my hair around the barrel, and thanks to the bristles, it’s easy for the hair to hold in place, which is a pet hate of mine with normal curling irons where my hair just tends to fall out of the clamp (I mean I know that’s operator error but still).
Crucially for me, the ghd rise allowed me to alternate the direction of my curls, which is something, for some reason, I really struggle with when I’m curling with a straightener. Changing the direction makes your hair look so much more natural and allows more of that ‘va va voom’ kind of vibe, which I was super-impressed with.
There’s also a cool touch tip, which lets you control what you’re doing easily, but if you’re an idiot like me, be careful – I somehow still managed to burn my thumb on my first outing but again, that’s operator error.
So, the results? Yeah, I have to say I’m a fan. I think as I continue to use the tool I’ll get better, especially when it comes to lifting the root of my hair. Next time I’ll use in conjunction with my hair straightener to smooth down the baby hairs at the top of my head, and perhaps use an anti-frizz product to try and tame some of the flyaways. (Does anyone have a good recommendation for one? I feel like I’ve tried them all and nothing seems to work!)
It’s a tool that’s on the pricey side – at $310 it’s definitely an investment – but if you’re like me and you struggle with curling on a straightener, I reckon it’s worth it.
Rating: 4/5 Capsules
The product reviewed was gifted to Capsule, with no money attached nor any obligation to review. All opinions are the author’s.
