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T3 Lucea ID review: The intelligent straighteners that take all the guess work out of hair styling

Banish bad hair days with this seriously high-tech tool

Sarah Jones
Friday 28 January 2022 14:36 GMT
<p>The device creates a unique profile based on your hair texture, length and colour treatments   </p>

The device creates a unique profile based on your hair texture, length and colour treatments

Hair straightening technology has come a long way since the days of scorching your strands with unwieldy tools (or, if we’re really throwing it back, a standard home clothes iron, ouch). And one brand that’s giving ghd, the gold standard of heat styling, a run for its money when it comes to innovation is T3.

Since its launch in 2003, the brand has ventured outside of the mainstream to deliver hair tools that not only create gorgeous sleek locks but do their bit to protect from your tresses from excessive heat damage.

Case in point, the T3 Lucea ID – a next-gen styler that delivers styling personalisation like never before. Packed with intelligent features, it uses ionic smoothing technology, a heat-smart microchip and even has a secondary mode for day-two hair.

But that’s not even the best part. The high-tech iron also comes with bespoke settings that create a unique profile for your hair depending on its texture, length and whether it’s been colour treated, helping to take all the guesswork out of styling.

The question is though, does all this technology really make a difference to your locks? Read on for our honest review of the Lucea ID, including our verdict on the tool’s design and ability to deliver shiny results with less damage.

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T3 Lucea ID

T3 Lucea.jpg

Buy now £199.99

  • Plate material: Ceramic
  • Variable temperature control: Yes
  • Corded/cordless: Corded
  • Cable length: 2.7m
  • Weight: 390g
Design

If you’re looking for a straightener that takes hair tech to the next level, this is the one for you but, before we get onto what’s inside, let’s talk about its looks. At first glance, the tool doesn’t differ too much from its competitors, it’s a sleek white and rose gold wand that’s finished with 25mm glossy ceramic plates and a swivel cord prevents cord from getting tangled or twisted. But on closer inspection you’ll notice that the Lucea ID doesn’t have any buttons, so how does it work?

Unlike any other tool we’ve seen before, the wand illuminates a bit like a lightsabre when it’s turned on, with a series of settings appearing via a touch interface on the device’s pearlised outer casing. As well as a power button, you’ll find symbols representing hair length (short, medium or long), texture (fine, medium or coarse) and colour treatment (on or off), which you can toggle between with a gentle tap. This is the brand’s “heat ID” function which, depending on your selection, calculates the perfect heat setting for your hair from a choice of nine, meaning your locks aren’t exposed to unnecessarily high temperatures.

Read more:10 best silk pillowcases that prevent frizzy hair

The tech doesn’t stop there though as the straightener also comes with a “refresh” mode, which is specifically designed for second-day styling. When activated, this mode automatically reduces the temperature setting of your usual “heat ID” as the brand claims that less heat is required to retouch your style when your hair is on its second day.

Performance

Because there’s so much technology packed inside this wand, it does take a little while to set up, so be prepared to spend a few minutes reading through the tool’s user-friendly manual before getting started. Once plugged in, an LED power button appears on the outside of the device and to turn it on you simply press down on this switch for three seconds before a notification noise and vibration let your know it’s ready to go.

Then comes the fun part as it’s time to tap the symbols we mentioned earlier to pick the settings that best describe your hair length, condition and thickness. While we found this super-easy to navigate, the manual can help you with your selection if you’re unsure and, if it really proves a bit much to get your head around, there is a manual mode if you’d rather just choose the heat yourself.

Read more: 10 best hot brushes for styling, volumising and straightening hair

When it came to straightening our hair, we found that the glossy plates slid over our locks with ease, leaving it sleek, smooth and noticeably shinier than before with just a single pass required on each section. We used it to create waves and tighter curls, too, and were seriously impressed not only with the bounciness – which we put down to the rounded design of the barrel – but also the longevity, as the style stayed for a whole day and didn’t look to shabby after a good night’s sleep either.

Speaking of day two hair, we put the Lucea ID’s “refresh mode” to the test and found that the whole process felt even easier. While the tool remembers your “heat ID” every time it’s turned on, a single click of a green button kicks off this new setting which uses a lower temperature for top-ups. Despite being dubious about whether or not less heat could deliver the same results, we found that it smoothed any bumps caused by tossing and turning in bed and we felt pleasingly smug knowing that we were helping the condition of our hair in the long run.

The verdict: T3 Lucea ID hair straightener

While the initial set-up of the Lucea ID is more complex than most others, the impressive technology and standout results more than made up for it. We experienced zero snagging from the plates, enjoyed sleek and noticeably less frizzy hair, and felt relieved knowing that we were using the least amount of heat possible. If you love a high-tech gadget or use straighteners daily and want to reduce the amount of heat on your hair, this is definitely a tool to consider.

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Looking for a cordless hair straightener instead? Read our review of the new ghd unplugged

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