Here's How to Clean Your Hair Straightener

Most beauty mavens are pretty savvy when it comes to knowing how—and how often—to clean makeup tools and hairbrushes.

But how many of us regularly clean our hairstyling hot tools?

Is it just us, or are you hearing crickets too?

OK, so a hair appliance isn’t one of the most obvious beauty tools to clean.

Perhaps that’s because unlike makeup brushes, which are often used with pigmented products, your hair tools accumulate colourless muck such as oil, dead skin, dust, hairspray, or yesterday’s dry shampoo.

But if you look closely, you may actually see a delicate coating on your beloved ghd straightener.

That said, even if we CAN’T see it, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t remove it.

So, before we jump into how to clean hair straighteners, let’s talk about *why* we should all take the time to do just this.

Why should you clean your hair straightener?

From a hygiene standpoint, a lot of dirt and bacteria lurk on our hair tools.

Besides being unhygienic, that built-up grime can interfere with the heat level of your straightener.

Plus, the gunk can slide off and stick to your strands, making your freshly washed hair suddenly look like third-day hair. Not super-helpful when all you want is a good hair day.

If you’re now thinking, ‘Right, I need to learn about how to clean hair straighteners,’ you’re in the right place.

We’re also happy to report that cleaning ghd straighteners is incredibly straightforward once you know what you’re doing.

How to clean hair straighteners

Curious about how to clean ghd hair straighteners? Let’s get into it.

1. Gather your supplies

Choose a damp cloth or some gentle makeup wipes, and grab your hair straightener. When cleaning ghd ceramic plates, be sure whatever you’re using is nice and soft to prevent scratches. An old towel or T-shirt is a great option.

If, on inspection, your hair straightener looks seriously overdue for a clean (BTW, no judgement here), a couple drops of shampoo on your damp cloth will effectively remove any grimy residue.

2. Heat up your hair straightener

Just like wiping down a stovetop when it’s still slightly toasty, cleaning ghd straighteners when they’re slightly warm will get that muck to slip right off. Just be careful to let your straightener cool properly first so you don’t burn your fingers.

Switch your device on and wait for it to heat. Go ahead and use it if you’re styling your hair; otherwise, just switch it off once it reaches max temp. Then leave it to cool for 15 minutes or so. Now, this safety bit is important: switch off and unplug your hair straightener before getting to work!

3. Wipe the straightener plates

If you’re not sure how to clean ghd straightener plates, we’ve got you. This is the fun part!

If you’re working with a damp cloth, wring it out firmly so no excess water will drip onto your hair straightener. We’re probably stating the obvious here, but water can damage your hair straightener if any droplets find their way inside the device.

Take your cloth or makeup wipe and gently rub it across the straightener’s plates as you watch all evidence of previous days’ styling melt away.

Isn’t that satisfying?

4. Wipe the straightener body

Pay particular attention to the grooves on either side of the plates as well as the areas around the buttons and where the cord attaches.

Dirt tends to gather in these little cracks and crevices, so you might need to use your fingernails to really push the cloth into them.

You’ll also want to give the rest of the body of your straightener a good go with your cloth.

5. Do it all again (if needed)

Time for the moment of truth: look closely and see if any areas need some extra attention. If you notice quite a bit of dirt on your cloth or wipe, get yourself a fresh one and give your hair straightener another swipe.

And, before you know it, voilà! You’ve got yourself one seriously clean ghd hair straightener

How regularly should I clean my hair straightener?

In an ideal world, we’d all clean our hair straightener after every use. But when you’ve got five minutes to do your hair and catch the bus, daily cleaning isn’t always possible.

So, with that in mind, we recommend cleaning ghd straighteners as much as you can—but don’t panic if that’s not after every use.

As a rule of thumb, if you’re a regular straightener, we’d suggest doing your ghd straightening iron cleaning every two to four weeks.

But if you use your tool only occasionally (hee-hee!), you can get away with doing it less often (ho-ho!).

We hope this article has given you some good tips on how to clean hair straighteners.

Next time your freshly cleansed hair looks as if it hasn’t been washed in days, it might be time to give your hair straightener some TLC.

Bookmark this story for the next time you’re cleaning ghd straighteners.

You can find more of our best hair straightener tips and tricks in the guides below...

• What's the Best Flat Iron or Straightener for Curly, Frizzy Hair?

• Addicted to Your Hair Straightener? Here’s How to Prevent Damage

• From Flat Irons to Hair Straighteners, Here’s the Difference Between Your Favourite Hot Tools

• Our Top 5 Tips for Choosing a Hair Straightener

• PSA: You Can Use Your Hair Straightener as a Curling Iron, and Here’s How To Do It

• For the Straightener Obsessed: Here are the Best Heat Settings for Your Hair Type

• The Best Type of Hair Straighteners (and Why)

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