VS Sassoon Steam Straight Brilliance

The VS Steam Straight Brilliance Straightener looks sleek in black and rose gold. It has a solid, quality feel to it. It feels ever so slightly heavier than a regular straightener to hold, but is light enough to style thick, medium length hair without any arm fatigue. It sits nicely in the hand with an indicator where to place your thumb. It has a swivel cord for easily moving around the head.

The packaging includes clear instructions, a water dropper tool for refilling the straightener directly and a glove (made of stretchy fabric) which fit my medium sized hand well.

Water can be added from the base or directly into the straightener. I added it from the base, but either way is easy to do.

I selected the 180 degree setting with steam to suit my hair texture and thickness. The flashing light indicates it is heating up, turning solid when it reaches temperature. It heated up very quickly.

I was a bit nervous about using steam close to my skin, but it is a small, contained stream of steam and was totally fine. The straightener can also be used without steam, but after seeing the difference steam makes over regular straightening, I'm not sure why anyone would want to!

The straightener promises to straighten all hair types from thin and damaged to thick and coarse with the steam setting being a point of difference to lock in moisture to treat frizziness and straighten coarser hair types.

I usually have a lot of short fuzzy flyaway strands. After using this straightener with steam, you would never know. I have a patch of hair on my templete intent on sticking out normally, so I rotated the straighter slightly inward (as if to curl towards my face) to direct it in line with the rest of my hair. This worked well and the straighter did an amazing job of straightening and smoothing my hair. The results lasted several days until my next wash. There are a lot of straighteners available these days, this one is definitely different from any other I have used or have had used by a hairdresser.

I wanted to see what the steam alone would do for my hair, so I didn't use any product with it. The straightener made my hair feel really soft and shiny, with all my frizzies tamed. It's the first time my hair has felt in better condition after straightening.

I was fortunate enough to be able to trial this straightener and let me just start off by saying that, as a regular GHD product user, I am now converted!

First impressions, opening the box, was that the VS Sassoon Steam Straight Brilliance is a very sleek looking straightener that I would happily leave out on my make-up area counter. The colours and pretty and the design is very appealing to the eye.

After thoroughly reading through the directions, I was a bit concerned it was going to take some time to set up but that proved wrong and set-up was nice and quick and easy. The water reservoir was easy to fill and, once you set the straightener on, it fills with water quickly. I've got mid-back length hair and didn't need to refill the straightener at all before my hair was done.

As someone with quite frizzy and curly hair, one of the things that impressed me most was that the straightener actually fulfilled it's promise that you only need one pass per section of hair. Even with my GHD straightener, sometimes a section will require multiple passes before it stays straight. The wide plates were great and it really only took about 10-15 minutes to get my hair looking very smooth and straight - love a good time saver!

The most impressive thing to me, in the end, was that (probably thanks to the steam) my ends, which can often get quite frizzy or look split at the end of straightening, looked smooth and healthy and I didn't feel the need to have to curl or smooth them with serums! The detangling comb was also a very helpful attachment for achieving that smooth look.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed with the product (and so thankful I got to be a part of this trial) and will definitely be using this as my primary straightener from now on. My hair stayed mostly frizz-free until my next hair-wash day, even surviving a windy day on a boat and the beach (which usually re-curls my hair). I cannot recommend this product enough for those who have generally unmanageable frizzy/curly hair.

This went on sale for half the RRP and I couldn't resist! I have owned and loved the first L'Oreal Steampod since 2014, and after many years of service it's time to finally retire it. For the longest time I researched and debated whether to get the version 3 of L'Oreal Steampod but decided on this one because you have the option to use it without steam, handy for when I need to save an extra minute or ran out of distilled water.

I wanted a straightener not just for straightening, but for enhancing my naturally wavy hair to give it a more polished look by adding waves to sections where the waves are a bit wonky or less defined. The swivel cord is a must for waving or curling hair with a straightener, not so much the weight or the size of it. Of course it will be bigger and heavier when you compare it to a standard straightener with 1 inch plates, but this has wide plates and it feels around the same weight as my old L'Oreal Steampod with smaller plates, but feels sleeker and more maneuverable. Unlike the Steampod, I don't have to worry about which side of the straightener is pointing downwards, as the steam is coming from the middle of the plates rather than on one side. Brilliant!

I have long thick wavy hair, and the wide plates makes styling so much faster as I can just grab thick sections of hair. The comb may or may not be helpful, it really just depends on you but you can remove it if you find it drags rather than smooth your hair. Detangle your hair first and go slowly.

I love the idea that you have two options to add water for steam, and watching tutorial videos on YouTube before using this really helped. Every now and then I struggle with the water reservoir but I think it's down to user error and I am improving with practice.

Is it worth it? Absolutely! Shop around for deals and compare prices. Even though I don't often use this especially now that the weather is warming up and I can't be bothered using hot tools on hot days, and I started a hair detox where I am focusing on keeping my hair healthy and hydrated through masks and air drying, come the holiday season I will be glad I have this product ready to give me a salon look from home for special events.

I have owned a few hair straightening tools, all on the pricier side, from GHD to Bio:Ionic and the aforementioned L'Oreal Steampod, and this one is by far my favorite. When you use steam to style your hair, it gives your hairstyle longevity til the next time you wash it.