If you straighten your long curly hair, what do you use?

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I have pretty curly hair which goes into ringlets. It's a few inches past my shoulders. In the past I've just worn it natural, but it's getting quite long and if I wear it curly I have to at least condition it every couple of days otherwise it gets frizzy and dry. If I dry it straight-ish, I can go 5 days between washes and just brush it.

I don't have any proper straighteners. Back in the day it used to be GhD all the way but there are so many different straightening irons, dryers, brushes etc. now. Ideally I would like something with variable temperature as I don't want to damage it with too much heat. I'm not bothered about getting it poker straight, just fairly smooth - like a good blow dry.

Any recommendations?

I have curly thick hair that takes hours to dry naturally, I was using some brilliant straighteners but it took me about 1.5 hours to dry and straighten it every hair wash day and it would get really frizzy after a day or two.

I now don't straighten it and instead do a blow dry with Babyliss Air Styler 1000 with the big round brush attachment and it dries my hair in about 30 mins and looks great for days like I've had it done in the hair dresswes, highly recommend it

My daughter and I both have Diva Edit straighteners, the ones with titanium plates as I also have wavy hair.
They have variable temperature control and have been brilliant. I wouldn't go back to ghds now, you can get then from Sallys or Amazon.

This is my hair naturally without any product vs drying it with the air Styler btw

I have similar hair to you OP, I let it dry naturally and then brush through in sections with this straightening brush, straightens it abs de frizzes without losing much volume and lasts me 5 days x. https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08DJ465HF/

Great, thanks for these. @ShalomToYouJackie your hair looks great

I was considering some kind of air styler rather than irons but do you need to be good at blow drying to use them? I couldn’t give myself a proper blow dry to save my life...

Not at all, I've never been able to blow dry my hair using a hairdryer with the nozzle and a round brush separately but because the round brush is attached to the dryer it's really easy, I can do it with one hand.

It's similar to the Dyson airwrap (but much cheaper) so if you watch videos of using the Dyson round brush attachment on YouTube you can see how easy it is. There's also a normal brush attachment so you can just brush your hair and I'll dry straight ish

Ok thanks, that’s encouraging!

For the best results you need to blow dry and then straighten

BUT

I really like an air styler to dry - one of those that's like a big round brush and spins while drying hair. You have to get your hair about 80 or even 90% dry first IMHO and then you get a smooth salon style blow dry. You can then use straighteners to get it smoother and straighter. I've got a Remington one and it was quite inexpensive but I bought it years ago.

This is the best tool I've ever used. So cheap, too.

That's similar to what I've got Weird. The one I've got spins, can't see whther that does.

I think this is what I've got

Remington AS8110 Keratin Volume and Protect Air Styler www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CEZ99T6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_v8jaGbZJ81Z05?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I had GHDs for around 15 years, a couple of months back decided to get a pair of Cloud 9 straighteners - the difference is huge. My hair is thick and curly but they tackle it well.

Hmm. Can't decide between irons or an air styler. I'm not bothered about having poker straight hair, I just want it to be relatively straight and smooth... Hard to tell whether the expensive ones are worth it too!

If it's one or the other get an air styler

I have really curly hair prone to frizz. I never wear it curly it's either tied up or straightened.
I tried the babyliss big hair styling brush it just made my hair frizz up and it still needed straightening.
I always used GHD original straighteners which were great but last week I got the cloudnine wide plates and they're brilliant.
Adjustable heat setting so don't fry my hair and the pass over my hair more smoothly. I only need to straighten my hair once a week.

I also have the cloud 9 wide plate straighteners - they are great

Hmm maybe I do need both!