The 6 best cordless straighteners to shop in 2024, tested by our editors
Our beauty experts review the best cordless straighteners on the market, from space-saving mini designs to those with a spare battery
Best Cordless Straightener 2024: Jump Menu
The list in brief ↴
1. Best travel: ghd Unplugged Cordless Hair Straightener
2. Best budget: BaByliss 900 Cordless Hair Straightener
3. Best high-tech: Dyson Corrale Straightener
4. Best battery life: Revamp iGEN Progloss Cordless Ceramic Straightener
5. Best quick charging: Cloud Nine The Original Cordless Iron
6. Best temperature settings: Revamp Progloss Liberate Cordless Compact Straightener
How we tested
The best cordless straighteners are great for quick touch-ups while on the go and styling, even when there’s no wall socket in sight.
From high-tech cordless stylers to ones with multiple temperature settings, the days of having to plug in to use the best straighteners are over. Thanks to today’s cord-free technology, refreshing your hair with your irons is much easier on the move.
Whether you’ve just got caught in the rain or you didn’t have time to touch up your hair in front of the mirror, our in-depth guide of editor-approved cordless straighteners includes portable hot hair tools that will keep your hair sleek and straight no matter your location or hair type. Below are our picks of the top buys to shop in 2024...
As woman&home's Beauty Channel Editor, Fiona Mckim has tried more beauty products than she’s had hot dinners.
Fiona joined woman&home as Assistant Beauty Editor in 2013, working under industry legend Jo GB, who taught her everything she needed to know. She has since covered every corner of the industry, from interviewing dermatologists and celebrities to reporting backstage at Fashion Week and judging the W&H Beauty Awards.
Lucy Abbersteen is a freelance beauty editor who has written for titles including Marie Claire, Glamour and OK!, as well as regularly contributing to woman&home. She has many years of experience testing hair tools, including dryers.
The quick list
Best for travel
The best cordless straightener for travel
The ghd Unplugged is ideal for those who are always on the go and in need of a midday hair refresh. It's super portable and lightweight, and can be charged right from your laptop.
Best budget cordless straightener
The best affordable cordless straightener
Cordless straighteners can range anywhere from £200 to £400, and although this Babyliss straightener is only £20 away from £200, it's one of the more affordable picks without sacrificing quality results. It can take a few passes to straighten curly hair, but it left us with the straightness and sleekness we expect from this brand.
Best high-tech option
The best high-tech cordless straightener
With unique styling plates that smoothen and straighten your hair to perfection, the Dyson Corrale is nothing short of impressive. With flexible copper plates and multiple heat settings, this is the perfect option if hair health is your top priority. Plus, you can continue straightening your hair while it's plugged in and charging.
Best battery life
The best for battery life
With a 10-minute longer battery life and an extra one on backup, the Revamp IGEN Progloss is a 10 in the battery department. It also has plates infused with keratin, argan, and coconut oil, leaving you with added shine and smoothness. It's the perfect cordless straightener for those with thick/curly hair who may need a little more time straightening.
Best quick charging
The best for quick charging
One of the downfalls of cordless straighteners is waiting for it to charge to use it. Fortunately, the Cloud Nine straightener has a charging time of only 90 minutes, compared to other models that take hours. And there's a "revive mode" for healthier styling.
Best temperature settings
The best for multiple temperature settings
Unlike most cordless straighteners, the Revamp compact gives you multiple temperature options instead of being limited to one or two heat settings. It's also lightweight and super portable. This cordless straightener is a great replacement option if the ghd unplugged is a little out of your hair budget.
The best cordless straighteners, reviewed by a beauty editor
Why you can trust Woman & Home
The best cordless straightener for travel
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
At just 22cm long, the ghd Unplugged is far more compact than most of the best ghd straighteners. This makes the styler itself very portable, fitting inside a chic matching colour case that’s about the size of a pencil case. The accompanying charger is pretty small, too, so you won’t have to sacrifice much space in your hand luggage. The compactness does make the plates quite small, so we found we couldn't straighten particularly big sections of hair at once. However, it only took our tester a few passes through a section to get it completely straight.
As well as charging from the mains, this model can also be charged via USB-C from, say, a laptop, so it’s truly an on-the-go straightening iron. Conveniently, you're able to see how much battery remains via a light display on the handle, which we found helpful to keep an eye on while styling. However, a single charge only lasts for around 20 minutes, which is a bit less than average for cordless straighteners. Therefore, we would say that, unless your hair isn't very long or curly, these straighteners might be better for refreshing or touching up your hair as opposed to a full styling session. But when it comes to portability, they're a winning choice.
