Dyson Corrale™ Hair Straightener

Why it's worth it

The Corrale's plates flex to gather hair as they close, which Dyson says lets you get the same style with less heat and half the breakage. It also runs cord-free for up to 30 minutes. It's the most expensive iron here by a wide margin.

The plates bend around your hair instead of crushing it. Rigid plates only touch the parts of a section that happen to be flat, so you end up clamping the same piece two or three times to catch what got missed. The Corrale's flexing plates gather the hair as they close, which means more even contact. Dyson's own figures put it at 50% less breakage and the same style at a lower temperature.

Cord-free actually works here. You get up to 30 minutes off the plug, with a full recharge in about 70 minutes and a travel dock that tops it up between uses. If your bathroom has one outlet in an inconvenient spot, or you get ready in a hotel room, that's a real quality-of-life change. And it still runs corded, so a dead battery never strands you halfway through.

From our review of 5 hair straighteners and flat irons, by Sarah Wright, Editorial Associate

What we like

• +The plates bend around your hair instead of crushing it
• +Cord-free actually works here
• +The screen removes the guesswork
• +The safety design is the strictest here

What to know

• –Thirty minutes goes quickly if you have a lot of hair
• –It's heavy, and you feel it
• –It costs far more than anything else here