We probably don't need to tell you that the top hair straighteners on the market are those that create a salon-worthy sleek, shiny finish with ease. But the best hair straighteners for thick hair, specifically? These tools make styling even the thickest strands feel relatively easy – with smooth results that last.
The secret to straightening thick hair fast lies in a pair of irons' plates; here, the best hair straighteners are often wider or longer than the average straightener. “Using a wider plate straightener can make it easier to style thick hair as it’s faster to straighten large sections,” explains Tyler Moore, hairstylist at Live True London. “While it’s possible to style with regular straighteners, beginners may find wider plates easier to use.”
On longer hair, “Wide plates are super effective as they capture more stands in one go and remove frizz fast,” adds Belle Cannan, founder of Salon Sloane. For the sleekest results, you’ll also need to rely on glossy coatings and variable heat temperatures, regardless of whether you want a pair of the best cordless straighteners, the best straighteners for curly hair or the best ghd straighteners.
The key to smoothing thick hair, like mine, is having the right tools for the job. Which is why, along with woman&home's beauty team, I've drawn on my years of testing experience to analyse and compare the top tools on the market, sharing in-depth reviews of truly the best hair straighteners for thick hair in this guide. These are the ones with a fuss-free styling process and glossy results, every time – and, in even better news, many of them are currently massively discounted in the 2025 Amazon Prime Day sales.
Best straighteners for thick hair deals
These deals are checked daily and we will continue to do so to ensure that all of the products below are still in stock, still discounted and, most importantly, are the very best deals around at the moment.
The best straighteners for thick hair, reviewed by our beauty team
The quick list
An iconic styler, the ghd Max Styler almost needs no introduction. The glossy plates glide over strands without snagging and they shut off after 30 minutes of inactivity – which is ideal if you spend a fair bit of time worrying about whether or not you switched your straighteners off before leaving the house.
With the broadest temperature range of all the tools featured in this guide, I loved how quickly Revamp's wide straighteners tackled the job of smoothing out my thick hair. Here, the plates are longer, rather than wider, to style more hair at once.
Though it's not the cheapest option on our list, these straighteners are unique in that they use steam to replace moisture lost during the straightening process. My usual frizz was nowhere to be seen and the plates get right up to the roots, meaning I was able to create an all-over sleek and straight look with ease.
These reasonably-priced straighteners also look very chic, and while they're the narrowest option I tried, their thinner shape allowed me to tackle shorter curly hairs around the crown. Being very lightweight, these are also great at creating waves and curls, if heatless curls aren't your thing.
With "wiggly" plates that create an "air gap" to reduce unnecessary damage, I found these straighteners helped to minimise the look of split ends. They also allowed me to retain some of the volume that comes with thick hair, a plus if you're looking for that bouncy, 90s blowout hair look.
The newest addition to the famous ghd straightener line-up, the Chronos Max Hair Straightener marries the techy abilities of the Chronos with the jumbo size of the Max Styler. Ideal for those who want those larger plates and ultra smooth, lasting results. It's sleek in every sense of the world – both in terms of the user experience
The best hair straighteners for long thick hair
Reviewed by: Jess Beech
The ghd Max Hair Straightener was one of, if not the first, pairs of wide-plate irons on the market, but it's evolved over the years with new features and improved functionality. Within the brand portfolio, the Max is closer to the Gold than the newer ghd Chronos and Platinum+ stylers as it lacks some of the higher-tech features of other models. (The newer and more expensive ghd Chronos Max, also featured in this guide, marries newer tech with the Max's size.) As is standard for this brand, it only styles at 185ºC, something that won't appeal to all.
That said, there are still plenty of pros here, as this versatile tool carries multiple styling options. Thanks to the curved edges, it's ideal for learning how to curl hair with straighteners. You can create anything from big and bouncy curls on long hair to softer beachy waves on shorter lengths. I personally like using a wider styler for curls and waves; not only do narrower plates make the process more time-consuming, this approach can end up making my hair look twice as thick, which isn't my goal.
