How much do hair straighteners cost to run?
About 0.63p an hour in the UK and 0.44¢ an hour in the US. Hair straighteners draw about 60 W for roughly 40% of the time they are switched on, so they average 24 W. Thermostatic and tiny; the inverter idle draw is a real share of the total.
What they cost, by how long they run
| Running for | kWh | UK | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 minutes | 0.004 | 0.11p | 0.07¢ |
| An hour | 0.024 | 0.63p | 0.44¢ |
| An 8-hour night | 0.19 | 5.1p | 3.5¢ |
| A full day (24 hours) | 0.58 | 15p | 11¢ |
| A month at 8 hours a day | 5.76 | £1.52 | $1.06 |
UK prices use the Ofgem price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 (direct debit, average across England, Scotland and Wales, with no VAT on electricity this winter): 26.32p per kWh (Ofgem). The standing charge of 54.83p a day is paid whatever you run, so it is left out. US prices use the US average residential price for June 2026 from the Energy Information Administration: 18.34¢ per kWh (EIA). Your own tariff is on your bill; scale the figures by it.
Measure your own
These are typical figures for a typical unit. A plug-in energy monitor between the socket and the appliance shows the real watts and adds up the kWh, so after a day or a week you know exactly what it costs on your tariff.
Compared with similar appliances
| Appliance | Average W | UK per hour | US per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baby monitor | 6 | 0.16p | 0.11¢ |
| Aquarium, 100 litre | 24 | 0.63p | 0.44¢ |
| Hair straighteners | 24 | 0.63p | 0.44¢ |
| LED Christmas tree lights (500 bulbs) | 35 | 0.92p | 0.64¢ |
| Garden inflatable (Christmas or Halloween) | 50 | 1.3p | 0.92¢ |
| Dehumidifier, 12 L/day | 150 | 3.9p | 2.8¢ |
| Well pump (1/2 hp) | 200 | 5.3p | 3.7¢ |
| Cordless mower battery charger | 200 | 5.3p | 3.7¢ |
| Incandescent Christmas tree lights (500 bulbs) | 204 | 5.4p | 3.7¢ |
| Sump pump | 240 | 6.3p | 4.4¢ |
| Heated clothes airer | 300 | 7.9p | 5.5¢ |
| Hair dryer | 1,800 | 47p | 28¢ |
| Electric car (3-pin "granny" charger) | 2,300 | 61p | 26¢ |
Running it in a power cut
See which power station will run hair straighteners, and for how long.
Appliance draw modelled on web.archive.org. The US Department of Energy retired this page in 2025; the link is the Internet Archive's June 2024 capture. The figures remain typical ranges for a typical unit, not a specification.
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