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- Straighteners heat up quickly and style fast
- Tourmaline-coated plates leave hair soft and silky
- Ten heat settings with easy-to-read LED screen
- Chunky styling plates are awkward to use on shorter hair
- You’ll either love or hate the matte teal finish
Vacuum cleaner manufacturer Gtech has followed fellow home technology brands Dyson and Shark into the electrical beauty market with the launch of its StyleOnic straighteners. With a £100 price tag, tourmaline-coated styling plates and ionic technology to reduce styling time and keep hair glossy and healthy, the StyleOnic is aimed at the premium end of the hair straightener market – already well-served by the likes of Dyson, ghd and Cloud Nine.
Gtech’s new straighteners don’t exactly lack competition in a relatively crowded market; but with straight tresses (and beachy straightener curls) showing no sign of going out of fashion as we head into 2025 there’s always demand for a new set of hot tools. I tested the StyleOnic to see if the newest come cleaning brand in the hair styling market can clean up the competition.
What’s in the box?
The first thing you’ll notice when you unbox these straighteners is the look – Gtech’s StyleOnic straighteners come in an eye-catching shade of dark teal that sets them visually apart from the mostly matte-black competition. The StyleOnic’s styling plates are likewise distinctive with a shiny dark-gold colour; these plates are coated with both familiar ceramic and the gemstone tourmaline, which spreads the heat evenly to reduce damage from hotspots.
The StyleOnic gets its name from ionic technology, where heating plates release negative ions as they style; ionic tech is increasingly common in heat styling tools as the ions help to both lock in moisture and style hair faster. Gtech’s ionic system is called Turbo ION and it promises that 26 million negative ions will be released during styling. Admittedly I wasn’t able to count these, but the results (see below) were certainly both fast and shiny.
On unboxing, the straighteners are lightweight and easy to hold with the weight of the straighteners is well-balanced in my hand; and as well as looking distinctive, the matte green finish feels nice to grip. The shiny surface on the plates means they glide easily and evenly over the hair. Catching and snagging can sometimes be a problem when using straighteners on my shoulder-length curly hair, but the StyleOnic moved smoothly over the lengths with no issues.
As well as shiny plates and ionic tech, the StyleOnic features ten heat settings which is great for hair that’s either fine and delicate and prefers lower temperatures, or very thick, coarse or coily hair that responds well to a higher heat. On my curly-but-fine hair, a temperature of about 160-170°C worked well and it was easy to switch between temperatures when moving around the head for areas that prefer lower heat, such as fringes or fine layers.
The StyleOnic has a 2m swivel cord that easily reaches from most bedroom power sockets to wherever you need to sit; and a 30-minute auto shutoff to reduce the risk of accidents from leaving the straighteners on. In the box there’s also a heatproof mat to rest the straighteners on when heating up and cooling down, and a heatproof glove, more usually found with curling wands where you might need to touch the tool directly, but handy to have in case of scorched fingers.
What’s it like to use?
The Gtech StyleOnic straighteners are certainly speedy to use. Switch the StyleOnic on and select a preferred heat setting with the flat gold buttons on the top of the tool; in my tests, the straighteners reliably heated up in under 30 seconds. Exactly how long depends on the temperature you’ve chosen; the LED display ticks up to show how close the tool is to the target setting. Two chirpy beeps let me know it was ready; then starting with clean, dry hair, the StyleOnic straightened my shoulder-length curly hair fully in around 20 minutes.
A small LED display on the handle reminds you which heat and curl settings you’ve chosen, and if you need to change temperature you simply tap the flat button on the top of the tool, and the StyleOnic confirms the new heat with two beeps. I found the different heat settings, and the ease of changing from one to another, are super handy for styling different hair textures (such as the finer hair I have at the front) as I moved the straighteners around my head.
To test the StyleOnic, I combed through my hair to remove tangles, applied a heat-protection spray and then sectioned into tresses about an inch wide, starting at the bottom of my head and working my way up. The straighteners felt comfortable and well-balanced in my hand and gripped my tresses easily; for the most part, one pass of the straighteners got the job done with a couple of curls needing two passes to straighten fully.
As with any straightener, the StyleOnic works best if you keep the tool moving over the hair which is made smooth and easy by the shiny tourmaline-coated plates. Once you’ve finished a pass, let the hair cool for a moment in its new, straight position before moving on to the next section. To curl, simply twist the StyleOnic as you go and the hair will follow the twist into a ringlet shape; this worked really well in my tests, with the curved shape of the StyleOnic’s plates helping form soft and pretty ringlets.
I used heat settings between 160°C and 180°C on my fine, Type 3 curly hair and this was hot enough to style quickly, without any of the telltale signs of dehydration or heat damage such as dry, crispy ends or a slightly toasted smell after styling. My hair felt soft and looked healthy and shiny after styling, even the more delicate fine sections around the front followed suit.
I tested the StyleOnic a few times in a typical working week and on most days – as long as there was no rain in the air – the style held for a full day.
Are there any downsides?
There are a couple of drawbacks to the StyleOnic: the styling plates are smoothly curved but not as slimline as some straighteners, and on my mid-length curly hair it was sometimes tricky to bring the tool close to the roots. You may find this is less of an issue if you have longer hair or less of a curl.
I found the unusual dark teal colour quite attractive and distinctive, but the strong colour choice may not match every bedroom or suit everyone’s aesthetic. That’s quite a small downside, however.
Should you buy the Gtech StyleOnic straighteners?
Like Dyson and Shark before it, Gtech has launched its hair straighteners into the premium end of the haircare market; at £100, they’re positioned towards the top of the hair care market, priced for quality and performance. That £100 gets you a nice set of straighteners; the StyleOnic delivered quick, smooth results that left my hair feeling soft and healthy and soft after straightening. In other words it did exactly what I wanted it to do, at a price point that definitely isn’t budget-level but isn’t excessive.
If you’re loyal to a rival brand such as GHD or Cloud Nine, you may not find anything here that sways you from that loyalty; but if you’re upgrading an old tool or are just in the market for a set of straighteners that provides more than the basics, the StyleOnic could be a smart choice.
