'A revolution in hair styling': ghd celebrates 25 years with clever ‘no damage’ AI tech Sculpt hair irons
GHD is a Yorkshire company that changed the way we style our hair forever. It celebrates 25 years of revolutionising how we style our hair – and now it is bringing AI into the salon and the home, as CEO Jeroen Temmerman tells Yorkshire Post Fahion & Beauty Editor Stephanie Smith.
Not so very long ago, hair straightening at home was a hazardous, hit-and-miss affair for many of us, frequently involving neck burns and the unmistakable aroma of fried tresses. Then, in 2001, along came ghd, a Yorkshire company that changed the way we style our hair forever, thanks to its ceramic hair irons that were easy enough for amateurs to use on even the most wayward of hair, delivering silky-smooth, poker-straight curtains in seconds. Waves and curls too, with a little practice.
“For 25 years, ghd has impacted the way people style their hair,” says Jeroen Temmerman, CEO of ghd, which has offices at Wellington Place in Leeds city centre. “They want professional results at home without compromising the condition.”
GHD - which stands for Good Hair Day - was co-founded in Yorkshire in 2001 by hairdresser Robert Powls, and business partners Gary Douglas and Martin Penny, after finding a South Korean company producing a hair straightener with a thin ceramic heater.
The ghd company began from Robert’s Ilkley home. His then wife, Susan, pointed out that the irons resulted in a good hair day - and the initials ghd stuck.
Sold first to hairdressers, word of mouth quickly spread news of their impressive capability. Once consumers got their hands on them, ghds were being used by Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Aniston, Madonna and, it seemed, pretty much everyone.
“GHD was a revolution in hair styling,” says Robert Eaton, creative director of Russell Eaton, which has salons in Leeds and Barnsley. “It totally transformed how hairdressers worked, how clients could do their hair at home, and it brought a whole new wave of hair care products.
”People started buying irons from salons, and that energised the retail home-care business within salons,” he says. “People that might have come in once a week for their blowdrying could now manage their hair at home, which was really liberating.”
Now AI is bringing about another hair styling revolution. In July ghd launched Sculpt, which uses AI to sense, learn and adapt to individual hair temperature using an algorithm interpreted by a thermal controller that increases and reduces heat as and when needed to perfect faster styling, giving more shine, less frizz and better curl definition - all while safeguarding the hair.
“We see AI as a way to make styling more intuitive, effective and tailored to the person using the tool,” Temmerman told The Yorkshire Post. Originally from the Netherlands, he joined ghd in 2018 after more than 20 years with L’Oréal.
“For consumers, it takes much of the guesswork out of styling and makes high-performance results more accessible. For stylists, it offers a new level of precision and consistency while supporting creativity behind the chair.”
Hairdressers, it seems, appreciate the ghd effect as much as ever. York hairdresser Ross Charles - a finalist for the British Hairdressing Awards 2026 North Eastern Hairdresser of the Year, taking place in November - has been a fan from the start.
“I was hooked from the moment I was introduced to their straighteners,” he says. His chief tip is to work with smaller sections of hair. “Use the technology to your advantage. Taking your time, hold the straighteners steady and manipulate the panels to create your desired finish.
“My favourite way to use them is to turn the straighteners inwards at the ends to create a gorgeous, polished and sleek finish.”
The new Sculpt is truly revolutionary, he adds. “Play on the waterfall edges. These are great for creating natural movement and subtle curls with straighter hair types and again I strongly suggest you take smaller sections at a time to create the best results.”
Patrick Bryne from Peter Gotthard in Harrogate says current hair trends are long soft waves with flicks and bangs. “It’s luxe, wearable and can be easily achieved using ghd tools,” he says. “Our most often-asked question is how clients can improve smoothing and curling using a ghd straightener.
“I love that ghd Sculpt keeps curls for three days and they still look great. It makes such a difference having a tool like this in the salon.”
Temmerman says: “The beauty-tech market has become increasingly innovation and technology-driven. Consumers expect smarter tools, faster results and proven performance.
“What attracted me to beauty was the combination of science, technology and emotion; few industries have the ability to give people confidence every day.”
Now owned by US investment company KKR, ghd also has European headquarters in London and a research lab in Cambridge. In 2023 it moved its Leeds office from Bridgwater Place to Wellington Place. “Leeds is a hugely important part of ghd’s identity,” Temmerman says. “It’s where the brand was born 25 years ago and where we have one of our global headquarters and a large team based today.
“Leeds gives us access to fantastic talent, a strong business community and a culture of innovation, while helping us stay grounded in our Yorkshire roots.”
The future of hair styling will be more personalised than ever, he says. “We believe the next generation of beauty-tech will combine intelligent technologies with our deep expertise in heat styling to create smarter, more intuitive experiences. ghd sculpt is the first step in that journey, and I am incredibly excited about what comes next as we continue to shape the future of beauty-tech.”
Hair taming, straightening and curling has been with us since the dawn of time, with ancient civilisations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome using heat and metal tools. But it was Yorkshire-founded ghd who made good hair day styling achievable for many of us.
After Robert Powls left ghd in 2006, he went on to co-found Harrogate-based Cloud Nine straighteners. When he sadly died earlier this year, tributes described him as “the man who changed how we style our hair forever”.
Jeroen Temmerman said: “Robert’s impact on this industry is immeasurable. His creativity and leadership shaped the craft for generations, and his legacy lives on in every salon and every stylist he inspired.”
Robert Eaton says: “Most people own some form of iron now or ghd type styler and it's become much more sophisticated with different types, different sizes, different tools.
“Now we’re in a phase of waves and movement in a really soft way, and these are all still achieved using irons or tongs.
“That's what it did to the industry. Now it doesn't dominate everything we do, but we use all these different tools in different ways to create so many different results, which is a win-win for everybody, hairdressers and clients.”