Cloud Nine cordless iron pro review: The portable hair straightener that’s as light as your smartphone

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It’s official: 2021 is the year of the cordless straightener and our hair couldn’t be happier about it. Since the Dyson corrale (£399, Currys.co.uk), there has been a boom in cord-free styling tools, with a host of other brands quickly following suit, including ghd with its unplugged (£299, Cultbeauty.co.uk).

But if you’re tempted by the promise of achieving a good hair day anywhere, anytime, there is another contender worth considering: Cloud Nine.

The brand, which was founded by former ghd boss Robert Powls, first stormed the styling tool market in 2009. Its gadgets not only offer results, but they try to be kinder to your hair. Its latest launch is its first-ever cord-free straightener, the cordless iron pro (£349, Cloudninehair.com).

Designed to give you the freedom to style your hair – in the words of Shakira – whenever, wherever, the tool claims to provide 30 minutes of styling time without the need for an outlet. But that’s not all. According to Cloud Nine, it also charges up to twice as fast as other leading cordless irons and weighs the same as your average smartphone.

While anyone with a busy lifestyle, or who simply doesn’t want to be tied down when perfecting their ’do, would surely consider the high-tech tool an asset in their handbag, it’s worth noting the cordless iron pro doesn’t come cheap. Costing £349, it is a huge investment that requires some deliberation. So to help you decide whether or not it’s really worth the splurge, we at IndyBest decided to put it to the test.

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When it comes to putting a hairstyling tool through its paces, we have a checklist of criteria that we examine, including the design, ease of use, versatility, battery power and the end result.

To see how the cordless iron pro fared, we tested it on our long locks for a number of weeks, using it to create both sleek and wavy styles, and taking it out and about to see if it lived up to its portability claims. Read our review below.

If you’ve ever tried and failed to find a plug socket close enough to a mirror in your hotel room, or found yourself incensed by the tangled mess that has become of the heat styling tools that lie in the bottom of your chest of drawers, we reckon the Cloud Nine cordless iron pro might just change your life.

Before we even opened the packaging, it was clear that the brand was doing its utmost to set these straighteners apart from competing tools, as they come presented in a seriously chic white faux leather styling case that’s finished with a rose gold zipper and a practical handle so you can carry it with you wherever you go.

Inside the carry case you’ll find a whole host of additional accessories, including a white faux leather roll bag and travel pouch, sleek charging pod, heat-resistant guard, universal voltage charger and plug adaptors, meaning you’re fully prepared to style your locks both at home and away.

We will, however, intercept this long list of added extras with a caveat as, while they are indeed a bonus, they come at a cost – £349, to be exact.

So what about the straightener itself? Fans of Love Island will likely have already spotted this tool lining the dressing room tables of the villa and, just like the well-groomed singletons of season seven, we can confirm that it’s totally our type on paper.

Designed with a glossy white finish, the tool looks and feels luxurious, and it’s also super easy to use. It has just two buttons – one to turn it on and choose between two temperature settings (160C or 170C) and another to initiate the “revive mode”, which lowers the temperature to 150C and vibrates the plates at 8,000 times per minute to help minimise friction and heat damage.

The vibrations cause the plates to spend half the time in direct contact with your hair than they would otherwise, meaning the hair is exposed to half the heat and, while we’re unable to say whether or not this function actually causes your locks less harm, it was fun to use. As soon as you close the straightener, you can feel the tool begin to vibrate with a gentle buzz – it is a slightly odd sensation to get used to, but not so extreme that it feels unpleasant.

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One thing worth noting is that due to the lower heat setting, we did find that we were left with a slightly less polished finish, but if you’re simply looking to touch up your already straight hair, we highly recommend giving it a go.

When the battery needs more juice, simply pop it into the futuristic-looking dock and leave it to do its thing. The brand claims that the cordless iron pro charges up to twice as fast as competing tools, and we found it was ready to go in about 50 minutes.

Another great feature of this tool is just how truly portable it is. Unlike some other cordless straighteners, you’ll barely notice this one in your handbag, as it weighs just 230g. That’s the same as your average smartphone, and we comfortably managed to carry it around with us all day.

But, we know what you’re thinking – does its compact size and cord-free design mean it sacrifices on styling capabilities? In short: no. While its dimensions do mean that the plates are on the small side, we were seriously impressed with the cordless iron pro, which left our long hair straight and silky in just one sweep. It took just five minutes to get the smooth, sleek finish we were looking for.

However, if you have particularly thick or curly hair, it could take longer, as it’s likely that you’ll need to be patient and feed in smaller sections than you might with a standard plug-in set of straighteners.

For us, it performed equally well when creating curls – taking just nine minutes to deliver loose waves. After about 25 minutes of constant styling, the tool eventually ran out of battery, but this was more than enough time for us to complete our look.

While the Cloud Nine styler doesn’t have a flight-friendly mode, meaning it will have to go in your hold luggage if you’re travelling abroad, it’s a great one to chuck in your handbag so you can maintain your hairstyle throughout the day, or switch things up ready for a big night out.

If you’ve got the cash to splash, the cordless iron pro is well worth investing in, whether you’re a hairstyling pro on the go or a beginner looking to kickstart your beauty arsenal. It’s a dream to use, delivering seamless looks every time with zero snagging, and we love that the lightweight design won’t leave your arms aching.

At £349, it doesn’t come cheap, but Cloud Nine really has thought of every detail here and you do get a huge array of accessories included for the price, which is something you won’t find from competing brands.