On Cloud Nine with fabulous looking hair

I am the first to admit that I have spent a LOT of money on beauty products throughout the years, and most of it quite happily, but there are things that I probably shouldn't have bought and the biggest black hole for me is definitely the one for hair styling tools - if you've read any of my previous hair styling posts you may remember that I refer to my pile of tools as Mount Remington, the place where all my unused styling gizmos go to die. I have forever been pursuing the dream of the perfect curl, but after meeting Gladys the BaByliss Pro Perfect Curl that hunt is well and truly over, so instead I turned my hair obsessive eye onto the search for the one and only hair straightener... I know I've gone from curls to straight - it is a contradiction, but a girl is allowed to change her mind, in fact it's all part of the allure - at least that's what I keep telling Him Indoors! For years I've had a bog standard straightener that I have made work very hard to get poker straight glossy locks, and to be more than fair - it's certainly done what I asked of it, but like most of us I'm a busy girl and definitely don't have time to spend 30 mins in the morning straightening my fairly long hair. So after a few seconds of deliberation I decided to invest in a quality award winning wide straightener, and now I'm very happy to introduce to you to my latest hair styling friend, perfect for long and thick hair - Cloud Nine's The Wide Iron (£101.36), affectionately known in our household these days as Nino.

Nino has lots of excellent qualities that I think would make him endearing to most of us; first of all unlike many styling products he has an on/off button and then a separate temperature gauge so you can easily set and control the temperature as you wish in a range from under 100 to over 250, and with the clear LED display it's easy to read which heat setting you're using. The iron heats up to the desired temperature faster than you can say hair straighteners and it also switches itself off if you haven't used it for 30 mins, a nice safety feature for the forgetful among us. The main thing that attracted me to this straightener in the first place is that the plates are extra wide, smooth and glossy which means that it's quicker and easier to either straighten or curl my mane of hair. What would usually take me 30-40 mins mins, now only takes 10 mins which is a massive time saver for me and let's face it, who doesn't want to sleep an extra half hour in the morning? As an extra bonus the plates contain a "mysterious ingredient" (according to Cloud Nine) that adds shine to your hair as you it, but if I'm completely honest I can't say that I've noticed any extra shine although the smoothness of the plates do mean that that I've noticed very few frizzy or broken strands of hair after I've used it and the overall finish is very sleek and silky soft.

When I bought Nino from my local salon (the amazing Guillaume Vappereau Salon) I also got a complimentary Cloud 9 Magical Potion (£16.16) a great heat protectant spray which contains UV filter and a nourishing leave-in conditioner element. Not only does the spray protect and soften your hair, it also contains quick dry properties that will reduce the drying time with as much as up to 50%, which if you have long hair like me is quite a lot. Before you spray it all over your hair, shake the bottle properly to mix the ingredients and you'll find that the clear liquid that you can see in the photo will turn milky looking. The consistency is lovely and soft, a bit like a dry oil - silky on the surface but without any greasiness and it'll absorb into your hair very quickly without leaving any residue. It has a very subtle scent that reminds me of warm clean cotton but it's so faint that it's barely noticeable and it doesn't linger on your hair either. After you've combed the potion through your hair, style as usual and personally I also find that it somehow helps to keep my hair straight longer, which is always great when you've spent time on straightening it in the first place and on me the finish lasts about 3 days (without having to use John Frieda's Frizz Ease 3 Day Straight Spray £6.99), even after working out which is AMAZING! So what does the end result look like I hear you say? - well, since you ask let me show you...

There's no denying that professional styling tools like my little Nino from Cloud Nine are expensive and perhaps not something you would splurge out on every day, but before you go for 2nd or even 3rd best keep in mind that that these irons can be used not only for straightening, but curling and waving too, the smoothness of the quality plates makes a difference to the finish and the health of our hair as we're torturing our locks with heat styling, and the results last a long time. I am extremely happy with the Cloud Nine Wide Iron and would thoroughly recommend it for a quick and sleek trip to hair heaven.