Read our ghd Unplugged review has more information
The best budget cordless straightener
2. BaByliss 9000 Cordless Hair Straightener
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
The first thing that got this tool a big tick in our book is its price tag. Cordless straighteners are often pricey, as you may have guessed from options featured in our guide. But BaByliss’ can be snapped up for a more reasonable £180 – and are often discounted to even less. There’s also a nice case included to transport your snazzy, wire-free straighteners around. As for the user experience, we found BaByliss really demonstrates its decades of hair tool know-how here, with the straightener getting nice sleek results. It did require a few passes over curly hair to straighten it, but it did so well and left our hair nice and straight.
While the rechargeable batteries in cordless straighteners are often heavy, that isn’t the case here, as the 9000 doesn’t feel awkward or difficult to use. A coloured ring at the base of the styler also continuously shows one of four colours, indicating how much battery is left while you style, which we thought was a nice touch. (Don’t worry, this is all in the manual, too!) Again, there are only about 30 minutes worth of juice to a full charge here, but this tool still allows you to enjoy wire-free styling for a bit less money than other models.
See our full BaByliss 9000 Cordless Hair Straightener review for a more in-depth look at this tool
The best high tech cordless straightener
The Dyson Corrale Straightener
The Dyson Corrale Straightener
3. Dyson Corrale Straightener
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Dyson’s hair tools are famous, partly because of the impressive technology involved, partly because they are some of the most expensive consumer styling tools on the market. When testing, we found the Corrale effect – which gives this styler its name – a little unusual, but very clever. Although the straightener is gliding smoothly over your hair, the process feels a little like you’re running it over tangled hair or as though it’s snagging – but don’t panic, it isn’t. This is the plates gathering and aligning your hair for the perfect flyaway-free finish and we found that these straight results stay put.
The Corrale's fully-charged battery lasts 30 minutes, which, as is a running theme in this guide, isn’t enough time to take hair that’s very curly, thick, long or all of the above, to poker straight. However, unlike many other cordless straighteners, this one can be used while plugged in and charging. Another drawback of the Corrale is that it’s rather heavy, and as it’s no smaller than standard, there aren’t any space-saving or weight-saving benefits to take advantage of in your luggage. Its cordless-ness therefore lends itself better to distance from power, rather than travel.
The Corrale is also the most expensive cordless model in this round-up by quite some way, with a price tag that's just shy of £400 – which is more than most pairs of straighteners in general, not just cordless models. If you have the budget, only you can decide if you deem the price tag worth it, but if you want cool technology and the cost isn’t prohibitive this is a good pair of straighteners.
See our full Dyson Corrale review for a detailed look at this cordless model
The best cordless straightener for battery life
4. Revamp iGen Progloss Cordless Ceramic Straightener
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Revamp's newer cordless model, the iGen Progloss Cordless Ceramic Straightener, actually left our tester with time to spare when straightening her hair from naturally curly. At 40 minutes, the battery life is already longer than all of the other tools in our edit, but these straighteners also come with a second, additional battery – so when the first one runs out you have another full charge ready to go while you’re on the move. This gives you up to 80 minutes of styling time, in which you’re much more likely to be able to style a full head of thick, long, and/or curly hair, which went down well with our testers who were used to seeing 30 minutes or less.
That extended battery life does come at a price, though. Much like the Dyson Corrale, these straighteners are quite heavy once the battery is attached – and if you’re lugging your second battery around, they’re even heavier, which is something to consider if you often need to travel light. But if you want to style your hair fully with your wire-free tool, rather than simply touching it up on the go, these offer the longest amount of cord-free styling time by quite some way.
The best cordless straightener for fast charging
5. Cloud Nine The Original Cordless Iron
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
With three heat settings and a not-too-heavy design that’s the same as its wired counterpart, including "Revive mode" for reduced friction and kinder styling, Cloud Nine’s Original Cordless Iron impressed us. Although it required a few passes through curly hair to get it straight, the shiny and sleek results went down very well with our tester – as we'd expect from makers of some of the best straighteners for curly hair. But what really sets this tool apart from the rest is its quick charging time: just 90 minutes, meaning you don’t have to wait anywhere near as long as other models to be powered up and raring to go. When we plugged these straighteners in for the first time, expecting them to need that golden hour and a half to be ready to test, we were also pleased to discover they were already fully charged.
There are a couple of things that could make this tool’s user experience as seamless as its results. The battery display could be improved, as the straighteners show a green battery right up until you get the low battery warning, so you’re in the dark over how far through the power you are until you’re close to the end. You’re alerted to the low battery by the straighteners playing a short sound – which happened around 20 minutes into our tester styling with both the middle and highest temperatures. Battery quibbles aside, this cordless styler gets lovely results.
