A too-high warmth, like 450 levels, can injury the hair strand’s inner construction; the bottom setting damages the hair’s cuticle layer with out making a long-lasting type. GHD has discovered the right compromise. “Consider 365 because the candy spot, the right in-between for the longest-lasting outcomes with no excessive warmth injury,” Kirkland says.
GHD additional stands behind its researched 365-degree set level with what it calls HD Movement-Responsive expertise, a brand new mechanism contained in each the unique Chronos and the Chronos Max. Movement-Responsive expertise compensates for the temperature drop that happens when warmth transfers from the straightener to the hair itself, which is a phenomenon that GHD calls thermal lag.
Kirkland illustrates this by miming utilizing a flat iron on a bit of her hair. “As [the straightener] glides down the strand, it could be 430, then 420 … it’s not constant,” she says. “Our expertise has the power to instantly recuperate from the temp drop with sensors that measure the whole plate floor 250 instances a second, to make sure that each single a part of the plate is precisely the identical temperature the whole time you’re styling.”
Briefly, even should you suppose you are utilizing a high-heat instrument, it could be working at 365 levels Fahrenheit and even much less, whereas additionally inflicting intervals of pointless injury. Kirkland says it is these constant temperature sensors that permit customers to straighten their hair extra shortly, therefore the “Chronos” identify (Chronos was Greek mythology’s god of time).
No Ache, No Acquire
That is all undoubtedly spectacular, and it explains the Chronos Max’s price ticket (unusually excessive for one thing that is not an air-powered Dyson or a multi-tool), however does this factor really straighten in addition to a 450-degree iron? Properly, for me and my frizzy curls, sure and no.
Beginning with moist hair, I blow-dried utilizing a Shark FlexFusion blow-dry brush attachment, sprayed on a warmth protectant (as GHD recommends), and made a move on every part with the Chronos Max. I repeated this course of a number of instances. My locks had been straightened, although nowhere close to as easily as with my higher-heat ceramic instruments just like the Paul Mitchell Fashion+ or Easy+, not to mention a titanium instrument just like the Sutra. I think about if my hair had been really coily, like 4a or above, the Chronos can be an absolute no-go. The Max did work splendidly for every day touch-ups, although, and did end in noticeably extra shine over time, whether or not this was by way of the plates’ “extremely gloss” end or simply common lack of injury.
Video courtesy of Kat Merck
However what about these huge plates? Some straightening iron customers shrink back from wider plates like these on the Max, as they historically are harder to maneuver should you’re one who likes so as to add post-straightening waves and curls. Kirkland factors out that as a result of the Max’s plates sit nearer to the sting of the clamps, this iron can nonetheless be used as a multi-tool regardless of the width. I attempted this, and whereas my straightening iron curl recreation is not the strongest, I did not discover it any harder to attain with the Max versus a 1-inch iron.
In all, even when it did not go away my coarse curls as clean as with a warmer straightening iron, the Chronos Max continues to be a contender for these with easier-to-manage hair and/or those that need to decrease injury. Simply do not anticipate it to work a miracle, though you would be forgiven for anticipating one for the value.
