When it comes to getting ready for school, there's usually little time to waste.
From sorting breakfast to finding those vanishing shoes that seem to disappear as soon as a child walks through the door, it's a miracle any family manages to arrive at the school gates on time.
And while boys might have a little Mr Majeika tuft that needs flattening, it's usually girls hair that can be the most time consuming.
Even when they're older you might find yourself tasked with helping to straighten or curl it before they head to class.
That's why we decided to try out some hair straighteners to suit varying budgets, to see how they fared before the school run.
First up were the bargain Primark straighteners at £12 a set.
Despite being so cheap compared with other brands, they actually did a pretty good job.
They took longer to heat up - around 90 seconds to the highest temperature - and don't get quite as hot as the others (210 degrees rather than 230). Because of that it took longer to straighten my daughter's thick, long hair and I needed to separate it into smaller sections for them to do the job.
If you've got a tween or a teen wanting to sample straighteners for the first time, perhaps for occasional use, these would be ideal as they do the job without breaking the bank and reduce the chance of them frying their hair with a hotter pair too.
Talking of hotter pairs, the next two sets we tried - Remington HYDRAluxe S8901, £95 and BaByliss Berry Crush, £75 - both reach 230 degrees.
The former heat to that temperature in half the time though, just 15 seconds, compared with 30 seconds for the Babyliss and every second counts when you've got to get to class.
They all have fancy descriptions don't they - Remington's ion conditioning promising to 'lock moisture into your hair' and BaByliss' quartz ceramic plates vowing to 'glide smoothly over your hair without snagging'.
What they don't mention is the noise the latter make when clamping together, a tinny 'might need some oil on this spring' kind of noise, which although wasn't loud, became rather irritating when it was on repeat with every section of hair and right next to my ear drum.
Despite that, the end result was good, but I think the plates were a little too narrow for the quantity of hair. On my own shorter hair, however, they worked a treat and they'd certainly be the better pair when it comes to curling.
But it was the Remington ones that worked wonders on my teen. They seemed to uphold their promise to 'tame frizz and add shine' and her hair stayed straight after a blustery walk to and from school and even after being slept on.
You can choose a lower heat setting of 185 degrees to protect the hair from damage, but I think the temptation to increase the temperature is a little too much when the end result is so good.
They might not be the cheapest set of straighteners around, but it's not something you'll be buying often, and in my opinion they're worth every penny to get the job done well and most importantly get it done quick.
You can buy both the Remington and BaByliss straighteners from AO.com.
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