Review: Dyson AirWrap

 I consider myself a very lucky girl because I was recently gifted the Dyson Airwrap for Mother's Day! This crazy piece of technology uses the coanda effect to literally suck your hair and wrap it around the wand. It also delivers blowouts and curls with less damage than traditional hot iron tools. After cutting my hair shorter than I usually do for the bi-annual lockdown haircut, I am trying to grow out my hair and low heat is a great way to keep it healthy. So read on for my thoughts on the Dyson Airwrap!

Initial Impression

"For the price, this thing is huge! And heavy...why is it so heavy? My arms already get sore when I have to blow-dry or braid my hair too long..."

Yes, this is not travel friendly and the case is bigger than your old-school caboodles, so think like a small toolbox. The leather bound cover is nice and they lined the inside with velvet so it should hopefully be easy to wrangle the parts and keep them together. The wand is the heaviest part and it has some heft to it, plus the power cord is long and has a converter (or something) block in the middle.

I was so excited that I immediately unbraided my hair and proceeded to curl it, even though it was not at all damp. It is recommended that you use it on damp hair to keep the curls longer but I just wanted a feel for it.

Supersonic Dryer Attachment

The next day, after washing my hair, I used the dryer attachment for the first time. Wow! It is loud (but not more so than a typical dryer) but man, is it efficient. Even at the medium heat setting, my hair reached the recommended 70-80% dryness in just a few minutes. I can't compare it to their standalone hair dryer but it was so much faster and way less heat than my old dryer. I thought it was just a fluke or maybe my microfiber towel was super efficient or something, but when my little one came to me with sopping wet hair, I thought I'd give the dryer another try. Her hair was also dry within a few minutes and she barely noticed the heat.

Using the AirWrap

"Wait, what? Am I doing this right? This is...it's weird. Whoooaaaa! This is amazing!"

So, the Airwrap comes with arrows on the wand attachments so you can see which way the air will flow and your hair will curl in that direction. Generally speaking, you want your hair to curl away from your face to help open it up. Additionally, for a natural look, you want to alternate the direction your curls go since hair doesn't just flow in one direction. 

To be honest, it took some attempts to figure out where to place my hair in order for it to be wrapped. The first few times, the AirWrap just blew my hair away. The first time that I did figure it out, it sucked my hair in (gently, nothing like it was going to pull it out of my head or something) and whoosh! A perfect tendril was wrapped around the wand. This was amazing and that effect was enough to make the price point worth it!

There are multiple setting which control how much air is blasted how along with the temperature of the air. This was really neat because this baby does get hot so please do not think it is a heat-free tool. However, the fact that I can easily switch between warm and cool was nifty because if it got to warm, I could just adjust the temperature. Additionally, the fact that the air is holding my hair means I only need one hand to operate it. Dyson suggests blasting a shot of cool air to help seal the cuticle and make the curl last longer as well.

Perfecting the technique

So my first few attempts had me pulling the wand down to try and readjust my hair but it lead to the tendrils going in different directions halfway through. Instead, I found the best results when I made sure that the entire length of the wand was covered evenly in my strand.

Another strategy was to use heat for as long as possible. I have thick hair which can be stubborn to curl so longer heat meant longer lasting curls. For hair closer to my neck or skin, it did not last as long but I could use the warm setting and then finish with the cool air.

When I was trying to remove the attachment, I realized the wand itself gets pretty warm. There is a small nub at the top which is cool enough to touch so you can use that to change the attachments. However, instead of changing attachments, it is easier to change the direction of your curls by pointing the wand downward. Now it is going in the opposite direction! This made it much easier and quicker to curl my hair.

How long does it last?

I did not use any gel or hairspray but I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up the next day with curls still intact. Ok, they had become softer and had more of a body wave but considering that my curly girl method failed because I couldn't figure out how to sleep with curls...this was impressive. In fact, the body wave and curled ends lasted the two days until my next wash day.

Of course, this depends on your hair and how long you hold the curl but I am sure that styling products will help further the life of your curl. 

Who would I recommend this for?

If you are a tech nerd with a panache for self care...this is a perfect blend of science and self care. The fact that this technology has entered the beauty world is still bananas and so fun to play with, especially with such minimal damage to your hair.

If you have long, texture hair and you are looking for an easier way to manage it, the AirWrap is, hands-down, one of the easiest ways to take care of your hair. I love that it is far less damage than heat tools and has consistent results (unlike foam rollers which would fall out when I slept).

If you have smooth hair or short hair...you can still enjoy the AirWrap but it will give you the same results that a flat iron or curling iron will do for a fraction of the cost. Straight hair will likely not be able to use the smoothing attachments so they will be less useful and shorter hair will likely be able to cut off any length before it really has a chance to show damage. Therefore, I would not recommend it for anyone with a bob length or shorter.

It really is crazy that we have this tool at our disposal and I look forward to other devices that either Dyson will innovate or when their patent runs out, other companies will improve on. You could get very similar volumizing and smoothing results with a hot air brush, especially if done sparingly but if you have the funds and the long hair that can benefit for it, I would recommend it!