My mom was kind of skeptical when getting this for me, because we got a crappy Conair straightener that didn't work at all a couple years ago. Let me tell you, Conair has come a long way since the crappy days of that other hair straightener (you may have seen it, it's purpley-blue and has crimper and stuff.) Anyway, this one works really well and heats up really fast. I wear my hair in braids sometimes (I have really thick, curly, unmanageable hair, keep in mind) and it will straighten the HUGE waves in less than 5 minutes for my whole head. I love this thing. I recommend it to anyone!