If you want a guaranteed stinker of a hair day, there’s one sure-fire route: fall asleep with your hair slightly damp. Not only does that not-properly-dried state leave your hair fragile and vulnerable to damage as you toss and turn, it ensures you’ll wake up looking like Hagrid.
As a veteran beauty director, I know sleeping with wet hair is a sin akin to going to bed with your makeup on, but sometimes, tiredness wins out. That’s exactly what happened to me last night and precisely why I’m sharing a new, and very timely discovery: mdLondon’s Phat iron.
Proving that the universe can sometimes be on your side when it matters most, I woke up today to a frizzy mess in the mirror... and what promised to be the perfect antidote waiting in my beauty testing pile. Why, hello, big boy! Phat is a new hair straightener with ultra-wide plates, which has been specifically designed to help wrangle with stubborn, hard-to-style hair in (literally) half the time.
The jumbo-plate design makes it ideal for hair that’s thick, curly/coily or frizzy, and while mine isn’t either of the former two, it’s most definitely the third – especially when it’s been left to dry on a pillow. (When will I learn?)
Phat is the latest creation of celebrity hairdresser Michael Douglas, who has the benefit of having Davina McCall as his willing hair muse/guinea pig/girlfriend. ‘Davina’s hair has actually developed a natural wave over the last couple of years and, while it can be really nice to play up that texture, it’s more of a challenge if I want to get a really perfect, sleek finish,’ he tells me. ‘So Phat is brilliant for that, and it saves me so much time.’
Of course, having the tool in expert hands helps, and I had to make do with my own, decidedly clumsy touch when facing down the frizz this morning. To add to the general ‘today is cursed’ flapping, there was an early-doors GP appointment to slot in before dashing for the train, so time was absolutely not on my side. Was Phat big enough to handle it?
mdLondon Phat review
With the clock ticking, I wasn’t able to linger too long over the first impressions, but I did immediately note the lightweight hand feel, in contrast to the extra-wide size of the tool. The long cord was also a bonus, as I don’t have a plug in particularly easy reach of my dressing table mirror.
I also appreciated the easy-to-set temperature and speedy heat-up time. There’s no chirpy ‘I’m ready!’ tone, but the on-barrel indicator showed it was up to speed in a jiffy. There are 11 settings to choose from, going all the way up to 230C which must be a godsend for extra-curly hair.
I tried it on a more moderate 180C, hoping that would be the sweet spot for fine-ish hair with seriously scruffed-up cuticles. (Side note: my daughter, who is blessed with thick hair, has already tested this styler and loved how quickly it works for her on 200C. Honestly, if it’s not chained down, chances are she’ll plunder my to-try box first!)
Normally, I wouldn’t bother to section my hair before ironing, especially when there’s a hard deadline to meet, but on this occasion I felt it would still be the fastest way to smooth out the bird’s nest. And I was correct.
The ceramic plates sped through the haystack, smoothing the snaggles away with very little need to go over the same section twice. Thanks to their generous size, the plates scooped up a sizeable chunk of hair with each pass, and didn’t struggle to get close to the root either. Even though sectioning my hair added a little extra time, I was good to go after just five minutes. There was even time to snap a few pictures before dashing out the door.
Verdict
As you can probably tell, I’m as impressed as I am grateful for Phat’s speedy rescue work. I had an emergency scrunchie all ready to go, but no need: my unruly hair was straightened out in a flash and it’s stayed silky and well behaved all day. A Phat lot of help!
I’m also giving a shout-out to the price. Although £129 isn’t an inconsiderable amount, it’s less than many other wide-plate straighteners, and in my view the performance is as premium. I’m now interested to see how well it works for adding waves. A job for tomorrow.. although I won’t be washing my hair tonight. Just to be on the safe side.
