ghd Duet Style Hot Air Styler review: an impressive wet-to-dry styler

In T3’s ghd Duet Style review, I put ghd’s first 2-in-1 hot air styler to the test to see if it lived up to the hype. Safe to say that after testing it for a few weeks, I’m more than impressed.

Founded in 2001, ghd is one of the leading brands in the hair care industry today, thanks to its impressive hair styling tools. Many of ghd’s products have found their way onto T3’s lists for the best hair dryer and the best hair straighteners… and the ghd Duet Style is definitely in the running too. 

Released in 2023, the ghd Duet Style is the first 2-in-1 hot air styler that dries and styles your hair with just one device. Using heated plates to glide through hair to both dry and straighten at the same time, the ghd Duet Style’s technology is designed to achieve sleek and fast results with no damage to the hair.

Everyone’s been raving about the ghd Duet Style and it looks like it could challenge the most popular hair stylers currently on the market. Should the Dyson AirWrap and Shark FlexStyle be nervous about the new ghd Duet Style? Let’s put it to the test!

• Buy the ghd Duet Style Hot Air Styler at ghd

ghd Duet Style review: Unboxing

The ghd Duet Style arrived in a sleek cardboard box with no excess or plastic packaging, giving the brand serious points for being more eco-conscious. In the box, you receive the ghd Duet Style Hot Air Styler which has its power cord connected and a heat proof plate guard. Other than the instructions, this is everything you need and the device itself doesn’t require any additional accessories.

Setting up the ghd Duet Style was incredibly easy – all you have to do is plug it in! Once it’s plugged in, you need to press the on/off button and the ghd Duet Style starts to heat up and beeps when it’s ready for you to use – more on this later.

ghd Duet Style review: Design

Starting with its design, the ghd Duet Style looks more like a pair of hair straighteners than a hair dryer. The 4 smart temperature plates have a unique styling chamber and internal aerodynamics which blow out hot air to dry and straighten at the same time. How it works is the ghd Duet Style uses Air-fusion technology that concentrates the airflow through the concentrated drying chamber which works alongside the styling plates to dry the hair.

To cover more hair and to deliver the 2-in-1 action, the ghd Duet Style does have overly large plates, making it a little heavy and tricky to hold at times. Having said that, you can put a huge amount of hair within the plates to dry bigger chunks and sections of hair quickly and efficiently. Another impressive feature of the ghd Duet Style is its use of Infinity sensors, which work to predict your hair’s needs and adjust temperature accordingly to protect your hair from damage.

On the handle of the ghd Duet Style are two buttons: an on/off button and a Shine Shot button. To turn on the ghd Duet Style, you simply push the slider to the on position and it’ll start heating up. When you want to use the Shine Shot button, you press it for 2 seconds before the button lights up and the ghd Duet Style starts getting ready. Shine Shot is a mode for use on dry hair only, and is what turns the ghd Duet Style into a styler. It only heats up to 185°C and it doesn’t expel any air.

ghd Duet Style review: Performance

When using the ghd Duet Style, the brand’s instructions say that you should only use it on wet hair that’s been towel dried first – it should definitely not be soaking wet! So after towel drying my hair, I turned on the ghd Duet Style and it immediately made a loud beeping noise before it started to heat up. While it heats up, it makes a whirring noise, similar to what you get with most hair dryers.

Once it’s reached its full temperature (which takes a matter of seconds), the ghd Duet Style will beep at you again when it’s ready for you to use it. The ghd Duet Style doesn’t beep often but when it does, you definitely know about it because it’s quite loud and high pitched. This isn’t really a huge issue as hair dryers make a fair amount of noise anyway but it’s worth mentioning.

To use the ghd Duet Style, I sectioned off my hair like I would if I was straightening or styling it. As someone with fine hair, I didn’t actually need to do this as the ghd Duet Style dried my hair very quickly. It glides through hair easily and smoothly, even if your hair is a bit tangled, and I was impressed with how quickly my hair dried. When sectioning my hair and using smaller strands, I found that the ghd Duet Style dried my hair in about 2-3 moves and with slightly thicker chunks of hair, it dried in about 5-6 moves. I thought this was pretty impressive, although it may take longer for those with thicker hair.

The ghd Duet Style releases a good amount of heat that sticks to the plates nicely. While you definitely shouldn’t grab the plates when they’re in action, if you accidentally touch the outside during use, the heat is well contained so I wasn’t too worried about burning myself when using both the drying and styling functions. Switching from the ghd Duet Style to the Shine Shot mode is easy and takes a matter of seconds. The styling works nicely and I found it worked best if you’re trying to achieve simple waves. It also left my hair looking shiny and feeling silky.

One negative I have about the ghd Duet Style is the size of the plates. As the plates are quite big and wide, it can be tricky to get them close to the roots and when you do, the heat being emitted is quite hot. I found my roots were still a little damp after use and styling could also be a bit tricky. If you’re trying to style your hair into ringlets or elaborate curls, the ghd Duet Style isn’t the best to do this as the plates are simply too big. That being said, the ghd Duet Style is more designed to dry and straighten hair and it curls well so if you want tighter or bouncier curls, you’re better off using the best hair curlers.

ghd Duet Style review: Price

The ghd Duet Style is £379 on the ghd website and at select retailers like John Lewis and Very. Compared to its competitors, the ghd Duet Style falls in the middle of the Shark FlexStyle and the Dyson Airwrap, with the former costing £299.99 and the latter costing £479.99.

Considering the ghd Duet Style was only launched this year, it’s unlikely you’ll find any price drops on it soon, but you can use these ghd discount codes for money off your order.

ghd Duet Style review: Verdict

The ghd Duet Style is an impressive 2-in-1 hair tool that effectively and effortlessly dries and straightens your hair. After using the ghd Duet Style rather than my normal hair dryer, I found that my hair felt softer and smoother and it looked a lot shinier which is a big plus. The technology behind the ghd Duet Style is incredibly clever and it works really well, despite its occasional difficulty to reach the roots.

I will say that the plates are a bit too big and heavy for some, and it’s mainly geared towards people who want to dry their hair straight. But, if that’s what you want, it’s the perfect hair tool to add to your hair care routine. I would definitely recommend it.

ghd Duet Style review: Alternatives to consider

If you want a similar 2-in-1 hair styler, the Shark FlexStyle is a great alternative to consider. Cheaper than the ghd Duet Style, the Shark FlexStyle has five styling options and attachments, including a Styling Concentrator, an Oval Brush, a Paddle Brush, a Curl-Defining Diffuser, and two Auto-Wrap Curlers. It also applies heat directly to the hair and causes little to no damage, just like the ghd Duet Style.

If you’re still not sold on wet-to-dry stylers, you should go for a quality hair dryer and straighteners that are separate from one another. ghd is a great brand to choose for this, and the ghd Helios hair dryer is currently in the top three in our best hair dryer guide. For straightening and other styling, the ghd Platinum+ are the best straighteners you can buy today and got 5 stars in T3’s review.