The Strike Of Midnight

The Preamble…

A girl needs a haircut once in a while, particularly when they’ve had the same hairstyle for about 10 years, so I took it upon myself to check out the York salons. Tumbling across Plush Spa, ideally situated across from Topshop, I found the perfect venue for a nice cut and blow dry.

During this, into the salon came two professional looking individuals carrying briefcases and iPads. It became apparent that they were sales executives from ghd. As they enthusiastically acted out the new TV commercial for the salon’s staff I watched amused and bemused. I was then approached by the gentleman giving the performance, “would you like to be the first person in York to try the new ghd midnight styler?” Let me think about that for a second… Yes, of course I did! They were, and are, gorgeous and little old me felt a million dollars as the salon team ooh’d and ahh’d at the brand new product.

The Brand…

Roll back a number of years to the birth of global super brand ghd. The year is 2001, the death of hair ‘au natural’. In no time, everyone owned a pair, and you could tell with a glance those than did not. I literally remember my mother buying a pair and my own sneaky usage, age eleven.

When ghd launched the ‘salon styler’ in 2003 – recommended for those of us ‘lucky’ enough to have ridiculously thick hair… I genuinely don’t think I could have been more pleased! Possibly, the most used and best product ever bought. Following this the launch of the mini styler made ghd accessible to the male market encouraging and participating in the growth of male grooming.

From 2002-2006 ghd grew massively as a brand launching all over the world, taking London and New York fashion weeks by storm and raking in annual turnover of £115,000,000 by 2007. Furthermore in the same year, ghd collaborated with Stella McCartney at Paris Fashion Week and launched new branding ‘Thy Will Be Done’. Last year in 2009 the company worked in partnership with Benefit cosmetics, designer Matthew Williamson and Sass & Bide. This year, ghd were awarded a second ‘CoolBrand’ status and named ‘Best Styling Tool’ by the Sunday Times Style Awards.

The launch of Midnight…

However, in my opinion until now there has been no real difference made to the original ghd straightener, other than obvious updates such as change in colour. The new classic gold styler is finally something new, something that is worth trading in your trusty old ones for.

Vision attended the ghd launch at the Royal York Hotel on Wednesday 17th November 2010, for a peek into just why these straighteners were worth the wait. A catwalk of ghd models having their hair styled was, strictly speaking, for the audience packed with hairdressers, not for the normal people like the rest of us. However the evening was interesting and insightful into different ways to do one’s hair. The looks ranged from casual to more avant garde as the ghd Art Team took the audience through how the new styler made a “huge difference” to curling hair. These sentiments were echoed by Plush Spa hairdressers who claim that the new curved edges (making curling much easier) are the main benefit to the product. Furthermore it was said that the new plates glide through hair much better than previous ones; making it much less likely to damage hair or rip off split ends. They also added that the new irons are much quicker to use – great hair with a faster finish!

With regard to the demonstrations at the launch, Jo of the ghd Art Team encouraged the audience to keep trying, “it’s all about practice” she said of the different, somewhat complicated looks that were on show on the night. Whilst the finished styles looked fabulous it did look rather difficult to try out yourself; however the team continued to stress giving them a go considering the wow factor the looks would receive.

Paul Merritt, editorial photo shoot hairdresser, who has styled Alexa Chung and Natalia Vodianova and for all top fashion magazines including UK Vogue and Elle was also demonstrating looks on the night. However a haircut with Paul himself would cost a whopping £150 and Vision didn’t rate him as
highly as the ghd team, I’m not sure we understood his hairdressing ‘in-humour’. Perhaps we were missing something…

When questioned on why we should invest in the new ghd styler, Penny Hodgson of ghd answered “the new ghd Gold Classic styler has improved features such as the outer body being cooler to touch, making it more comfortable to work with. The new golden plates glide through the hair more effortlessly and leave a high gloss finish on the hair. The Gold Classic styler still retains all top performance that you would expect from the original ghd styler but delivers better results”. This is echoed on the ghd official website – www.ghdhair.com where the features of the new styler are explained: a sleek design, allowing for better handling; ceramic heaters and contoured plates to glide through the hair smoother, for snag-free styling; a rounded barrel to easily create curls, waves, flicks and the perfect straight style; a sleep mode where heaters automatically switch off if unused for 30 minutes and universal voltage for optimum performance, wherever you travel.

The Midnight Collection gift set costs £129 which includes the ‘sleek new ghd Gold Classic styler’, exclusive styler pouch with heat resistant roll mat and two ghd sectioning clips. The Deluxe gift set also includes a limited edition travel hair dryer, a treasure chest case and a gorgeous mini baroque travel mirror. The perfect gift for Christmas.

Not too far from York lies ghd’s HQ.. Situated on Bridgewater Place, Leeds the state of the art Style Academy is described as “a temple of hair and beauty for ghd devotees around the world”. A venue where you can learn to achieve the best looks, gain inspiration and confess your ghd indulgences in a secret diary room to share your experience with other ghd customers.

From the launch of ghd in 2001 and the emphasis on straight hair – the ‘death of hair au-natural’, it would seem that the new product, aptly named ‘styler’ rather than straightener is a move to take hair back to having a more natural appearance. How fashion moves in circles.