So the fashion pages tell us that when it comes to a woman’s crowning glory curly is in and straight is most definitely out for 2006.

Well I, for one, won’t be disposing just yet of one of the best investments I ever made, one of my most prized assets and a source of much-needed rescue on oh-so-bad hair days.

All hail one of the very best inventions of recent years (excluding of course the iPod, the hand instrument of choice for many women – no sniggers at the back of class please), oh yes I am talking about the mighty hair straighteners.

Hair feeling frizzy, wonky or perhaps you have even slept so your tresses have people guessing you’ve walked straight out of the dark ages? Never fear. A few glides of the magic irons never fail to turn the most uneven of kinked barnets into the smoothest of tresses.

Don’t get me wrong. As a born curly-head, I really do appreciate and admire locks that twist and turn, pre-Raphaelite mops of beauty. If you have a head of even curls, a style that reminiscent of Julia Roberts, Minnie Driver or perhaps Sarah Jessica Parker, then good luck to you.

You have a fantastic asset. It’s just that some people’s hair has a ‘bit of a curl’, that on a good day needs a hell of a lot of styling and moose to look semi-decent and even then, can go terribly wrong after drying.

I admit I do have days where I go ‘au naturel’ when in the mood. I’ve even been known the ‘go straight’ before popping in some heated curlers to get some lovely even ringlets. And straighteners can be used to flick or wave too. If you’re adventurous, that is. But on those days when nothing less then sleek will do, the feeling you get after a swift glide of the magic wands is unquestionable. Neat, tidy, comfortable and ever so manageable.

It never fails to amaze me how many women out there are secret uses of pair of straighteners. I’ve had endless conversations with girls whose hair gives not a hint away.

And what did we do before they came along? Manually straightening is usually only the reserve of the expertly flexible self-styler (your arms just aren’t meant to turn that far back!) or an expensive and lengthy session with an competent hairdresser armed with only a hairdryer and a round brush. I still watch in awe.

I remember years ago, one particularly hung-over day at university, a fellow student and I got a nifty idea of placing my hair on an ironing board and covering it with a towel, she bashing away at it with a heavy iron (a real iron, for iron clothes).

Needless to say, I only came away with a sore head, a shocking hairstyle – style not being the appropriate word – and a withered friendship with a mate I am sure was still drunk. (It was her suggestion in the first place!)

However, a word of wording. Make sure you visit your hairdresser on a more-then-yearly basis if you are wielding the magic tongs over your locks regularly as the dreaded burnt and split ends are hideous and, sadly, often a cruel consequence of becoming too smooth too often.

I noticed this with abrupt horror recently when in a shop changing room. The light showed up the ends of my hair with too much honestly and I hot footed it straight to the trimmer’s chair, faster than you could say ‘Oh curly is sooooo in!’