It is no secret that Dyson has been dominating the hair care area—proving itself 3 times over with the fast-drying Supersonic blow dryer, the futuristic Corrale flat iron, and the versatile Airwrap (all obtained excessive scores from WIRED). I am consistently attempting to influence everybody round me to spend money on not less than one in every of them. A few years in the past, I purchased my mother the Supersonic for Mom’s Day. Final 12 months, I satisfied my buddies to pool our cash collectively to purchase the Corrale for our greatest good friend’s thirtieth birthday.
However when Dyson introduced the Airstrait, its wet-to-dry flat iron, I had my doubts. Maybe it is as a result of I am nonetheless scarred from my Croc Wet to Dry Flat Iron from center college. It has been over a decade, however I can nonetheless clearly hear the sizzle from my moist hair being clamped between the warmth plates—leading to crunchy, broken strands with every move. So, you’ll be able to perceive my apprehension towards the Airstrait.
I used to be barely relieved to see that it is extra of a hair dryer-straightener combo. As a substitute of compressing your moist hair between sizzling plates, it makes use of airflow to dry and straighten your hair. Nonetheless, I wasn’t utterly satisfied. My mixture of wavy, curly, and coarse hair requires as a lot warmth as potential to keep away from trying frizzy and puffy. And that $500 price ticket would not assist. However as with the corporate’s earlier hair instruments, I ought to’ve identified. After solely two makes an attempt, I used to be able to throw my blow dryer and flat iron within the trash.
Divide and Conquer
{Photograph}: Dyson
With no warmth plates, you are in all probability questioning how the Airstrait works. Situated alongside each arms of the system are 1.5-mm gaps. Airflow travels by way of the motor, splits into each arms, and accelerates by way of the gaps to create two high-velocity downward blades of air. At a 45-degree angle, these blades merge to create one targeted jet of air that strikes downward to straighten the hair because it dries—leading to a pure, easy end.
Along with watching your hair dry, you may additionally hear the Airstrait working. With the flexibility to sense when the hair is clamped inside the system, it robotically will increase airflow. As soon as your hair is out, it instantly decreases it, like a Dyson vacuum that will increase suction when it senses grime or switches flooring kind. It additionally has clever warmth management to control airflow temperature 30 instances per second, so it’s going to by no means exceed the temp you set.
The Airstrait has diffusers (the gold items that stand proud of the facet) that assist maintain the air flowing onto your hair as an alternative of onto you. As somebody with delicate pores and skin, I am at all times left with quite a lot of redness after blow-drying my hair. No matter how excessive the warmth setting is, I do not expertise irritation with the Airstrait. The diffusers are detachable, making it simple to scrub away any product, like a warmth protectant, that will construct up over time.
To set the temperature, there is a digital shade show to see what mode you are on and buttons beneath to cycle by way of every setting. Select from two predominant styling modes—moist and dry—and three temperature settings for every. With moist mode, you may have the selection of 175, 230, or 285 levels Fahrenheit. In dry mode, you’ll be able to decide between 250 levels, 285 levels, and increase mode. You possibly can alternate between low-flow and high-flow velocity settings as properly. There’s additionally the choice for a cool mode, which helps set the model.
If you happen to could not inform, there are quite a lot of methods to customise the Airstrait, which is nice! It means there are a number of choices for various kinds of hair. Every button is labeled intuitively, with a pink for warmth, a blue for cool mode, a raindrop icon for moist hair mode, and many others. However I discover myself staring on the controls for longer than I would prefer to, attempting to recollect get to sure settings. Dyson might have made the show larger and merged a couple of of the buttons as an alternative. I extremely suggest tapping by way of all of the menus first, so that you’re aware of each.
