In our GHD Platinum Plus vs Chronos head-to-head, we compare the two stylers in terms of price, design, features and performance to see which is worth your money
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It’s been six years since GHD released a wired pair of straighteners, in the form of the GHD Platinum Plus.
There have been new innovations since – namely the cordless GHD Unplugged, GHD Helios and the wet-to-dry styler, GHD Duet Style – but for a brand that is best known for its flat-iron stylers, this has felt like a long break.
Then in January, GHD launched the GHD Chronos – a redesigned, re-engineered version of the Platinum Plus that promises to be faster, easier to use and leave your hair looking shiny for hours.
It’s more expensive than the Platinum Plus, as you’d imagine, but does that really mean it’s worth the extra cash? Or is this now the best time to buy the (now cheaper) Platinum Plus?
Read what we think of both stylers in our full GHD Chronos review, and GHD Platinum Plus review.
The GHD Chronos is available in:
The GHD Platinum Plus is available in:
GHD/mamabella The biggest upgrade on the Chronos, compared to the Platinum Plus, is the in-built sensor technology.
Older models of GHD straighteners had single-, or dual-zone technologies. This meant that sensors were used to create either one large “zone” or two smaller zones within which the temperatures of the plates would be continuously monitored and adjusted to make sure the heat was evenly distributed.
When the Platinum Plus launched, it used an upgraded version of this tech called ultra-zone technology. These sensors monitor the heat distribution across the entire plate 250 times a second to make sure there aren’t any cold or hot spots during use, and that the heat is evenly spread to make styling quicker and more efficient.
With the GHD Chronos, this technology has been upgraded again to what the brand calls HD motion-responsive technology.
It works in a similar way to the Platinum Plus’ ultra-zone technology yet it now contains sensors that recognise how the Chronos is being used. This includes the angle the Chronos styler is being held at, the speed of the strokes and even what kind of looks you’re creating – curls, waves or straight styles.
From here, the Chronos distributes heat to where it’s needed and makes sure this heat remains consistent and even to make styling even quicker.
GHD claims this tech “responds to your styling motion with 2x more responsiveness and intelligence” to make straightening your “three times faster.”
In reality, it’s difficult to quantify what difference this upgrade actually makes. The Chronos was faster than the Platinum Plus but only just.
Elsewhere, the Chronos features the latest generation version of the GHD ceramic heater, and it automatically turns off after 10 minutes. The Platinum Plus doesn’t automatically turn off until after 30 minutes of inactivity.
GHD GHD makes some bold claims when it comes to the advanced performance of the Chronos.
It promises to:
However, these comparisons need to be taken with a pinch of salt. They’re not, as you may assume, in comparison to the Platinum Plus.
Instead:
This is not to completely take away from the innovations that have been added to the GHD Chronos, because when you actually use the styler there are notable improvements, but it’s worth flagging.
When straightening our hair, the Chronos took an average of 3 minutes and 15 seconds to complete the style, while the Platinum Plus took 3 minutes and 25 seconds. This is a speed increase of just 5%.
Curling our hair took longer. The Chronos took 9 minutes 45 seconds on average, while the Platinum Plus took 10 minutes. This is a 2.5% speed increase.
mamabella | mamabella The image on the left shows the finish and style using the Platinum Plus. The image on the right shows the same style on the Chronos
Frizz was significantly reduced when using both stylers, compared to when we let our hair dry naturally. It’s hard to quantify the exact differences but the Chronos reduced frizz slightly more than the Platinum Plus, based on sight and touch.
Both stylers also added shine but it was much more noticeable after using the Chronos versus the Platinum Plus. To the point where multiple people commented on how healthy and glossy our hair looked after using the new GHD styler.
The Chronos style then held for four to five hours, while the Platinum Plus style dropped after around three. Neither style survived being outside though and the shine dropped and frizz returned almost as soon as we left our house.
All this said, the Chronos is much more enjoyable to use. The plates glide over the hair unlike any straightener we’ve ever used. We hadn’t realised just how much the Platinum Plus pulled our hair until we used the super-smooth and sleep Chronos.
When this is coupled with the Chronos’ more compact design and curved barrel, it makes creating curls and waves easy, quick and highly enjoyable. This is the only area where the Chronos really pulls ahead of the Platinum Plus.
mamabella | mamabella Click the image below to see how the new GHD Chronos and Platinum Plus compare to all the other GHD hair straighteners in the range, at a glance. We go into more details about the range and which GHD straighteners best suit your hair type and budget here.
mamabella | mamabella It’s hardly surprising that the Chronos, with all of its tweaks, innovations and upgrades, would look, feel and perform better than the six-year-old Platinum Plus.
It’s a highly enjoyable styler to use, thanks to its smaller, curved design. This makes it particularly great for creating curls and the plates glide over the hair better than any other straightener we’ve used.
It’s also faster than the Platinum Plus, adds more shine and the styles last longer, albeit marginally so.
Yet in many ways the Platinum Plus and Chronos are almost the same styler. The Platinum Plus still holds its own even against more expensive, more advance models and is still a fantastic straightener.
With the Platinum Plus now being the cheaper of the two options, and with a number of retailers having dropped its price even more since the launch of the Chronos, it represents the best value for money.
With all this considered, we feel most comfortable recommending the Platinum Plus as the better GHD straightener. However, if you can afford to pay a bit more, you at least know you’re getting the best of GHD’s best innovations with the Chronos.
Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