The best cordless straightener for multiple temperature settings
6. Revamp Progloss Liberate Cordless Compact Straightener
Our expert review:
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
The other cordless option from Revamp, the Progloss Liberate Cordless Compact Straightener is much smaller than the iGen model – barely over 20cm, to be precise – and is nice and light. Another plus: although the charging time is noted as three hours, when we first unwrapped this styler and plugged it in it already had a half-full battery.
Many straighteners on the market style at one temperature, but we were pleased to see that this model has three (160°C, 180°C, and 210°C) for a more customizable styling experience. Like the ghd Unplugged, its plates are quite small, but there’s another common cordless straightener issue at play; 30 minutes of battery power is more than some other models and fairly standard, but not enough time to style a head of thick, long hair. This makes this styler better for on-the-go touch-ups; the brand’s other model is best for those who need theirs to last for a full styling session.
Nevertheless, our tester found that using this model yielded soft-feeling hair, which we imagine is partly down to the moisturizing oil-infused plates. It's easy to use and can fit in your bag in its handy sparkly travel case without adding extra weight.
How we tested the best cordless straighteners
As part of our research for this feature, we tested most of the cordless straighteners on the market from leading haircare brands. To assess each pair of cordless straighteners, we charged them up to a full battery and styled our hair from its natural texture to see how well they straightened and for how long. While testing each tool, we assessed the following factors.
- Price
- Design
- How long they take to charge fully
- Battery life
- Portability and weight
- How well they styled hair
- Accompanying case
We also spoke to leading hair stylists to evaluate the benefits of owning a cordless straightener. "Straighteners always have been and always will be such a versatile tool – they can be used in many ways and not just for sleek hair," says session hair stylist and BaByliss ambassador Syd Hayes. "I am using [the BaByliss 9000 straightener] all the time backstage when we have no electrical sockets; a complete game changer to the backstage world. The cordless tech gives me the freedom to provide amazing hair anywhere; on any beach, backstage at Fashion Week for final hair touch-ups, or in the back of a van on the way to a shoot location. It can be so versatile and, for me, provides such freedom with my styling."
Syd Hayes is a renowned hair stylist and the owner of the Q Cut salon in Kew Gardens, London. He is also an ambassador for BaByliss and has worked on countless photo shoots and fashion week shows during his career.
Are cordless straighteners right for you?
Cordless straighteners are great for styling on the go, when you're pressed for time and have to style your hair at the office, and for travelling. But according to woman&home's beauty editor Aleesha Badkar, who owns the Dyson Corrale, there are some pros and cons to consider before buying these useful portable stylers. One is its short battery life.
"For me, I have no choice but to use the Corrale corded – and with a magnetic attachment, this can be annoying, as it easily falls out. And then comes the actual battery power," Badkar says. "Even corded, the battery lasts no more than a few minutes before it conks out, and I have to restart it and try again. And after a couple of attempts, it will die, not to be resuscitated again until its juices are topped up to 100."
On the other hand, a lot of cordless straighteners perform just as well as corded ones. "The results from the Corrale are second to none. High heat settings and wide but intelligent plates mean my long, thick, frizzy hair is easily tamed in just 10 minutes and left with a glossy shine," Badkar says.
Aleesha Badkar is woman&home's Acting Digital Beauty Editor, covering all things beauty on the site, from the best techniques and sharpest tools to the newest products. Previously, she was Deputy Editor and Beauty & Fashion Editor for My Imperfect Life, where she headed up the beauty, fashion and eCommerce pages.
How to choose the best cordless straighteners for you
There are a few different factors to consider when selecting a pair of the best cordless straighteners.
- Battery life: If you have thick hair or a lot of it (or both!) consider whether you need the longest battery possible for your styling needs. 30 minutes tends to be the standard, which won't be enough to straighten a whole head of naturally coily or curly hair from scratch but can work for refreshing already-styled hair.
- Temperature settings: If you are somebody who likes to style their hair at a higher temperature, compare the styling temperature to your existing mains straighteners before you buy. Some cordless options have multiple temperature settings to choose from, catering to different hair thicknesses and textures.
- Weight: Because of their rechargeable batteries, cordless straighteners can be heavy, which is something to bear in mind if you'll be carrying them around all day.
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Lucy is a UK-based beauty journalist who has written for the likes of Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, OK!, Women's Health and more, as well as contributing to woman&home. Her work covers everything from expert skin and haircare tips to the latest product launches and the show-stopping beauty looks spotted backstage at London Fashion Week. During her career she's interviewed some seriously famous faces, from Little Mix to Drag Race royalty The Vivienne, as well as chatting to the industry's leading hairdressers, dermatologists and make-up artists.
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