A hair straightener hates to see me coming. With thick, fine, curly and bleach-damaged hair, I’ve ruled out straightening my hair for well over a year. Enter the GHD Sculpt: an AI-powered styler that claims to adapt its temperature to the heat of your hair, not the plates.
It sounds a lot like the Goldilocks of straighteners: not too strong, not too weak, just right. I was cautiously optimistic the Sculpt might be able to take this frizzy mane and turn it into something swishable, and after a few weeks of use, I can report this straightener is in a league of its own. Which is why I almost feel bad recommending it: it’s $449 / £369.
How it works
Just like every launch in this past week, month, or even year, GHD has shoehorned the term ‘AI’ into its new tech. Intelligent it may be, but in practice, just means the Sculpt is responsive. That’s why it has no heat settings: just a power button and the same 185°C / 365°F top temperature of other GHD tools.
According to the brand, the device takes 2,900 measurements per second, adjusting power output based on factors like hair thickness and styling speed. Simply put, it adapts depending on the temperature of your hair, not the plates.
This means it's constantly reading your hair as you work and deciding, pass by pass, how much heat it actually needs, instead of blasting every strand at the same setting regardless of thickness or dryness.
GHD uses four measurement systems to track how much hair is loaded between the plates, how much hair there is, how fast you're moving, and the angle you're styling at. So if you like to style in hefty chunks, it’ll give you extra power to account for the added heft.
It’s no ChatGPT, but you can see how the Sculpt performs like an assistant in its own right. All I had to worry about was sectioning and not burning myself, which is a struggle at the best of times, so I appreciated the extra bandwidth.
First impressions
One of the benefits of thick curly hair is that it can be styled any way. It just requires a little extra attention. When it comes to straighteners, a too-powerful tool often zaps my breakage-prone strands until they look coarse and straw-like.
When it’s designed to prevent heat damage, a hair tool’s gentle settings leave me with a layer of flat frizz. Perhaps less heat-damaged, but definitely less sleek. One trip to the gym or ride on public transport later, it’ll jump right back to a tangled mess. Thankfully, because my hair is so tricky to style, the perfect test subject for a souped-up new tool.
My first impression of the Sculpt? It looks… like a normal straightener. Thanks to a hefty (but stylish) plug, the tool itself feels incredibly lightweight, with slim plates.
The styler comes with a heat-resistant nose guard that locks the plates shut, which is ideal for peace of mind when travelling, but did leave me wondering if I could rest the Sculpt on my dressing table without the heat protective mat I’d usually get with a hair tool.
Using the Sculpt couldn’t be easier, due to its single power button. Control freaks, look elsewhere: this thing is the self-driving car of hair straighteners. From first use the tool took 20 seconds to warm up, as claimed. Because the plates are so narrow, I was able to get right to the root, which is usually my biggest struggle.
Because my natural texture is coarse, I know the feeling of my hair snagging as I drag a straightener through it. This didn’t happen with the Sculpt. My hair was left looking frizz-free and shiny, and it still had movement and body, which is something I find lacking from my straightened hair normally.
I did struggle to get the Sculpt to glide through my hair when I attempted a couple of curls. This is likely due to user error. As my hair doesn’t need curling, I rarely do it with a straightener. However, after a few passes and reducing the section size, I got the hang of it. And because I knew the Sculpt was adjusting the temperature to the angle and speed at which I used the tongs, I was less concerned that this learning curve was damaging my hair.
I’ve used this tool for a couple of weeks, and it’s given me heatwave-proof hair every time. I’ve not had to go over and re-straighten any of my lengths, because the Sculpt locks in your style during the first use.
Is it worth the money?
I’ve tested a lot of tech, and brands usually add some feature to prove their AI credentials. Whether that’s the adaptive display on a Dyson fan to prove it can detect particle sizes, or unnecessary apps that let you control your coffee machine from bed. The GHD doesn’t have any of that. It doesn’t even have a temperature display, so the brand is asking you to put faith in these tongs.
Will they live up to their damage-preventing claims? Only time will tell, and I’ll keep this review updated. But one thing’s for sure: if you have impossible hair and $500 to spare, this is the tool I’d be splashing the cash on.
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