The plates feel satisfyingly hot when you use them – controversial, I know, but I like to feel my straighteners working! This tool also automatically shuts off after 30 minutes of inactivity, a huge plus if you're often in a rush to leave the house. The glossy, ceramic plates also have floating functionality that allows them to adapt to your hair's thickness and avoid snagging. (Ghd also makes one of the best curling irons for thick hair, should you be in the market for one of those, too.)
Save on your next purchase with woman&home's latest ghd discount codes
The best hair straighteners for thick hair for fast styling
The Revamp Progloss Ultra X Shine Wide Ceramic Hair Straightener
Reviewed by: Jess Beech
Revamp may not be a household name like some of the other brands featured in this guide, but trust me, the Progloss Wide Ultra X Shine Ceramic Hair Straightener is a perfect match for long and thick hair. The plates are extra long – more than a quarter longer than the average styler – meaning you can straighten hair quickly and efficiently.
A good temperature range is always a plus and this has the broadest range in our guide, from 80ºC right up to 235ºC. I’m not convinced anybody with thick hair would see much of a difference styling at 80ºC, to be honest, but if your hair is very fragile from bleaching (perhaps you overdid it with a home highlights kit), it's could be useful. Speaking of damage, this tool incorporates ionic technology, whereby positive ions that form when hair is overheated, coloured or over-processed are neutralised and replaced with negative ones to reseal the cuticle. These negative ions give hair a shiny and silky texture – and the plates are infused with hair-loving keratin, argan oil and coconut oil.
I personally found these longer plates took some getting used to, but once I mastered the technique they definitely reduced the overall styling time. My only other criticism would be that even the 170ºC setting left my hair feeling very hot, which made me distrust the temperature settings somewhat.
The best hair straighteners for thick, dry hair
Reviewed by: Jess Beech
L’Oréal Professionnel’s Steampod almost sits in a category of its own. Thanks to its patented steam technology, it works completely differently to other straighteners on the market. Moisture is often lost from the hair when using a traditional flat iron (you may notice steam escaping from the tool as you style), which can leave it feeling dry and slightly crispy. The Steampod utilises steam to replace that lost moisture, the idea being that hair is less likely to break and snap.
I only need to look at the rain out the window and my hair develops frizz, so as you can imagine my initial scepticism – surely the steam would just make my hair more frizzy? But impressively it didn’t, probably as the steam is dry, not wet. I did find that my hair felt a bit tackier after using the Steampod compared with other stylers (although I do tend to use quite a lot of hair products so that could be part of it). However, it was still smooth to the touch and there was no fluffy "halo" to contend with.
Though the Steampod 4.0 is the best version yet and has been improved upon since the first iteration, it’s still not a seamless user experience and some downsides remain. For example, the tank has to be filled with demineralised water, not regular tap water; it has to be used a certain way up for the comb attachment to pass through the hair; and it makes a rather loud humming noise during use. That said, it boasts a lighter design than its predecessors, reaches closer to the roots and has curved, heated outer plates to assist styling.
The best affordable hair straighteners for thick hair
Reviewed by: Jess Beech
My first pair of ghd straighteners cost me £100 and I remember thinking then that was a jaw-dropping amount of money to spend on a hair tool. Thanks to new technology and inflation, today it’s not uncommon for tools to cost three times that – and even the more "affordable" options are getting close to the £200 mark. So I was understandably thrilled to see the mdlondon STRAIT Hair Straightener is a very reasonable (by 2025 standards) £109.
My initial impressions were good; though it's the narrowest in our guide, the longer design means you can still easily style a wider section of hair at a time, cutting overall styling time down. I have a halo of shorter hairs around my hairline that love to twist into ringlets, but this styler's thin shape reached them easily without feeling like I was about to singe my forehead. There's a slightly off-putting crackling sound as it heats up, but this is neither a deal-breaker nor does it impact the performance. I also appreciated the screen, which shows the temperature heating up degree by degree. I’m always keen to use as little heat as possible on my hair, but even at 90°C these straighteners still smoothed well – my hair felt cool as it came out the other side rather than guiltily hot to the touch.
