Dyson Airstrait straightener review: Straight’n Shiny

it’s no secret that Dyson has been dominating the haircare space, testing itself three times with speed drying supersonic hair dryerhe Futuristic Corrale planchaand the versatile air wrap (all received high WIRED scores). I constantly try to persuade everyone around me to invest in at least one of them. A couple of years ago, I bought my mom the Supersonic for Mother’s Day. Last year, I convinced my friends to pool our money to buy the Corrale for our best friend’s 30th birthday.

But when Dyson announced the Airstrait, its wet-to-dry flat iron, I had my doubts. Maybe it’s because I still have scars from my Croc Wet to Dry Flat Iron From high school. It’s been over a decade, but I can still clearly hear the sizzle of my wet hair clamped between the heat plates, resulting in crisp, damaged strands with every pass. So, you can understand my apprehension towards the Airstrait.

I was somewhat relieved to see that it is more of a hair dryer and straightener combo. Instead of squeezing wet hair between hot plates, use the airflow to dry and smooth your hair. Still, he wasn’t completely convinced. My mix of wavy, curly, and coarse hair requires as much heat as possible to avoid looking frizzy and puffy. And that $500 price tag doesn’t help. But just like with the company’s previous hair tools, you should have known. After just two tries, I was ready to throw my blow dryer and flat iron in the trash.

divide and conquer

With no heat plates, you’re probably wondering how the Airstrait works. Along both arms of the device are 1.5mm gaps. The airflow travels through the motor, splits into both arms and accelerates through the gaps to create two high-velocity, downward air blades. At a 45-degree angle, those blades merge to create a concentrated jet of air that moves downward to smooth hair as it dries, resulting in a smooth, natural finish.

In addition to looking your dry hair, too hear the Airstrait working. With the ability to sense when hair is clamped inside the device, it automatically increases airflow. Once the hair is removed, it immediately reduces it, like a Dyson vacuum that increases suction when it detects dirt or changes floor type. It also has smart heat control to regulate the temperature of the airflow 30 times per second, so it will never exceed the temperature you set.

The Airstrait has diffusers (the gold pieces that stick out of the side) that help air flow into your hair instead of you. As someone with sensitive skin, I always have a lot of redness left over after blow drying my hair. Regardless of how high the heat setting is, I experience no irritation with the Airstrait. The diffusers are removable, making it easy to clean any products, such as a heat protectant, that may build up over time.

To set the temperature, there’s a color digital display to see which mode you’re in, and buttons below it to cycle through each setting. Choose between two main styling modes (wet and dry) and three temperature settings for each. With the humid mode, you will have the option of 175, 230 or 285 degrees Fahrenheit. In dry mode, you can choose between 250 degrees, 285 degrees, and boost mode. You can also toggle between high and low flow rate settings. There is also the option of cool wayIt helps set the style.

If you didn’t know, there are many ways to customize the Airstrait, which is great! It means there are multiple options for different hair types. Each button is intuitively labeled, with red for heat, blue for cool mode, a raindrop icon for wet hair mode, etc. But I find myself staring at the controls for longer than I’d like, trying to remember how to get to certain settings. Dyson could have made the screen bigger and merged some of the buttons. I highly recommend touching all the menus first, so that you are familiar with each one.