The Gurin ceramic flat iron hair straightener is a hefty piece of straightener. It certainly is not the lightest hair straightener I have ever used, but I would not say that it is the heaviest (although for the size of the plates I do believe it to be one of the heavier ones).The flat iron fits comfortably in my hand and allows for ease of use. The plates are a medium width, not too long, and not too short. My hair falls in between thick and thin, long and short depending on on the year / season, so I love that this will work well no matter what I want to do.