Just when you thought that Dyson’s hair tools couldn’t get any better, the cult brand goes and announces that the Airstrait is launching in Australia today. If you’re yet to hear about it, the Dyson Airstrait is a wet-to-dry straightening device that uses air, not hot plates to style your hair. Yep, that means no more heat damage and no more accidentally burning the tip of your ear. (IYKYK.)
So how does the Dyson Airstrait work?
If we’re talking ~science~, along the arms of the Airstrait are two 1.5mm apertures. The air intake is then accelerated through these apertures, to create precise directional airflow to dry, smooth and straighten your hair.
When in its locked position, it functions similarly to a traditional blow dryer. And when it’s in the unlocked position, you can use it like a traditional straightening iron, only it uses Dyson’s patented air technology through two jets rather than two hot plates to style hair from wet to dry or wavy to straight. Basically, think of it as a blowdryer-straightener in one.
The Airstrait features an LED screen that allows you to easily toggle between the tool’s modes (wet, dry, and cool) and airspeeds. The ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ modes are pre-set with specific heat and airflow combinations for the best results. However, in ‘wet’ mode, you can choose between three heat settings — 80°C, 110°C, and 140°C. In ‘dry’ mode, you can choose between 120°C or 140°C (much lower temperatures than a traditional straighter) or a top-up “boost”. There’s also a root drying mode and a cold shot mode, as well as options for low-flow and high-flow air pressure.
Here are a few TikTok’s of it being used on different hair types, including Crystal’s type four natural hair. You can hear how shocked she is that one pass over her natural curls pretty much straightens it.
“Oh my gosh, am I really straightening my natural hair, from wet… Oh my gosh, that’s one pass! Girl, what!”
Carolina’s caption really says it all. “That’s the first time I haven’t felt like my hair was damaged after straightening it.”
How do you use the Dyson Airstrait?
Pretty much the same way you would use a standard straightener like the Corrale, only you can flick between different modes and avoid heat damage. “The Dyson Airstrait is a revolutionary wet-to-dry straightener,” explains Dyson Engineer Ishika Kjaria, “For the best user experience, I recommend using it on towel-dried hair, starting with root-drying mode, and then using slow passes to stretch the hair to get naturally straight and shiny results.”
Can you use the Dyson Airstrait on wet hair?
Yep! According to Dyson, to change your hairstyle, hydrogen bonds within each strand of hair must be broken and reset to hold a new shape. So, when hair is wet, the water naturally weakens these bonds to make them more elastic, which means as the hair dries it can be reset without using extreme temperatures. So the Airstrait uses the optimum level of heat and controlled airflow to style hair with less damage.
This can be done with either heat or moisture. So using the powerful airflow to style your hair while it’s wet should result in less need for high heat, reducing frizz and flyaways while protecting natural shine.
Is the Dyson Airstrait less damaging?
Like the rest of the Dyson hair care range, the Dyson Airstrait straightener features an intelligent heat control. Glass bead thermistors measure the temperature of the airflow up to 16 times per second to prevent heat damage and protect the natural shine of your hair. This data is then sent to the devices microprocessor which regulates the heating element, ensuring airflow doesn’t exceed the temperature required.
That, accompanied by the fact that it operates at much lower temperatures than a traditional straightener and uses airflow rather than hot plates, it’s assumed less damage will occur.
How much does the Dyson Airstrait cost?
A cool $749 — and you can shop it here.
Is Dyson Airstrait worth it?
According to US-based reviews (it launched over there in mid-2023), it’s worth every dollar. It’s reached a 4.7 out of 5 stars average from over 5,500 reviews with 88 per cent of reviewers saying that they’d recommend it to a friend. TikTok is also wildly obsessed with it, if that’s something that sways you. That said, we’re yet to get our hands on one to give you the full review.
It’s worth noting though, that a lot of US customers have claimed it’s a pretty heavy hair tool, so if you’re someone who has thicker, fuller hair you’ll have your arm up there for a while.
Is Airwrap or Airstrait better?
It really depends on what kind of styling you’d like to do. Airwraps allows you to do more styling-wise thanks to all of the attachments, but the Airstrait is good if you’re someone who just needs to straighten out a few kinks before flying out the door in the morning.
That’s all the news we have on the new Airstrait for you, but if you’d like to learn more about it, you can head here.
Image credit: @carolinapeterscosta / @beingcrystalnicolee