If you prefer to use higher heat, you’ll be pleased to know that these straighteners go up to 230°C, but I only went up to 210°C, which was more than sufficient for my hair. A final positive is that this tool is very light, which encouraged me to style more gently and not tug down on my hair with the irons. This will also be a plus point for anyone who finds straightening their thick hair tiring, or who wants to experiment with creating waves and curls without an accompanying arm workout.
The best straighteners for thick hair to minimise damage
The KEEO Genius Smart Glide-Straightener
Reviewed by: Jess Beech
I’m always interested to see brands doing things a little differently, as with the KEEO Genius Smart-Glide Straightener, which boasts wiggly plates instead of flat ones. These slot together like a jigsaw puzzle when you clamp them shut. The idea is that this leaves an "air gap" between the plates, meaning you don’t cause unnecessary damage by pulling the tool too forcefully through to the hair (something I’m definitely guilty of when I’m in a rush, which is 99.9% of the time).
Being totally honest, I was a bit dubious at first, as I couldn’t see how I’d get a super straight finish or avoid feeling like my hair was snagging as I passed it through the ridged plates, but it didn’t take long for me to be proven wrong. The styling process does take slightly longer as you have to straighten more slowly than with other tools, but this is to help reduce damage – a fair trade for fewer split ends. However, my hair did retain some volume rather than being poker straight, which won’t be for everyone. Whether or not that puts you off will depend on if (like me) you’re trying to disguise that you have very thick hair.
Also worth mentioning is that if you clamp these straighteners onto your hair, for example, when adding a wave or curl, then they will imprint. Although it can easily be straightened out, it is something to bear in mind if you like to use the best hair straighteners for thick hair to style yours in a variety of ways.
The best hair straighteners for thick hair for smooth and shiny results
Reviewed by: Lucy Abbersteen
The latest addition to the brand's straightener line-up, the ghd Chronos Max, as its name suggests, pairs the tech of the Chronos with the larger plates of the above Max Styler – which the brand calls out as being particularly good for long, curly and thick hair types. All of this tool's features feel as sleek and smooth as its results; at first, we found the only noticeable difference to be the rounded tops of the plates and slightly different-looking controls, it really levels up the straightening experience.
The USP here is HD motion-responsive™ technology, which continuously adapts to the way that you're styling and the size and thickness of the section of hair. But it's also designed to create long-lasting results even more quickly, with curved edges that we found make it that bit easier to fit the tool into the roots of our hair. Our contributing beauty editor Lucy Abbersteen's curly hair would probably be classed as medium thickness, but she has a lot of it, and notes that the Chronos Max definitely made for a quicker straightening session compared to other models. The shine and smoothness of the results can't be denied; if you have the extra budget and want to supercharge those extra large plates, this is the ghd tool to go for. Consider us impressed.
The best hair straighteners for thick hair for a sleek finish
The Revlon Double Straight Copper Ceramic Dual Plate Straightener
Reviewed by: Jess Beech
The first thing that struck me about Revlon's Double Straight Copper Ceramic Dual Plate Straightener is that it's a very unique looking hairstyling tool. Instead of the usual two plates, it has four narrow ones, joined together by a bridge at the top of the styler. The idea is that the first plate passes through and straightens the hair, then the second reinforces the smoothness. Initially, I was sceptical that this was gimmicky and thought my thick hair would surely escape through the gap in the middle when styling and snag. But I was pleasantly surprised; it actually worked really well.
Despite the narrow plates, this styler seamlessly passes through hair to style a large surface area at once. I managed to straighten in chunky sections which, overall, shaved a good five minutes off my normal styling time. The broad temperature range spans 140°C to 235°C, though I found 170°C was enough for my hair – so I think most people with exceptionally thick hair wouldn’t need to climb too much higher. But what really stood out to me was how soft and shiny my hair felt after using this tool, as it was seriously glossy and stayed that way until my next wash.
