ghd Glide Hot Brush Review: Is it worth the money? Here are my honest thoughts on the sell-out smoothing tool

We hate to resort to a cliché, but the ghd Glide kind of broke the internet when it first launched as many retailers struggled to keep it in stock. But if you didn’t manage to get your hands on your own straight away, our ghd Glide Hot Brush review is here to help you decide if it’s worthy of such hype – before you make the investment in one for yourself. 

Fast forward four years and, thankfully, it’s significantly easier to get your hands on the Glide. While it can’t be counted among the best hair dryer brushes – this is a straightening-only tool, not a 2-in-1 dryer brush – it has amassed thousands of positive reviews from happy ghd customers and is therefore clearly something of a crowd-pleaser. 

To provide you with an informed analysis of how well it performs, should you be in two minds about hitting "add to basket", our contributing beauty editor has compiled an in-depth review of the ghd Glide Hot Brush and its smoothing, straightening, and styling capabilities. Here is her verdict in full...

Our beauty editor’s ghd Glide Hot Brush review

ghd Glide Hot Brush design

Design-wise the ghd Glide is pleasingly simple, taking the shape of a traditional oval hair brush with the hot plate sitting flat at the base of the bristles. Said bristles are of multiple lengths and shapes, and admittedly slightly chunky as bristles go, but are sturdy enough to be able to cut through thicker hair. Both ionic and ceramic technology feature here, too, in order to promote the smooth, smooth hair finish that's synonymous with the ghd brand. 

The controls are very minimal, only consisting of a round power button just below the brush head – there is only one temperature setting, 365°F/185°C, which as loyal ghd fans will know is the temperature that the brand says is optimum for styling hair without excessive damage. 

There’s also a swivel mechanism that stops things getting all tangled while you style, while the cable itself is a generous 9ft which doesn’t restrict you to the immediate vicinity of your mains power. In ghd’s signature black and silver accented colour scheme (or a limited edition orchid pink), I’d sum up the design as being sleek and chic. 

Does the ghd Glide Hot Brush come with any attachments?

No – the ghd Glide is a one-and-done styler, and the brush head does not detach to swap with other styling attachments. What you see is very much what you get here, which, along with its single heat setting, keeps the user experience pretty straightforward. 

If you are looking for more of a customizable styler, some dryer brushes such as the Hot Tools Blow Dryer Brush, the T3 Airebrush Duo, or the pricier Dyson Airwrap all come with multiple attachments. 

How well does the ghd Glide Hot Brush perform?

The first thing to note about the Glide user experience is that it’s extremely easy to maneuver. There are no hairdresser-level skill requirements here: if you know how to use a hair brush, you know how to use the ghd Glide (though ensuring your hair is tangle-free before you start is a good idea if you want a truly smooth styling session). That said, you probably want to wiggle the teeth all the way through your hair, so that your hair is against the hot plate, before you smooth it through, as giving it a light rake through the surface of your hair won’t do much in the way of styling. 

Depending on how close to straight your hair is when you start, it will probably take more than one pass of the Glide through a section of hair to straighten it completely; it required a few when I styled my fine-ish hair from its natural state, which is loose curls that are prone to frizz. I also found it was easier to style a section of hair by placing the brush underneath it, but I smoothed from both sides to ensure a section was completely straight. (It makes sense to do this when you consider that straighteners apply heat to both sides of a section of hair when passing through, rather than just one.)

When used as a re-styling tool to touch up my hair when I’d first styled it a few days ago, the process was obviously much quicker, and it smoothed out the mid-lengths to ends of my hair in under 15 minutes. In both instances, I liked the results in my hair, which was left very smooth with a nice bit of body and movement, rather than completely “poker straight” or flat.

What's not good about it?

Because of the size and position of the teeth and the brush head’s rounded shape, it’s a bit harder to get the Glide into the roots of a section of hair compared to a pair of the best ghd straighteners, for example. If you aren't styling already straight-ish hair, and you have a curly texture or are prone to any degree of frizz, this can be remedied if you focus on smoothing out your roots when drying off your hair before styling. 

As the teeth are also very close together the brush can also be a bit tricky to clean, but this is by no means a dealbreaker. 

ghd Glide Hot Brush review: The woman&home verdict

Marketed as being able to give you longer in bed in the mornings due to its time-saving abilities, I can see the appeal of this tool for those who would self-describe as being low maintenance or – dare I say it – a bit lazy. If you only want to touch up your hair it is a speedy tool for the job as, thanks to the large surface area of the brush, you are able to tackle larger sections of hair at a time. 

While it doesn’t offer the same level of precision styling as a pair of the best hair straighteners, which can get closer to the roots of your hair, it did a great job of smoothing mine. I don't think it could replace straighteners for those who are wedded to their flat iron, but it is incredibly easy to use, requiring less effort than straightening even when styling your hair from scratch. As a fan of the bouncy, blow-dried look, both this and the nice movement and shape it creates tick my boxes.