Hair Straighteners Are Now an Essential Item

Each year, the basket of goods and services is being updated to calculate British inflation, thus offering an excellent snapshot of the lifestyle changes that become norm. One of these changes is the adoption of hair straighteners as a must-have item, coming to replace the blow drier both with female and male UK customers, in what the Daily Mail dubs “the Jennifer Aniston effect.”

Whether the former “Friends” star has anything to do with women’s new-found love for straight hair is highly debatable, but that doesn’t change the fact that hair straighteners are becoming more and more popular. So popular are they, that they’re actually replacing an item that was, until this year, also considered essential: the blow drier. The same goes for the lipgloss, which substitutes lipstick and mineral water, which comes to replace a can of fizzy drink, the report says.

“If you’re a woman who can’t do without her hair straighteners or lip gloss you’re not alone. So many now see them as must-buys that they have made their way into the official cost of living shopping basket along with small bottles of mineral water and liquid soap. The list of goods and services used to measure changes in prices and the official inflation rate has been updated to reflect changing spending habits,” the Mail writes.

“Hair straighteners are now as much a part of the beauty regime for girls preparing for school as they are for stars such as Jennifer Aniston and Cheryl Cole. Some young men and boys have taken to using them. As a result the Office for National Statistics has decided hair straighteners should replace hair dryers in the cost of living basket. Lip gloss, which adds glamour rather than color, comes in at the expense of lipstick, and liquid soap has pushed out the traditional bar,” the report goes on to say.

Even though hair straighteners are becoming increasingly popular – and not just in the UK – it’s best to keep in mind stylists’ warning that using them on a regular basis will end up doing serious damage to our hair. Of course, if we’re keen on having straight hair, it’s best if we invested in a quality device of this type, to limit the damage.