The best hair straighteners for thick hair prone to frizz
Reviewed by: Jess Beech
Much like the Supersonic Hair Dryer before it, the Dyson Corrale really was a hairstyling innovation when it hit the market. The first and most impressive thing about it is the cordless design and, unlike other wire-free stylers, doesn’t need a huge amount of charging beforehand. 70 minutes on charge results in 30 minutes of cordless use, but if you've forgotten to power the battery in advance you can just use it with the wire, too, which many cordless straighteners don't allow.
Another standout feature is the plates. They’re super flexible, which means they move with your hair, holding it tightly where needed and loosening up where it isn’t. They seem to make a slight crunching noise as you style, which is down to the "corraling" – but you quickly get used to it. There's also a flight-ready feature that’s perfect for travel to allowing heat reduction (and subsequently breakage), all while boasting sensors that ensure the optimum temperature across the plates.
All this makes the Corrale brilliant and certainly one of the best cordless straighteners on the market, but I personally didn’t love everything about the results. It did smooth my hair, as well as knocking out the curls and kinks, but it didn’t leave my hair as sleek and straight as I’m used to. It also still had a fair amount of body, with the finish looking more like a smooth blow dry than poker straight. But while this was a downside for me, I know it will be a plus for many; if you love the natural “oomph” and volume of your thick hair, the Corrale certainly won't leave it looking flat and lifeless.
How we tested the best straighteners for thick hair
When we were testing the various straightener models to find the best on the market, each one was used on my incredibly thick and curly hair. Not only do I have a lot of hair, each individual strand is thick, too, making it thick in more ways than one.
Straightening my hair can be as strenuous as a 45-minute gym workout; both leave me feeling like a sweaty and melted mess, with only one of them doing something for my fitness levels. What I'm trying to say here is that a straightener needs to be well equipped to not lengthen an already time-consuming styling process.
When testing these tools, I used the same shampoo and conditioner for my hair type and blow-dried my hair in the same way, with my best hair dryer, throughout the testing process to ensure each one that made it to the final guide had undergone a fair test. All of the following factors were taken into account as part of my evaluations.
- Price
- Design and materials
- Cable length
- No. of heat settings and any additional "modes"
- Plate size
- Any cordless functionality
- How easily they glided over the hair
- Any innovative tech, e.g. floating plates
- Included extras, e.g. a travel case
How to choose the best hair straighteners for thick hair for you
Though we've covered a lot of these factors for you, some research is required before choosing the best hair straighteners for thick hair that will also suit your unique needs. Here are a few things to look into before finalising your purchase.
- Plate size: Hair straighteners designed for thick hair often boast wider plates and a longer design than your average straighteners – especially if you have longer hair. However, if your hair is shorter you'll need to opt for narrower plates, as wide plates probably won't be able to reach into your roots as easily.
- Accessories: If you travel regularly with your straighteners, extras like a heat mat, travel case or cordless functionality could come in useful.
- Price: Consider how often you use your straighteners – and what you need from them – before investing in an expensive pair. Most good straighteners for thick hair are admittedly a little more expensive than their narrow-plated counterparts, but we recommend the Revlon Double Straight Copper Ceramic Dual Plate or mdlondon straighteners for those with smaller budgets.
- Temperature and heat-up time: Thick hair needs a pair of straighteners that heat to a good temperature – and fast. Depending on what you usually find works best for your hair, you might also be best going for a model that allows you to adjust the temperature.
Our expert panel
Jess Beech is an experienced fashion and beauty editor with more than eight years of experience in the publishing industry. She has written for woman&home, GoodtoKnow, Now, Woman, Woman’s Weekly, Woman’s Own and Chat, and was formerly deputy fashion & beauty editor at Future plc.
Tyler Moore is an experienced hair stylist working for Live True salons in London, who has contributed his expertise to this guide to the best straighteners for thick hair.
Belle is a renowned hairstylist with more than three decades of experience in the industry. She is also the founder of premium London-based salon Salon Sloane and has shared some of her expertise for this guide.